Handicrafts production: documentation and audiovisual dissemination as sociocultural appreciation technology

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Luciana Alvarenga

2016-01-01

Full Text Available The paper presents the results of scientific research, technology and innovation project in the creative economy sector, conducted from January 2014 to January 2015 that aimed to document and disclose the artisans and handicraft production of Vila de Itaúnas, ES, Brasil. The process was developed from initial conversations, followed by planning and conducting participatory workshops for documentation and audiovisual dissemination around the production of handicrafts and its relation to biodiversity and local culture. The initial objective was to promote expression and diffusion spaces of knowledge among and for the local population, also reaching a regional, state and national public. Throughout the process, it was found that the participatory workshops and the collective production of a virtual site for disclosure of practices and products contributed to the development and socio-cultural recognition of artisan and craft in the region.

THE WORLD VIEW, IDENTITY AND SOCIOCULTUR HOMEOSTASIS

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Marina Yur’evna Neronova

2016-02-01

Full Text Available The paper presents the relationship between the phenomenon of world view and sociocultural identity both individuals and the community as a whole. The research is being carried out in the context of current crisis of world view accepted in so-called art Nouveau era. This paper also presents the identity crisis typical for modern civilized societies. A new notion of sociocultural homeostasis is introduced in connection with analyzable phenomena and their mutual relations.Purpose. Study of the relationship between the phenomenon of the world view and sociocultural identity as a structural and functional mechanism.Methodology. Phenomenological and systematic methods with the elements of historical method were employed. Cultural analysis is based on using both axiological and phenomenological approach, and also the elements of semiotic approach.Results. The dependence of identity on the world view is revealed (or is being revealed?, the phenomenon of sociocultural homeostasis is singled out (or is being singled out in the capacity of the mechanism setting up the correspondence in the contradictory unity between the world view as a subjective image and concrete reality as an objective part of this contradictory. The analysis of sociocultural homeostasis is carried out (or is being carried out and the conclusion is being drown that instability of the latter leads to serious problems in the identification of both individuals and communities as a whole. Besides, (moreover the relationship between the legitimacy level of the world view and stability of sociocultural homeostasis is established. (is being established.Practical implications: the system of education.

Residents’ Attitude toward Tourism Development: A Sociocultural Perspective

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Sajad Ebrahimi Meimand

2017-07-01

Full Text Available Host population support for tourism development has attracted the attention of researchers in tourism studies. Given the importance of understanding local community support for tourism development, limitations in understanding their priority and lack of a socio-cultural model of support for tourism, this study attempted to model locals’ support for tourism development based on socio-cultural factors in Malaysian Homestay program. Using extensive literature review, a tourism support model was proposed including several hypothesized paths. The proposed socio-cultural research framework predicted the impact of Islamic religiosity, locals’ knowledge about tourism, intrinsic motivation factors and community attachment on locals support for tourism development through mediating variables of perceived socio-cultural benefits and costs in Malaysian Homestays. , the model and paths were tested using structural equation modelling and partial least square algorithm (PLS-SEM with the aid of SmartPLS software. Findings reveal that locals’ support for tourism development in Homestay program is a function of perceived socio-cultural benefits and costs perceived by local community and four independent variables of Islamic religiosity, knowledge about tourism, intrinsic motivations, and community attachment.

Generating Virtual Eye Contacts through Online Synchronous Communications in Virtual Classroom Applications

Science.gov (United States)

Yuzer, T. Volkan

2007-01-01

The Internet usage has been increasing among persons in the worldwide. This situation highlights that the number of potential distance learners has been increasing in the Internet society. Besides, the terms and concepts of the Internet environments become to be spread out in this society like virtual reality. It is also possible to explain the…

Socio-Cultural Perspectives on Causes and Intervention Strategies

African Journals Online (AJOL)

AJRH Managing Editor

Ngezi exclusively rely on socio-cultural intervention strategies to solve the problem of male infertility. ... infertility which integrates the socio-cultural perspectives in policy and programming, if ..... out that the concept of using traditional medicine.

Treating Women with Bulimia from a Sociocultural Perspective.

Science.gov (United States)

Hotelling, Kathy

1986-01-01

Outlines a sociocultural perspective of bulimia. Notes that since bulimia occurs in a sociocultural context, which includes a socialized developmental path with concomittant norms and values, effective treatment must address those norms and values. Recommends group therapy. (ABB)

Students’ Socio-cultural Competence Development, Using English and Russian Phraseological Units

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Umit I. Kopzhasarova

2013-01-01

Full Text Available The article deals with the problem of socio-cultural competence development on the basis of using English and Russian phraseological units. The authors specify the essence of the socio-cultural competence, define socio-cultural component of foreign language teaching. The authors justify their viewpoint that phraseological units, being the most valuable source of cultural information, exposing background knowledge and culture specific vocabulary, are the effective means of socio-cultural competence development. The set of exercises on socio-cultural competence development on the material of English and Russian phraseological units, developed by authors, include language and speech tasks; tasks based on project and creative research activity methods, which are the basis of development of the main socio-cultural skills that are necessary in intercultural communication

An Activity Theory Approach to Analyze Barriers to a Virtual Management Information Systems (MIS) Curriculum

Science.gov (United States)

Jaradat, Suhair; Qablan, Ahmad; Barham, Areej

2011-01-01

This paper explains how the activity theory is used as a framework to analyze the barriers to a virtual Management Information Stream (MIS) Curriculum in Jordanian schools, from both the sociocultural and pedagogical perspectives. Taking the activity system as a unit of analysis, this study documents the processes by which activities shape and are…

Connecting sociocultural theory and educational practice : Galperin's approach

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Arievitch, I.M.; Haenen, J.P.P.|info:eu-repo/dai/nl/070566135

2005-01-01

Learning and instruction have always been important topics in the sociocultural school of thought founded by Vygotsky and further developed by his followers. Taking sociocultural ideas as a starting point, Piotr Galperin developed an original conceptual system and a new method of investigation that

The Sociocultural Contexts of Learning in the Workplace.

Science.gov (United States)

Bierema, Laura L.

2002-01-01

Outlines demographic dimensions of the work force: aging, gender, race, sexual orientation, immigration, language, religion. Suggests a workplace pedagogy that is sensitive to sociocultural context and includes the concept of workplace learning as a lifelong process, socioculturally sensitive policies, equal opportunity development, and diversity…

Sociocultural Theory and its Role in the Development of Language Pedagogy

OpenAIRE

Abdul Hameed Panhwar; Sanaullah Ansari; Komal Ansari

2016-01-01

This paper reviews the literature on Vygotskian theory of Socio-cultural learning and constructivist approach to teaching and learning and attempts to relate the socio-cultural theory to constructivism. The purpose of the paper is to investigate the ways socio-cultural theory helps to develop language pedagogies. Critical analysis of the literature on the socio-cultural theory suggests that the theory has potential for forming new context-oriented language teaching-learning pedagogies which c...

PROSPECTIVE PRIMARY SCHOOL TEACHERS’ FOREIGN LANGUAGE SOCIOCULTURAL COMPETENCE: MONITORING PRINCIPLES

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Olena Ishutina

2016-04-01

Full Text Available The paper substantiates the necessity and importance of the organization of prospective primary school teachers’ foreign language sociocultural competence monitoring in the educational process of high school. The author notes that prospective primary school teachers’ foreign language sociocultural competence is inseparably linked with linguomethodological competence. It is proved that the measurement of foreign language sociocultural competence of primary school foreign language teachers should be performed in the process of lingvomethodological training of the students as lingvomethodological competence occupies a dominant place and is a unifying and a backbone for other competencies of the future teacher’s professiogram. In this regard, the concept of “foreign language sociocultural competence of prospective primary school teacher” is clarified, the essence of lingvomethodological monitoring of foreign language sociocultural competence is revealed. It is emphasized that linguistic disciplines (“The practice of oral and written language”, “Practical grammar of a foreign language”, “Practical phonetics of a foreign language”, etc. and linguomethodological courses (“Methods of teaching English at primary school”, “ICT in learning foreign languages”, “Innovative technologies of learning foreign languages”, etc. play very important role in forming “foreign language sociocultural competence of prospective primary school teacher”. Specific principles of lingvomethodological monitoring of foreign language sociocultural competence are identified and characterized. They are complexity, lingvomethodological orientation, validity, multi-vector monitoring procedures.

Social Contact in Virtual Learning Environments

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Heilesen, Simon

2013-01-01

A common question is whether technology will replace social contact. In this article it is argued that it will not, provided that we learn to use the characteristics of new media constructively in designing for learning. The term “social”, in this context is taken to mean “purposeful communication......” and not “recreational socializing” (even if socializing may indeed facilitate learning)...

Sociocultural and psychological determinants in migrants for noncompliance with occlusion therapy for amblyopia.

Science.gov (United States)

Tjiam, Angela M; Akcan, Hilal; Ziylan, Fatma; Vukovic, Elizabet; Loudon, Sjoukje E; Looman, Caspar W N; Passchier, Jan; Simonsz, Huibert J

2011-12-01

Compliance with occlusion therapy for amblyopia in children is low when their parents have a low level of education, speak Dutch poorly, or originate from another country. We determined how sociocultural and psychological determinants affect compliance. Included were amblyopic children between the ages of 3 and 6, living in low socio-economic status (SES) areas. Compliance with occlusion therapy was measured electronically. Their parents completed an oral questionnaire, based on the "Social Position & Use of Social Services by Migrants and Natives" questionnaire that included demographics and questions on issues like education, employment, religion and social contacts. Parental fluency in Dutch was rated on a five-point scale. Regression analysis was used to describe the relationship between the level of compliance and sociocultural and psychological determinants. Data from 45 children and their parents were analyzed. Mean electronically measured compliance was 56 ± 44 percent. Children whose parents had close contact with their neighbors or who were highly dependent on their family demonstrated low levels of compliance. Children of parents who were members of a club and who had positive conceptualizations of Dutch society showed high levels of compliance. Poor compliance was also associated with low income, depression, and when patching interfered with the child's outdoor activity. Religion was not associated with compliance. Poor compliance with occlusion therapy seems correlated with indicators of social cohesion. High social cohesion at micro level, i.e., family, neighbors and friends, and low social cohesion on macro level, i.e., Dutch society, are associated with noncompliance. However, such parents tend to speak Dutch poorly, so it is difficult to determine its actual cause.

Sociocultural Theory and Its Role in the Development of Language Pedagogy

Science.gov (United States)

Panhwar, Abdul Hameed; Ansari, Sanaullah; Ansari, Komal

2016-01-01

This paper reviews the literature on Vygotskian theory of Socio-cultural learning and constructivist approach to teaching and learning and attempts to relate the socio-cultural theory to constructivism. The purpose of the paper is to investigate the ways socio-cultural theory helps to develop language pedagogies. Critical analysis of the…

Patterns of Internet Usage: Learning Sphere and the Socio-cultural Context

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Hossein Ebrahimabadi

2009-11-01

Full Text Available In addition to the curriculum and the learning targets, there are some other points –as “the culture of the real life”, “patterns of communication and virtual-life’s experiencing”, and generally “pattern of communication and internet usage”- should be considered in evaluating internet. Applying results of a survey on the impacts of both the web-based and the traditional educational methods on students’ learning and motivation, the present study explores the patterns of internet usage. Research method is experimental, using the t test for independent groups and analyzing multi-variable regression, and some points as the population, method of sampling and data gathering is explained in the article. Results show that there is a meaningful difference between the grades of the test group and the witness group; thus variable of “the internet usage” could predict changes in learning. In other words, supra-usage of internet would decrease learning and curriculum development. However, using internet for scientific and schooling would cause students to correlate their patterns of computer and internet usage. As results show, decline in entertaining usage of internet is related to the socio-cultural context, way and amount of participating in the web, and the quality of virtual learning sphere, rather than the interest or disinterest of the users.

An Efficient Virtual Trachea Deformation Model

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Cui Tong

2016-01-01

Full Text Available In this paper, we present a virtual tactile model with the physically based skeleton to simulate force and deformation between a rigid tool and the soft organ. When the virtual trachea is handled, a skeleton model suitable for interactive environments is established, which consists of ligament layers, cartilage rings and muscular bars. In this skeleton, the contact force goes through the ligament layer, and produces the load effects of the joints , which are connecting the ligament layer and cartilage rings. Due to the nonlinear shape deformation inside the local neighbourhood of a contact region, the RBF method is applied to modify the result of linear global shape deformation by adding the nonlinear effect inside. Users are able to handle the virtual trachea, and the results from the examples with the mechanical properties of the human trachea are given to demonstrate the effectiveness of the approach.

Sociocultural Theory and its Role in the Development of Language Pedagogy

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Abdul Hameed Panhwar

2016-12-01

Full Text Available This paper reviews the literature on Vygotskian theory of Socio-cultural learning and constructivist approach to teaching and learning and attempts to relate the socio-cultural theory to constructivism. The purpose of the paper is to investigate the ways socio-cultural theory helps to develop language pedagogies. Critical analysis of the literature on the socio-cultural theory suggests that the theory has potential for forming new context-oriented language teaching-learning pedagogies which can help teachers in maximising the effectiveness of their teaching and their student’s learning. The review further suggests that the language pedagogies and activities developed from the sociocultural theory of Vygotsky may not only improve students’ language skills, but it also has potential to develop students’ cognition. Since theory promotes more and more communication of students with each other through scaffolding, that is, the Zone of Proximal development (ZPD in Vygotsky’s language. Thus, the theory directly points towards the promotion of student-centred learning by establishing learner autonomy. Keywords: socio-cultural theory, language, constructivism, pedagogies, students

Socio-cultural impacts of contemporary tourism.

Science.gov (United States)

Jovicić, Dobrica

2011-06-01

The topic of the paper is devoted to analysis of socio-cultural impacts of tourism, as effects on the people of host communities resulting from their direct and indirect associations with tourists. The social and cultural impacts of tourism are the ways in which tourism is contributing to changes in value systems, individual behavior, family structure and relationships, collective lifestyles, safety levels, moral conduct, traditional ceremonies and community organizations. Special attention is devoted to considering complexity of tourists/host interrelationships and discussing the techniques for appraisal of quality and quantity of socio-cultural changes which tourism provokes in local communities.

The Subjectivity of the Translator and Socio-Cultural Norms

Science.gov (United States)

Pei, Denghua

2010-01-01

This thesis attempts to probe into the dialectical relationship between the subjectivity of the translator and socio-cultural norms. The socio-cultural norms inevitably regulate the translator's translating activity, as acceptability of the translated text is the primary concern of most translators. However, this does not mean that the…

Sociocultural Behavior Research and Engineering in the Department of Defense Context

Science.gov (United States)

2011-09-01

sponsored by the Incisive Analysis Office is Socio-cultural Content in Language ( SCIL ). SCIL explores and develops novel designs, algorithms, methods...to meet the grand challenge of shaping the future force. DLO and programs such as IARPA’s SCIL are important for addressing persisting gaps in...programs conducting research relevant to building defense-related capabilities in sociocultural behavior. The Socio-Cultural Content in Language ( SCIL

Residents’ Attitude toward Tourism Development: A Sociocultural Perspective

OpenAIRE

Sajad Ebrahimi Meimand; Zainab Khalifah; Edmundas Kazimieras Zavadskas; Abbas Mardani; Amir Abbas Najafipour; Ungku Norulkamar Ungku Ahmad

2017-01-01

Host population support for tourism development has attracted the attention of researchers in tourism studies. Given the importance of understanding local community support for tourism development, limitations in understanding their priority and lack of a socio-cultural model of support for tourism, this study attempted to model locals’ support for tourism development based on socio-cultural factors in Malaysian Homestay program. Using extensive literature review, a tourism support model was ...

Virtual First Impressions

Science.gov (United States)

Bergren, Martha Dewey

2005-01-01

Frequently, a nurse's first and only contact with a graduate school, legislator, public health official, professional organization, or school nursing colleague is made through e-mail. The format, the content, and the appearance of the e-mail create a virtual first impression. Nurses can manage their image and the image of the profession by…

FEMALE SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP AND SOCIO-CULTURAL CONTEXT: AN INTERNATIONAL ANALYSIS

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David Urbano Pulido

2014-12-01

Full Text Available In this article we analyse the socio-cultural factors that influence the likelihood of women becoming social entrepreneurs, using institutional economics. Binary logistic regression has been applied as the statistical method to test the hypotheses proposed, using data (40 countries and 56,875 individuals from the World Value Survey (WVS and the World Bank (WB. The main findings of the study reaffirm the relevance of socio-cultural factors to social entrepreneurship. Particularly, we have found that altruistic attitudes and being a member of a social organization are the most relevant socio-cultural factors for social female entrepreneurship.

Sociocultural determinants of the help-seeking behavior of patients with mental illness.

Science.gov (United States)

Lin, K M; Inui, T S; Kleinman, A M; Womack, W M

1982-02-01

This descriptive study employed semistructured interviewing and questionnaire administration to delineate the sociocultural determinants of the help-seeking process in 48 psychiatric patients. The help-seeking process is considered in two stages. The first stage starts from the recognition of initial symptoms and ends in the first contact with a mental health professional. The second stage is defined as that time between the first contact and actual participation in a planned treatment program. In both stages, patients typically go through phases of lay consultation, nonpsychiatric professional consultation, and referral. The multiple steps which are usually involved in help seeking often result in significant delay of both mental health contact and treatment. The help-seeking process was found to correlate strongly with ethnicity. Both Asians and Blacks showed more extended family involvement, and the involvement of key family members tended to be persistent and intensive in Asians. Ethnicity was also associated with the length of delay, with Asians showing the longest delay and Caucasians the least. These ethnic differences were also reflected in help-seeking pathway assignment using Lin's criteria. Although modernity and parochialism, as measured by the level of modernization and the cohesiveness of the social network system of the subjects, were also found to be correlated with delay, they appeared to exert an influence independent from that of ethnicity.

The Effectiveness of Urban Green Spaces and Socio-Cultural Facilities

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Mehmet Faruk Altunkasa

2017-04-01

Full Text Available This paper aims to develop a theoretical approach for mapping and determining the effectiveness of green spaces and socio-cultural facilities as providers of urban ecosystem services and urban services in the case of Adana, Turkey. Firstly, green spaces and socio-cultural facilities per capita have been determined and indexed for the neighbourhoods in the city. Then, a distance-based method for estimating the effectiveness of these facilities was used. The distances between the various neighbourhoods and between a given facility and the farthest threshold have been measured and these values have been used to determine the facility effectiveness change value for each neighbourhood. Then, effective values have been calculated and indexed by incorporating the green space and socio-cultural facility values and the effectiveness change values for the neighbourhoods. Finally, point-based effective green spaces and socio-cultural facilities index values have been converted to continuous surface values in a GIS (geographic information system environment in order to utilize as a base map for urban physical planning purposes. According to the outcomes of this study, the distribution of green spaces and socio-cultural facilities of the neighbourhoods are imbalanced and index values of these facilities range in between 45 and 84 out of 100.

Body contact and body language

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Winther, Helle

2008-01-01

and the boundaries between self and world. In western societies, the modern premises for contact are in some ways developing from close contact to virtual communication. With this breadth of perspective in mind, the ques­tion is whether conscious and experimental work with body contact and body language in move......­ment psychology and education provide potential for intense personal develop­ment as well as for social and cultural learning processes. This performative research project originates from the research project entitled, Movement Psy­chol­ogy: The Language of the Body and the Psy­chol­ogy of Movement based......Body contact and body language are unique and existential and, although culturally dependent and socially embodied, they are also universal communication forms. For small children all over the world, warm, close and nourishing body contact is fundamental to their embodied experi­ence of themselves...

Victoria's dirty secret: how sociocultural norms influence adolescent girls and women.

Science.gov (United States)

Strahan, Erin J; Lafrance, Adèle; Wilson, Anne E; Ethier, Nicole; Spencer, Steven J; Zanna, Mark P

2008-02-01

The present studies tested whether the salience of sociocultural norms for ideal appearance leads women to base their self-worth more strongly on appearance, which in turn leads them to feel more concerned with others' perceptions and less satisfied with their bodies. Study 1 tested this model by manipulating the salience of the sociocultural norm among female university students. The model was supported. In Study 2 an intervention challenging the legitimacy of the sociocultural norm was delivered to female and male adolescents. Compared to controls, females who received this intervention were less accepting of the sociocultural norms for appearance, based their self-worth less strongly on appearance, and in turn were less concerned with others' perceptions and were more satisfied with their bodies. The implications for women are discussed.

Beyond Normativity in Sociocultural Reproduction and Sociocultural Transformation: Curriculum Work--Leadership within an Evolving Context

Science.gov (United States)

Ylimaki, Rose M.; Fetman, Lisa J.; Matyjasik, Erin; Brunderman, Lynnette; Uljens, Michael

2017-01-01

Background: The purpose of this article is to examine the contributions, gaps, and normativity problems in mainstream sociocultural theories, curriculum theory, and educational leadership studies, considering reflective education theories that provide a less normative alternative. Framework: Our framework introduces reflective education for social…

Environmental Argumentation as Sociocultural Activity

Science.gov (United States)

Oliveira, Alandeom W.; Akerson, Valarie L.; Oldfield, Martha

2012-01-01

While environmental argumentation has recently received much attention from science educators, little consideration has been given to how personal identities and social relationships can either support or constrain student argumentation. This study attends to this issue by examining environmental argumentation as a sociocultural activity (how…

Metodologías que optimizan la comunicación en entornos de aprendizaje virtual Methodologies to Improve Communication in Virtual Learning Environments

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Sonia Rodríguez Fernández

2010-03-01

Full Text Available Los principales avances educativos y el actual auge de los modelos de formación se deben a la incorporación de las tecnologías de la información y la comunicación, así como a la aplicación de elementos pedagógicos provenientes de aproximación sociocultural. Desde este enfoque educativo, la comunicación es un elemento esencial en los procesos de aprendizaje y enseñanza, por tanto, estas herramientas, entendidas como artefactos tecnológicos de producción cultural, ofrecen un excelente soporte innovador, permitiendo contar con entornos virtuales de aprendizaje, como las ofrecidas por las plataformas para el aprendizaje colaborativo mediado por ordenador (CSCL que favorecen la comunicación, la mediación y la construcción compartida del conocimiento (coconstrucción. La comunicación virtual es uno de los aspectos esenciales en la formación a distancia como también lo es la formación semipresencial (blended learning, que comienza a adquirir un importante papel en contextos presenciales que utilizan estos entornos como instancias complementarias destinadas a extender la clase fuera de las fronteras del aula. En este sentido, es relevante un aporte de las diversas experiencias telemáticas de aprendizaje que usan modalidades de aprendizaje cooperativo o colaborativo en entornos virtuales. En el trabajo que presentamos se organizan y describen experiencias de aprendizaje cooperativo y colaborativo mediado por ordenador con estudiantes de diferentes niveles educativos. Los resultados y conclusiones de dichas experiencias evidencian una mejora de habilidades sociales, habilidades comunicativas, motivación y rendimiento académico independientemente del tipo de modalidad de aprendizaje compartido.The main advances in education and the current expansion of training models are due to the incorporation of information and communication technologies (ICTs, as well as pedagogical elements arising from the socio-cultural approach

Traditional & Socio-Cultural Barriers to EFL Learning: A Case Study

Science.gov (United States)

Ahmad, Jameel

2015-01-01

This research tends to ascertain several traditional and socio-cultural barriers to English language learning in Saudi Arabia and to explore more ways than before for making teaching and learning more effective. The findings of four quantitative and qualitative surveys conducted in this regard reveal a unique traditional and socio-cultural milieu,…

Sociocultural Conventions in Avatar-Mediated Nonverbal Communication: A Cross-Cultural Analysis of Virtual Proxemics

OpenAIRE

Hasler B.S.; Friedman D.A.

2012-01-01

We examined whether virtual worlds in which participants interact as avatars could be used as a novel instrument for cross cultural and intercultural communication research. We explored differences between Asian and European cultures regarding their social spatial behavior (i.e. proxemics) in dyadic avatar interactions. Asian dyads interacted at larger distances than European dyads which is consistent with the cross cultural differences typically observed in face to face interactions. Mixed c...

SOCIO-CULTURAL INFLUENCES ON EFFECTIVE ENGLISH ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

JONATHAN

Consequently, challenges abound in the teaching and learning of ... English in tertiary institutions in contemporary Nigeria, the influence of socio-cultural factors ... The English Language has been a crucial issue in the Nigerian education.

Dynamic Virtual Credit Card Numbers

Science.gov (United States)

Molloy, Ian; Li, Jiangtao; Li, Ninghui

Theft of stored credit card information is an increasing threat to e-commerce. We propose a dynamic virtual credit card number scheme that reduces the damage caused by stolen credit card numbers. A user can use an existing credit card account to generate multiple virtual credit card numbers that are either usable for a single transaction or are tied with a particular merchant. We call the scheme dynamic because the virtual credit card numbers can be generated without online contact with the credit card issuers. These numbers can be processed without changing any of the infrastructure currently in place; the only changes will be at the end points, namely, the card users and the card issuers. We analyze the security requirements for dynamic virtual credit card numbers, discuss the design space, propose a scheme using HMAC, and prove its security under the assumption the underlying function is a PRF.

Socio-cultural sustainability of pig production: Citizen perceptions in the Netherlands and Denmark

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Boogaard, B.K.; boekhorst, L.J.S.; Oosting, S.J.

2011-01-01

positive and six negative aspects on the farms for which they had to write a motivation. The qualitative analysis resulted in seven socio-cultural themes (SCT) of pig production namely: 1) meat production, 2) farm activities, 3) farm income, 4) animals, 5) housing system, 6) environment and nature, and 7......Many sustainability studies of animal production consider three pillars: the economic, environmental and socio-cultural. Farmers and animal scientists tend to put most emphasis on the economic and environmental pillar and largely ignore the socio-cultural pillar. Socio-cultural sustainability...... to gain further insights into socio-cultural sustainability of pig production. Many citizens may not know what contemporary pig production actually entails. To give people a real life experience with pig production, we conducted farm visits with citizen panels with 18 respondents in the Netherlands and 8...

Jakarta socio-cultural ecology: a sustainable architecture concept in urban neighbourhood

Science.gov (United States)

Wijaksono, Sigit; Sasmoko; Indrianti, Y.; Widhoyoko, SA

2017-12-01

As a metropolitan city with densely populated and fast residential development Jakarta should be able to implement a concept that is Jakarta socio-cultural ecology Architecture as the basis of settlement development. The concept of Jakarta socio-cultural ecology architecture is characterized by residential development capabilities that reflect and express the indigenous culture, the settlements built by linking the social and economic activities of the people of Jakarta and the settlements built by maintaining the building with the value of existing heritage. The objectives of this research are 1) to find a relevant construct to housing condition in Jakarta which then called Jakarta socio-cultural ecology, and 2) to see the tendency of complex condition of Jakarta socio-cultural ecology settlement. This research uses Neuroresearch method, which is one of mix-method research method as a mixture research method between qualitative research (exploration) and quantitative research method (explanatory and confirmatory). The population of research as well as unit analysis are all settlements in Jakarta. Sampling technique using probability sampling that is with multistage sampling. The results show that nowadays the Jakarta residential complex tends to lead to socio-cultural ecology and rather reflects and expresses the indigenous culture, the residential complex in Jakarta tends to form the building has been linked fully with the social and economic activities of Jakarta society but tends to occasionally maintain buildings with existing heritage values. This study also found that indigenous culture is a significant determinant of the formation of the condition of Jakarta socio-cultural ecology.

Socio-Cultural Factors and Intention towards Sustainable Entrepreneurship

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Wei-Loon KOE

2014-05-01

Full Text Available In order to rectify environmental degradation, government has encouraged sustainable management among businesses. In addition, researchers have also suggested a new breed of study called “sustainable entrepreneurship”, which links sustainability management to entrepreneurial activities. However, the participation of entrepreneurial firms in sustainability management is still far from satisfactory. Past studies also have found that SMEs are less active in sustainabilty initiatives and many issues related to the intention of firms for sustainability entrepreneurship is still unanswered. Therefore, this study was carried out to examine the influence of socio-cultural factors on intention towards sustainable entrepreneurship among SMEs. A total of 404 SMEs in Malaysia were surveyed by using questionnaire. Based on the statistical analyses performed, this study found that three socio-cultural factors, namely time orientation, sustainability orientation and social norm significantly influenced intention towards sustainable entrepreneurship among SMEs. Thus, in order to develop true sustainable entrepreneurs in the country, the effects of non-economic factors such as socio-cultural factors should not be underestimated. Lastly, some recommendations for future researchers have also been put forth in this paper.

Educating for Financial Literacy: A Case Study with a Sociocultural Lens

Science.gov (United States)

Sprow Forte, Karin

2013-01-01

This study explored the teaching and learning in an adult financial literacy education program aimed specifically at Latina single mothers to understand the influence of sociocultural factors in this setting. Informed by critical and Latina feminist sociocultural adult learning perspectives and the transtheoretical model of behavior change,…

Risks in socio-cultural perspective

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kwee, S.L.

1981-01-01

An exposition is presented of the principles of a socio-cultural risk theory based on the statement 'Risk is structured uncertainty'. It deals with hazards of human behaviour, risk as a challenge, hazards in nature and in culture, in science and enterprise, to close with a few words on today's crisis and uncertainty. (Auth.)

New approaches for the asessment and education of children under socio-cultural disadvantages

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Alegría Majluf

2003-06-01

Full Text Available The present paper describes the traditional psychometric parameters thal don 't fit by workingwith children who suffer socio-cultural deprivation (or who are living under socio-cultural disadvantagesand the new assessment and education strategies for this population. Vygotsky's socio-cultural approach, that emphasizes the Zone of Proximal Development, and the Dynamic Assessment and the Mediated Learning developed by Feucrstein and complemented by Coll relatedwith the Significative Learning are stressed.

Taking an active stance: How urban elementary students connect sociocultural experiences in learning science

Science.gov (United States)

Upadhyay, Bhaskar; Maruyama, Geoffrey; Albrecht, Nancy

2017-12-01

In this interpretive case study, we draw from sociocultural theory of learning and culturally relevant pedagogy to understand how urban students from nondominant groups leverage their sociocultural experiences. These experiences allow them to gain an empowering voice in influencing science content and activities and to work towards self-determining the sciences that are personally meaningful. Furthermore, tying sociocultural experiences with science learning helps generate sociopolitical awareness among students. We collected interview and observation data in an urban elementary classroom over one academic year to understand the value of urban students' sociocultural experiences in learning science and choosing science activities.

Muscle Dysmorphia, Gender Role Stress, and Sociocultural Influences: An Exploratory Study

Science.gov (United States)

Readdy, Tucker; Watkins, Patti Lou; Cardinal, Bradley J.

2011-01-01

Our study explored the contribution of gender role stress (GRS) and sociocultural appearance demands to symptoms of muscle dysmorphia (MD) in a college sample of 219 women and 154 men. For women, five GRS subscales, sociocultural appearance demands, age, and frequency of aerobic exercise predicted MD symptoms (model R[superscript 2] = 0.33;…

Socio-cultural context of eating disorders in Poland.

Science.gov (United States)

Pilecki, Maciej Wojciech; Sałapa, Kinga; Józefik, Barbara

2016-01-01

The goal of this study was to assess the relationship between sociocultural factors and clinical eating disorders during the intensive process of Westernisation in Poland that occurred after 1989. The study population included girls diagnosed with an eating disorder according to DSM-IV criteria (n = 47 anorexia nervosa restrictive type [ANR], n = 16 anorexia binge/purge type [ANBP], n = 34 bulimia nervosa [BN], n = 19 eating disorder not otherwise specified [EDNOS]) who received consultation for the first time between 2002 and 2004 in the Department of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, University Hospital, Kraków, Poland. The study included an age-matched normal control group [NOR] of 85 schoolgirls from Kraków. Relationships between two given qualitative features were investigated using the chi-square test or Fisher's exact test. Correspondence analysis was applied to graphically explore the relationship. The Kruskal-Wallis test with the Bonferroni was performed to compare quantitative results across groups. Objective sociodemographic variables and responses to the 62-item Questionnaire of Socio-cultural Context were measured. The mothers of ANBP and BN patients were less professionally active than mothers of ANR patients and NOR subjects. Subjective socio-cultural factors were more relevant for the BN group than the ANR group. Questionnaire responses in the ANBP group were more similar to those in the BN group than to those in the ANR group. The most unambiguous and specific characteristic of the ANR group was a sense of belonging to the middle class. Variables that differentiated the BN group from the NOR group included the importance attached to thinness treated as an expression of power and control over one's self, as well as a multifaceted negative evaluation of one's own family, including a negative assessment of the position of women and parental lack of concern for appearance and principles of nutrition. All patients, regardless

Information Literacy in the 21st Century Multicultural Classroom: Using Sociocultural Literacy

Science.gov (United States)

Blas, Elise A.

2014-01-01

Sociocultural literacy guides an instructor's pedagogy in the multicultural university classroom. By employing sociocultural literacy in the information literacy classroom, the instruction librarian can better teach students from all cultures including international students, first generation students, or students from a wide array of…

78 FR 5765 - Wireline Competition Bureau Releases Connect America Phase II Cost Model Virtual Workshop...

Science.gov (United States)

2013-01-28

... virtual workshop topics related to the development and adoption of the forward-looking cost model for...://www.fcc.gov/blog/wcb-cost-model-virtual-workshop-2012 . [ssquf] People with Disabilities: Contact the.../wcb-cost-model-virtual-workshop-2012 . I. Introduction 1. On November 18, 2011, the Federal...

Brazilian Portuguese and German in contact in two virtual communities

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Layla Cristina Iapechino Souto

2017-01-01

Full Text Available This paper presents an analysis of code-switching between Brazilian Portuguese and German language in two virtual communities on Facebook: Brasileiros em Berlim and Brasileiros e Brasileiras em Berlim. We have adopted the concepts of durability, permeability and liminality traced by Zinkhahn-Rhobodes (2015 to observe the permeability of the linguistic border between these two languages. 

Neoliberal Moral Economy: Capitalism, Socio-cultural Change and Fraud in Uganda

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Ponte, Stefano

2017-01-01

Book review of: Neoliberal Moral Economy: Capitalism, Socio-Cultural Change & Fraud in Uganda by Jörg Wiegratz. London and New York, Rowman & Littlefield, 2016, 375 pp. ISBN 9781783488537.......Book review of: Neoliberal Moral Economy: Capitalism, Socio-Cultural Change & Fraud in Uganda by Jörg Wiegratz. London and New York, Rowman & Littlefield, 2016, 375 pp. ISBN 9781783488537....

Out of our minds: a review of sociocultural cognition theory

Science.gov (United States)

Tenenberg, Josh; Knobelsdorf, Maria

2014-01-01

Theories of mind are implicitly embedded in educational research. The predominant theory of mind during the latter half of the twentieth century has focused primarily on the individual mind in isolation, context-free problem-solving and mental representations and reasoning, what we refer to as cognitivism. Over the last two decades, CS Education researchers have begun to incorporate recent research that extends, elaborates and sometimes challenges cognitivism. These theories, which we refer to collectively as sociocultural cognition theory, view minds as cultural products, biologically evolved to be extended by tools, social interaction and embodied interaction in the world. Learning, under this perspective, is viewed as tool-mediated participation in the ongoing practices of cultural communities. In this paper, we pursue three goals. First, we provide a summary of the key principles in sociocultural cognition theory, placing this theory within a historical context with respect to the cognitive theories that it extends and challenges. Second, we integrate across different but related research efforts that all fall under the sociocultural cognition umbrella, using a uniform terminology for describing ideas represented within different discourse communities. And third, we reference a number of canonical sources in sociocultural cognition theory so as to serve as an index into this diverse literature for those wanting to explore further.

Local Residents’ Perceptions of Socio-Cultural Impacts of Tourism in Mangochi, Malawi

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Felix G. BELLO

2017-06-01

Full Text Available The purpose of this paper is to examine residents’ perceptions of the socio-cultural impacts of tourism in Mangochi, Malawi. This paper is based on results of a survey of 196 households together with ten key informant interviews. A concurrent triangulation mixed method was used to ensure well-validated and substantiated findings. The study findings indicate that local residents perceive specific positive and negative socio-cultural impacts of tourism in their community. Some of the positive sociocultural impacts of tourism include the provision of jobs; improved personal incomes; stimulation of the local economy and improved security in the destination area. However, the study also revealed two major negative socio-cultural impacts of tourism: the migration of people to the area in search of jobs; and the influence of Western visitors on local culture and “the way of life” of local people due to the demonstration effect. The paper indicates the degree to which local residents perceive different socio-cultural impacts of tourism development in an African local community setting. Therefore, the paper will assist tourism planners and local government in the planning and implementation of tourism development strategies for the area aiming at consolidating local residents’ support for tourism.

Creation of virtual patients for midwifery education.

Science.gov (United States)

Urbanová, Eva; Bašková, Martina; Maskálová, Erika; Kvaltínyová, Eva

2018-07-01

The objective of the study was to create several new, original virtual patients (VPs) in the Slovak language, especially for educational purposes in midwifery. Virtual patients have been created for the needs of university midwifery education in Slovakia. The creation of the six virtual patients basically consisted of three fixed stages: preparation, design and development, implementation into the virtual environment. We used the Open Labyrinth (OL) virtual environment, an open-source system for creating VPs. The VPs include six various scenarios of the most common problems seen in midwifery practice: preterm birth, perinatal loss, gestational diabetes, ineffective breastfeeding, postpartum bleeding and sudden home birth. Currently, six original virtual patients are used in university midwifery education in Slovakia. We use them for contact teaching as well as self-study of students. They present the first VPs in Slovakia and the Czech Republic created in academic settings in these countries. The future perspective of a virtual patient as an interactive process between the student and the medium is that it can deepen and improve learning outcomes, solve specific midwifery issues, and reduce mistakes in the clinical environment. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Human agency beliefs influence behaviour during virtual social interactions.

Science.gov (United States)

Caruana, Nathan; Spirou, Dean; Brock, Jon

2017-01-01

In recent years, with the emergence of relatively inexpensive and accessible virtual reality technologies, it is now possible to deliver compelling and realistic simulations of human-to-human interaction. Neuroimaging studies have shown that, when participants believe they are interacting via a virtual interface with another human agent, they show different patterns of brain activity compared to when they know that their virtual partner is computer-controlled. The suggestion is that users adopt an "intentional stance" by attributing mental states to their virtual partner. However, it remains unclear how beliefs in the agency of a virtual partner influence participants' behaviour and subjective experience of the interaction. We investigated this issue in the context of a cooperative "joint attention" game in which participants interacted via an eye tracker with a virtual onscreen partner, directing each other's eye gaze to different screen locations. Half of the participants were correctly informed that their partner was controlled by a computer algorithm ("Computer" condition). The other half were misled into believing that the virtual character was controlled by a second participant in another room ("Human" condition). Those in the "Human" condition were slower to make eye contact with their partner and more likely to try and guide their partner before they had established mutual eye contact than participants in the "Computer" condition. They also responded more rapidly when their partner was guiding them, although the same effect was also found for a control condition in which they responded to an arrow cue. Results confirm the influence of human agency beliefs on behaviour in this virtual social interaction context. They further suggest that researchers and developers attempting to simulate social interactions should consider the impact of agency beliefs on user experience in other social contexts, and their effect on the achievement of the application's goals.

Human agency beliefs influence behaviour during virtual social interactions

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Nathan Caruana

2017-09-01

Full Text Available In recent years, with the emergence of relatively inexpensive and accessible virtual reality technologies, it is now possible to deliver compelling and realistic simulations of human-to-human interaction. Neuroimaging studies have shown that, when participants believe they are interacting via a virtual interface with another human agent, they show different patterns of brain activity compared to when they know that their virtual partner is computer-controlled. The suggestion is that users adopt an “intentional stance” by attributing mental states to their virtual partner. However, it remains unclear how beliefs in the agency of a virtual partner influence participants’ behaviour and subjective experience of the interaction. We investigated this issue in the context of a cooperative “joint attention” game in which participants interacted via an eye tracker with a virtual onscreen partner, directing each other’s eye gaze to different screen locations. Half of the participants were correctly informed that their partner was controlled by a computer algorithm (“Computer” condition. The other half were misled into believing that the virtual character was controlled by a second participant in another room (“Human” condition. Those in the “Human” condition were slower to make eye contact with their partner and more likely to try and guide their partner before they had established mutual eye contact than participants in the “Computer” condition. They also responded more rapidly when their partner was guiding them, although the same effect was also found for a control condition in which they responded to an arrow cue. Results confirm the influence of human agency beliefs on behaviour in this virtual social interaction context. They further suggest that researchers and developers attempting to simulate social interactions should consider the impact of agency beliefs on user experience in other social contexts, and their effect

Anorexia Nervosa: Sociocultural Factors and Treatment.

Science.gov (United States)

Williams, Jennifer

This paper examines how the epidemiological findings of anorexia nervosa lead theorists to speculate a correlation between sociocultural factors and the development of anorexia nervosa. A section on the essential features of anorexia nervosa identifies five primary characteristics of anorexia: (1) severe weight loss; (2) a disturbance of body…

Constructivism, Socioculturalism, and Popper's World 3.

Science.gov (United States)

Bereiter, Carl

1994-01-01

Examines the concept of learning from both constructivist and sociocultural perspectives and introduces a third perspective based on K. R. Popper's philosophy of science. It is argued that constructivism cannot adequately account for the immaterial objects that Popper located in his World 3--abstract mathematical and scientific objects. (GLR)

Sociocultural Factors and Bureaucratic Practices in Universities in Ghana

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

SOLOMON KOFI AMOAH

2014-05-01

Full Text Available Max Weber, one of the pioneers in bureaucratic organisational studies believes in the ultimate triumph of bureaucracy over the collegial culture of universities. This paper argues that rather than ultimate triumph of bureaucracy over the collegial culture of universities (Weber 1947, the interests of universities would be better served when the bureaucratic culture is designed to accommodate some core socio-cultural expectations of organizational members, without compromising productivity.  The research examined the implications of some selected sociocultural factors for bureaucratic practices in selected universities in Ghana through a mix method approach. The findings show that, the authority structures of the two universities typify the Weberian Ideal type bureaucracy with   hierarchical culture and standardized rules and procedures for carrying out every task. This notwithstanding, the societal culture was found to be influential in shaping the bureaucratic behaviour and conducts of organizations’ members. The paper aims at bringing to the fore the strength of the informal structures in reshaping bureaucratic culture and work behaviour, and the need to consider socio-cultural contexts in designing bureaucratic organizations.

SOCIO-CULTURAL AND MEDICAL INDICATORS OF THE SCHOOLCHILDREN'S QUALITY OF LIFE

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Slobodanka Bašić

2003-01-01

Full Text Available An estimate of life quality is based upon medical, psychological and social indicators. It increasingly engages the attention of doctors of medicine, sociologists and psychologists.The aim of this research is to headlight some more relevant socio-cultural parametres in order to determine the quality of life of schoolchildren, that is, to determine whether the crisis in which our society has found itself has produced such socio-cultural conditions that could have induced changes in the children's quality of life and, if they have, to what extent the crisis has been reflected upon their health. The research has comprised 398 schoolchildren and their parents, three elementary schools from Nish and one in Sokobanja.The research of the socio-cultural and medical indicators of their quality of life has shown that the parent's education and ther material position have had an important influence upon the children's life quality.Since there has been no significant presence of any disease recorded in the observed children's sample, it can be concluded that the socio-cultural features have affected the children's life but they have not any significant impact upon their health.

Physical Models and Virtual Reality Simulators in Otolaryngology.

Science.gov (United States)

Javia, Luv; Sardesai, Maya G

2017-10-01

The increasing role of simulation in the medical education of future otolaryngologists has followed suit with other surgical disciplines. Simulators make it possible for the resident to explore and learn in a safe and less stressful environment. The various subspecialties in otolaryngology use physical simulators and virtual-reality simulators. Although physical simulators allow the operator to make direct contact with its components, virtual-reality simulators allow the operator to interact with an environment that is computer generated. This article gives an overview of the various types of physical simulators and virtual-reality simulators used in otolaryngology that have been reported in the literature. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Grace under Fire: Sociocultural Competency Training.

Science.gov (United States)

Avery, Wayne W.; Bawtenheimer, Pat; Pearson, Hilary; Westwood, Dianne

2001-01-01

Employers want employees who can communicate effectively, work as part of a team, and think on their feet. To help students acquire these qualities, the faculty of health sciences and counseling at Vancouver Community College integrated a sociocultural training model into their human relations programs. Evaluations indicate that students'…

Sociocultural Paradoxes and Issues in E-Learning Use in Higher Education Africa

Science.gov (United States)

Njenga, James Kariuki

2018-01-01

Sociocultural issues are major contributing factors in mass acceptance and effective use of technology. These issues are often perceived to contradict the benefits the technology brings about. E-learning use in higher education in Africa, as a technology, faces some sociocultural barriers that contradict its promise and benefits. This paper…

Cerec omnicam and the virtual articulator--a case report.

Science.gov (United States)

Fritzsche, G

2013-01-01

This case report demonstrates how two opposing teeth were restored with full crowns using Cerec software version 4.2 (pre-release version). In addition, an anterior tooth was provided with a veneer. The situation was scanned with the Cerec Omnicam. The new virtual articulator was used for the design to obtain correct dynamic contacts. The Cerec Omnicam can scan the entire situation prior to preparation without the help of an assistant, as no surface pretreatment is necessary. The locations of the occlusal contacts can be marked with articulating paper and are indicated on the virtual models. Selective deletion of individual areas allows the prepared teeth to be rescanned, considerably speeding up the workflow. A video demonstration is available of the acquisition and design procedure.

Numerical algorithms for contact problems in linear elastostatics

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Barbosa, H.J.C.; Feijoo, R.A.

1984-01-01

In this work contact problems in linear elasticity are analysed by means of Finite Elements and Mathematical Programming Techniques. The principle of virtual work leads in this case to a variational inequality which in turn is equivalent, for Hookean materials and infinitesimal strains, to the minimization of the total potential energy over the set of all admissible virtual displacements. The use of Gauss-Seidel algorithm with relaxation and projection and also Lemke's algorithm and Uzawa's algorithm for solving the minimization problem is discussed. Finally numerical examples are presented. (Author) [pt

Ten years of the Spanish Virtual Observatory

Science.gov (United States)

Solano, E.

2015-05-01

The main objective of the Virtual Observatory (VO) is to guarantee an easy and efficient access and analysis of the information hosted in astronomical archives. The Spanish Virtual Observatory (SVO) is a project that was born in 2004 with the goal of promoting and coordinating the VO-related activities at national level. SVO is also the national contact point for the international VO initiatives, in particular the International Virtual Observatory Alliance (IVOA) and the Euro-VO project. The project, led by Centro de Astrobiología (INTA-CSIC), is structured around four major topics: a) VO compliance of astronomical archives, b) VO-science, c) VO- and data mining-tools, and d) Education and outreach. In this paper I will describe the most important results obtained by the Spanish Virtual Observatory in its first ten years of life as well as the future lines of work.

Socio-cultural Issues for Sustainable Development in Africa ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Socio-cultural Issues for Sustainable Development in Africa. ... focal areas of sustainable development – social, economic and environmental factors. ... that designed a Sustainable Integrated Rural Development in Africa (SIRDA) programme.

Sociocultural mediators of remembering

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Wagoner, Brady; Gillespie, Alex

2014-01-01

, questioning and deferring contribute to the transformation and conventionalization of the material. These diverse sociocultural mediators are integrated into a partially coherent recollection by participants self-reflecting, or as Bartlett termed it, turning around upon their schemas. We demonstrate...... that this self-reflection is both a social and a psychological process, occurring because participants are responding to their own utterances in the same way that they respond to the utterances of other people. These empirical findings are used to make a case for using discursive data to look not only...

Search for contact interactions and leptoquarks at HERA

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Scheins, J.

1999-01-01

The measured single differential cross section dσ/dQ 2 is compared to the Standard Model expectation and analyzed to search for (e-bar e)(q-bar q) contact interactions. No significant deviation is observed and limits on leptoquark compositeness scales and virtual leptoquark exchange are presented

Transnational Organizational Considerations for Sociocultural Differences in Ethics and Virtual Team Functioning in Laboratory Animal Science

OpenAIRE

Pritt, Stacy L; Mackta, Jayne

2010-01-01

Business models for transnational organizations include linking different geographies through common codes of conduct, policies, and virtual teams. Global companies with laboratory animal science activities (whether outsourced or performed inhouse) often see the need for these business activities in relation to animal-based research and benefit from them. Global biomedical research organizations can learn how to better foster worldwide cooperation and teamwork by understanding and working wit...

Sociocultural predictors of motor development of athletes from ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Sociocultural predictors of motor development of athletes from Botswana, Lesotho and Swaziland. ... variables as they influenced the athletes' motor skill development. The social situations, family and the schools were found to significantly ...

Partner dependency and intimate partner abuse: A sociocultural grounding of spousal abuse in Ghana

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Adjei, Stephen Baffour

2015-01-01

While sociocultural scholarship has attempted an ecological explanation of intimate partner violence, it has largely been criticized for ignoring dispositional factors of both perpetrators and victims. Dependent personality and attachment-related emotional problems have been implicated in the ext......While sociocultural scholarship has attempted an ecological explanation of intimate partner violence, it has largely been criticized for ignoring dispositional factors of both perpetrators and victims. Dependent personality and attachment-related emotional problems have been implicated...... of dependency and attachment-related spousal violence as a form of a psychopathology. This article discusses partner dependency and jealousy-motivated spousal violence as socioculturally situated, dependent on contextual and relational conditions of meaning embedded in the communal society of Ghana....... It highlights Ghanaian communal personality, gendered socialization and meaning systems of marriage as salient sociocultural features for conceptualizing partner dependency and emotional-related spousal violence....

Socio-cultural factors impacting male involvement in the ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Socio-cultural factors impacting male involvement in the management of infertile couples at the Kenyatta National Hospital. ... that may influence male participation in the management of the infertile couples attending the KNH Infertility Clinic.

Concept "Medical Museum" as a Sociocultural Phenomenon

Science.gov (United States)

Chizh, Nina V.; Slyshkin, Gennady G.; Zheltukhina, Marina R.; Privalova, Irina V.; Kravchenko, Olga A.

2016-01-01

The article examines the concept "medical museum" as a sociocultural phenomenon. The register of medical museums in Russia makes the material of research. The complex methods of analysis of the concept "medical museum" are used. The philosophical, historical, cultural, structural, communicative and semantic analysis is carried…

Socio-Cultural Impacts of Educational Tourism on the Residents of Famagusta

OpenAIRE

Rezapouraghdam, Hamed

2013-01-01

Apart from palpable and potent effects of the tourism on the economy and the physical environment, it can be contributed to the socio-cultural vicissitudes in the host communities. Educational tourism as one of the most influential segments of tourism both from the economic and socio-cultural standpoints has an accelerating pace of development in the whole globe. Previous studies mostly have focused on the economic impacts of educational tourism and slightly have gone through the social an...

Impacts of geographical locations and sociocultural traits on the Vietnamese entrepreneurship.

Science.gov (United States)

Vuong, Quan Hoang

2016-01-01

This paper presents new results obtained from investigating the data from a 2015 Vietnamese entrepreneurs' survey, containing 3071 observations. Evidence from the estimations using multinomial logits was found to support relationships between several sociocultural factors and entrepreneurship-related performance or traits. Specifically, those relationships include: (a) Active participation in entrepreneurs' social networks and reported value of creativity; (b) CSR-willingness and reported entrepreneurs' perseverance; (c) Transforming of sociocultural values and entrepreneurs' decisiveness; and, (d) Lessons learned from others' failures and perceived chance of success. Using geographical locations as the control variate, evaluations of the baseline-category logits models indicate their varying effects on the outcomes when combined with the sociocultural factors that are found to be statistically significant. Empirical probabilities that give further detail about behavioral patterns are provided; and toward the end, the paper offers some conclusions with some striking insights and useful explanations on the Vietnamese entrepreneurship processes.

Traditional Values, Socio-Cultural Factors and Human Resource ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

... Values, Socio-Cultural Factors and Human Resource Management Practices in ... Ghanaian worker in general and the HR manager in particular is influenced ... face -to-face interview methods were used to obtain information for the study.

Incorporation of Socio-Cultural Values in Damage Assessment Valuations of Contaminated Lands in the Niger Delta

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Victor A. Akujuru

2014-07-01

Full Text Available Damages on contaminated land have been mostly assessed for developments subsisting on the land, neglecting the goods and services derived from the land which possess only socio-cultural values. This paper aims to ascertain the importance of socio-cultural values in the total economic value of contaminated land, drawing from the experience of a coastal community oil spillage in the Niger Delta. The paper examines what constitutes a valuable interest on contaminated land and how socio-cultural factors are valued in the damage assessment process. After reviewing the literature and decided cases, a questionnaire survey was conducted and a sample valuation report was analysed. It is concluded that there exists a socio-cultural interest on contaminated land which professional valuers do not reflect in damage assessment claims. It is recommended that any comprehensive damage assessment requires the incorporation of socio-cultural values in the valuations.

Interconnection of socio-cultural adaptation and identity in the socialization process

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

L Y Rakhmanova

2015-12-01

Full Text Available The article considers the influence of the socio-cultural adaptation of an individual on his personality and identity structure; analyzes the processes of primary and secondary socialization in comparison with subsequent adaptation processes, as well as the possibility of a compromise between the unchanging, rigid identity and the ability to adapt flexibly to the changing context. The author identifies positive and negative aspects of adaptation in the contemporary society while testing the hypothesis that if the adaptation is successful and proceeds within the normal range, it helps to preserve the stability of social structures, but does not contribute to their development for the maladaptive behavior of individuals and groups stimulates social transformations. In the second part of the article, the author shows the relationship of the socio-cultural identity and the individual status in various social communities and tries to answer the question whether the existence and functioning of the social community as a pure ‘form’ without individuals (its members is possible. The author describes the identity phenomenon in the context of the opposition of the universal and unique, similarities and differences. The article also introduces the concept of the involvement in the socio-cultural context as one of the indicators of the completeness and depth of individual socio-cultural adaptation to a certain environment, which is quite important for the internal hierarchy of individual identity.

Regulation of positive and negative emotion: Effects of sociocultural context

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Sara A. Snyder

2013-07-01

Full Text Available Previous research has demonstrated that the use of emotion regulation strategies can vary by sociocultural context. In a previous study, we reported changes in the use of two different emotion regulation strategies at an annual alternative cultural event, Burning Man (McRae, Heller, John, & Gross, 2011. In this sociocultural context, as compared to home, participants reported less use of expressive suppression (a strategy generally associated with maladaptive outcomes, and greater use of cognitive reappraisal (a strategy associated with adaptive outcomes. What remained unclear was whether these changes in self-reported emotion regulation strategy use were characterized by changes in the regulation of positive emotion, negative emotion, or both. We addressed this issue in the current study by asking Burning Man participants separate questions about positive and negative emotion. Using multiple datasets, we not only replicated our previous findings, but also found that the decreased use of suppression is primarily driven by reports of decreased suppression of positive emotion at Burning Man. By contrast, the reported increased use of reappraisal is not characterized by differential reappraisal of positive and negative emotion at Burning Man. Moreover, we observed novel individual differences in the magnitude of these effects. The contextual changes in self-reported suppression that we report are strongest for men and younger participants. For those who had previously attended Burning Man, we observed lower levels of self-reported suppression in both sociocultural contexts: Burning Man and home. These findings have implications for understanding the ways in which certain sociocultural contexts may decrease suppression, and possibly minimize its associated maladaptive effects.

Socio-Cultural Dynamics of Education in the Context of the Post-Non-Classical Science

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V. A. Ignatova

2012-01-01

Full Text Available The paper deals with the interrelations between society, education and culture. Using the comparative analysis of classical approaches to defining the above spheres, the author comes to conclusion that the nature of socio-cultural processes can be explored and described most consistently by applying comprehensive models of the post-non-classical science and considering civilization, education and culture in the context of the unified dynamic flow of socio-cultural genesis. The research investigates the dialectics of socio-cultural processes in the light of systematic synergetic approach, the advancing role of education in socio-cultural dynamics being revealed and substantiated. The author emphasizes its inevitably rising priority due to sustained development of civilization bringing about the new environmentally-oriented meta-culture.The obtained results can be used in pedagogic research methodology, designing and modeling the educational process, its content, technology and organization. 

Articulating cultures: socio-cultural experiences of black female ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Articulating cultures: socio-cultural experiences of black female immigrant students in South African schools 1. ... Gender and Behaviour ... and worrisome issue is that of the erosion of the social and cultural mores of Black3 immigrant students.

Predicting Eating Disorder Group Membership: An Examination and Extension of the Sociocultural Model

Science.gov (United States)

Engler, Patricia A.; Crowther, Janis H.; Dalton, Ginnie; Sanftner, Jennifer L.

2006-01-01

The purpose of this research was to examine and extend portions of the sociocultural model of bulimia nervosa (Stice, E. (1994). Review of the evidence for a sociocultural model of bulimia nervosa and an exploration of the mechanisms of action. "Clinical Psychology Review," 14, 633-661; Stice, E., & Agras, W. S. (1998). Predicting onset and…

Sociocultural determinants of induced abortion

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Korejo, R.; Noorani, K.J.; Bhutta, S.

2003-01-01

Objective: To determine the frequency of induced abortion and identity the role of sociocultural factors contributing to termination of pregnancy and associated morbidity and mortality in hospital setting. Subjects and Methods: The patients who were admitted for induced abortion were interviewed in privacy. On condition of anonymity they were asked about the age, parity, family setup and relationships, with particular emphasis on sociocultural reasons and factors contributing to induction of abortion. Details of status of abortionist and methods used for termination of pregnancy, the resulting complications and their severity were recorded. Results: Out of total admissions, 57(2.35%) gave history of induced abortion. All women belonged to low socioeconomic class and 59.6% of them were illiterate. Forty-three (75.5%) of these women had never practiced concentration. Twenty-four (42%) were grandmultiparae and did not want more children. In 29 women (50.9%) the decision for abortion had been supported by the husband. In 25 (43.8%) abortion was carried out by Daiyan (traditional midwives). Serious complications like uterine perforation with or without bowel injury were encouraged in 25 (43.8%) of these women. During the study period illegally induced abortion accounted for 6 (10.5%) maternal deaths. Conclusion: Prevalence of poverty, illiteracy, grand multiparity and non-practice of contraception are strong determinants of induced abortion. (author)

Contact-free handling using actively controlled electrostatic levitating fields

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Woo, S.J.

2012-01-01

In general electric field forces have the distinctive property of being able to mediate forces to virtually any material in a fully non-invasive and contact-free fashion. Based on this property, electrostatic levitation holds great promise for the semiconductor, solar panel, and flat-panel display

La promoción sociocultural como habilidad profesional en la carrera Estudios Socioculturales

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yousy Baby Ramírez

2017-04-01

Full Text Available La formación de habilidades profesionales deviene actualmente en tema que exige una respuesta desde la ciencia. La promoción sociocultural es concebida como metodología para el trabajo comunitario, sistema de acciones y proceso sociocultural; la presente investigación la asume como habilidad profesional en la formación académica del graduado de la carrera Estudios Socioculturales a través de una invariante funcional desarrollada desde el trabajo científico metodológico. El objetivo es elaborar una invariante funcional que contribuya a la preparación de los docentes para el desarrollo de la promoción sociocultural como habilidad profesional en la carrera Estudios Socioculturales.

A Sociocultural Analysis of Social Interaction and Collaboration within the Cooking Practices of Children

Science.gov (United States)

Bligh, Caroline Adele; Fathima, Monalisa

2017-01-01

This article applies sociocultural theorizing as a tool to analyze children's collaborative cooking practices through the key sociocultural concepts of social interaction and collaboration within a school cooking club. The "everyday" activity of cooking is examined using field notes gathered through participant observations, diary…

ALGORITHMIC FACILITIES AND SOFTWARE FOR VIRTUAL DESIGN OF ANTI-BLOCK AND COUNTER-SLIPPING SYSTEMS

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N. N. Hurski

2009-01-01

Full Text Available The paper considers algorithms of designing a roadway covering for virtual test of mobile machine movement dynamics; an algorithm of forming actual values of forces/moments in «road–wheel–car» contact and their derivatives, and also a software for virtual designing of mobile machine dynamics.

Taking an Active Stance: How Urban Elementary Students Connect Sociocultural Experiences in Learning Science

Science.gov (United States)

Upadhyay, Bhaskar; Maruyama, Geoffrey; Albrecht, Nancy

2017-01-01

In this interpretive case study, we draw from sociocultural theory of learning and culturally relevant pedagogy to understand how urban students from nondominant groups leverage their sociocultural experiences. These experiences allow them to gain an empowering voice in influencing science content and activities and to work towards…

Environmental factors and teenagers' personalities: The role of personal and familial Socio-Cultural Level.

Science.gov (United States)

Menardo, Elisa; Balboni, Giulia; Cubelli, Roberto

2017-05-15

Environmental (e.g., socio-cultural context), individual (e.g., genetic makeup), and interpersonal (e.g., caregiver-children relationships) factors can play a crucial role in shaping the development of the teenagers' personality. In this study, we focused on the Socio-Cultural Level that designates the set of preferences, knowledge, and behaviors that characterize an individual's way of life and depend on his or her cultural, social, and economic resources. We studied the relationship between Socio-Cultural Level (personal, maternal, and paternal) and Big Five personality traits of 191 teenagers living in the same geographical area. Results showed that Socioeconomic Status (i.e., parental education level and occupational prestige), which is the only dimension generally measured in investigations on Socio-Cultural Level, was not related with personality. In contrast, Cultural Capital and Social Capital were associated with different personality traits. Personal Cultural Capital was related to Openness to experience of boys and girls and to Extraversion of girls; personal Social Capital was related to Extraversion of girls, Emotional stability of boys, and Agreeableness of both boys and girls; maternal Cultural Capital was associated with Openness to experience of daughters. Overall, the personality of teenagers was more related to their own Cultural and Social Capital than to the Cultural and Social Capital of their parents. Moreover, the relationship between Cultural Capital and Social Capital of boys/girls and of fathers/mothers was moderate in strength. It seems that parents influence the development of personality of their teenagers indirectly, their Socio-Cultural Level shaping the Socio-Cultural Level of their sons and daughters. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Individual classroom experiences: a sociocultural comparison for understanding efl classroom language learning Individual classroom experiences: a sociocultural comparison for understanding efl classroom language learning

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Laura Miccoli

2008-04-01

Full Text Available Este trabalho compara as experiências de sala de aula (ESA de duas universitárias na aprendizagem de língua inglesa. As ESA emergiram de entrevistas individuais, onde vídeos das aulas promoveram a reflexão. A análise revelou que experiências de natureza cognitiva, social ou afetiva influem diretamente no processo de aprendizagem e as que se referem ao contexto, à história, crenças e metas dos alunos influem indiretamente no mesmo. A singularidade de algumas experiências levou à sua categorização como ESA individuais (ESAI. Ao comparar as ESAI de duas informantes, a importância da análise sociocultural do processo de aprendizagem de sala de aula fica evidente. Concluiremos com uma defesa do valor da teoria sociocultural no estudo da aprendizagem de língua estrangeira em sala de aula e com a apresentação das implicações deste estudo para pesquisadores e professores. This paper compares the classroom experiences (CEs of two university students in their process of learning English as a foreign language (EFL. The CEs emerged from individual interviews, where classroom videos promoted reflection. The analysis revealed that cognitive, social and affective experiences directly influence the learning process and that those which refer to setting, learner’s personal background, beliefs and goal influence the learning process indirectly. The analysis also revealed the singularity of some of these CEs that led to their categorization as individual CEs (ICEs. When comparing the ICEs of the two participants, the importance of a sociocultural analysis of the classroom learning process becomes evident. We conclude with an analysis of the value of sociocultural theory in the study of classroom EFL learning and with the implications of this study for teachers and researchers.

Socio-cultural Impacts of Contemporary Tourism

OpenAIRE

Jovičić, Dobrica

2011-01-01

The topic of the paper is devoted to analysis of socio-cultural impacts of tourism, as effects on the people of host communities resulting from their direct and indirect associations with tourists. The social and cultural impacts of tourism are the ways in which tourism is contributing to changes in value systems, individual behavior, family structure and relationships, collective lifestyles, safety levels, moral conduct, traditional ceremonies and community organizations. Special ...

Sport in the Sociocultural Process. Second Edition.

Science.gov (United States)

Hart, Marie

This anthology is an introduction to the sociocultural study of sport for those in physical education, sociology, anthropology, or any other study of human behavior in the social process. Part I provides a cultural framework, a series of definitions, and some understandings of the cultural setting of sport in American society as an orientation to…

Sociocultural Appearance Standards and Risk Factors for Eating Disorders in Adolescents and Women of Various Ages.

Science.gov (United States)

Izydorczyk, Bernadetta; Sitnik-Warchulska, Katarzyna

2018-01-01

The main aim of the present study was to verify the level of impact of sociocultural appearance standards (passive awareness and active internalization) have on body dissatisfaction, the desire to engage in a relentless pursuit of thinness, the adoption of a perfectionistic attitude toward the body, and the development of a tendency to engage in bulimic eating behavior, which can develop in adolescent girls and women of varying ages. The study group comprised 234 individuals: 95 secondary school girls, 33 high school girls, 56 female students, and 50 employed women, all of whom were living in southern Poland. Participants were not diagnosed with any psychiatric disorders (including eating disorders). The variables were measured using the Polish version of Garner's Eating Disorder Inventory and the Polish Sociocultural Attitudes Towards Physical Appearance and Body Image Inventory [based on the SATAQ-3 (Sociocultural Attitudes Towards Appearance Questionnaire Scale-3)]. The findings revealed that the youngest Polish girls (aged 12-15) reported the highest level of risk factors for eating disorders. Among the entire study group, the internalization of appearance standards and the pressure associated with various media messages were determined to be predictors of the pursuit of thinness, regardless of age and body mass index values. The second most significant variable explained by the internalization of sociocultural standards was body dissatisfaction. The internalization of sociocultural norms provided a significant explanation of bulimic tendencies only in the youngest girls. Perfectionism proved not to be affected by the sociocultural impact of mass media. The adult women had the lowest average scores over the entire study population regarding exposure frequency to body images in mass media and regarding the experience of pressure exerted by sociocultural norms. The high level of internalization of sociocultural appearance standards seems to be significantly

Sociocultural Appearance Standards and Risk Factors for Eating Disorders in Adolescents and Women of Various Ages

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Bernadetta Izydorczyk

2018-03-01

Full Text Available The main aim of the present study was to verify the level of impact of sociocultural appearance standards (passive awareness and active internalization have on body dissatisfaction, the desire to engage in a relentless pursuit of thinness, the adoption of a perfectionistic attitude toward the body, and the development of a tendency to engage in bulimic eating behavior, which can develop in adolescent girls and women of varying ages. The study group comprised 234 individuals: 95 secondary school girls, 33 high school girls, 56 female students, and 50 employed women, all of whom were living in southern Poland. Participants were not diagnosed with any psychiatric disorders (including eating disorders. The variables were measured using the Polish version of Garner’s Eating Disorder Inventory and the Polish Sociocultural Attitudes Towards Physical Appearance and Body Image Inventory [based on the SATAQ-3 (Sociocultural Attitudes Towards Appearance Questionnaire Scale-3]. The findings revealed that the youngest Polish girls (aged 12–15 reported the highest level of risk factors for eating disorders. Among the entire study group, the internalization of appearance standards and the pressure associated with various media messages were determined to be predictors of the pursuit of thinness, regardless of age and body mass index values. The second most significant variable explained by the internalization of sociocultural standards was body dissatisfaction. The internalization of sociocultural norms provided a significant explanation of bulimic tendencies only in the youngest girls. Perfectionism proved not to be affected by the sociocultural impact of mass media. The adult women had the lowest average scores over the entire study population regarding exposure frequency to body images in mass media and regarding the experience of pressure exerted by sociocultural norms. The high level of internalization of sociocultural appearance standards seems to be

Socio-Cultural Factors Influencing Consent For Research In Nigeria ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Socio-Cultural Factors Influencing Consent For Research In Nigeria: Lessons ... for Health Research Ethics in enforcing researchers' compliance with ethical standards in ... Genuine respect for human dignity requires deeper understanding of ...

Sociocultural determinants of induced abortion.

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Korejo, Razia; Noorani, Khurshid Jehan; Bhutta, Shereen

2003-05-01

To determine the frequency of induced abortion and identify the role of sociocultural factors contributing to termination of pregnancy and associated morbidity and mortality in hospital setting. Prospective observational study. The study was conducted in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre, Karachi from January 1999 to June 2001. The patients who were admitted for induced abortion were interviewed in privacy. On condition of anonymity they were asked about the age, parity, family setup and relationships, with particular emphasis on sociocultural reasons and factors contributing to induction of abortion. Details of status of abortionist and methods used for termination of pregnancy, the resulting complications and their severity were recorded. Out of total admissions, 57(2.35%) gave history of induced abortion. All women belonged to low socioeconomic class and 59.6% of them were illiterate. Forty-three (75.5%) of these women had never practiced contraception. Twenty-four (42%) were grandmultiparae and did not want more children. In 29 women (50.9%) the decision for abortion had been supported by the husband. In 25 women (43.8%) abortion was carried out by Daiyan (traditional midwives). Serious complications like uterine perforation with or without bowel injury were encountered in 25 (43.8%) of these women. During the study period illegally induced abortion accounted for 6 (10.5%) maternal deaths. Prevalence of poverty, illiteracy, grand multiparity and non-practice of contraception are strong determinants of induced abortion.

Teaching and Learning English as a Foreign Language in Taiwan: A Socio-Cultural Analysis

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Kung, Fan-Wei

2017-01-01

This article examines the English as a Foreign Language (EFL) context in Taiwan based on Vygotsky's (1978) socio-cultural framework. The historical context is provided after some delineations of the educational system in Taiwan with regard to its foreign language instruction policy and development. Based upon the proposed socio-cultural framework,…

Online information Impact in the virtual destination image formation

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Célia Maria Conceição Salmim Rafael

2014-05-01

Full Text Available The influence of the destination image in the decision process and choice of destination by tourists is transverse to its intangible nature. Recent studies expand and modify the conventional image constructs specifying information sources transmitted through the internet. The scenario resulting from the literature review allows us to understand the importance of experience for touristic activity and theoretical proposition of virtual tourism as "virtual tourist experience", its determinants and its implications for the overall image destination formation. This study presents a literature review base to the empiric research proposal whose general objective comprises the analysis of the influence of factors, such as interactivity, in online communication and contact with virtual tourism experiences online in image destination formation and image destination.

Analysis of Acculturative Stress and Sociocultural Adaptation among International Students at a Non-Metropolitan University

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Mahmood, Hajara; Burke, Monica Galloway

2018-01-01

This quantitative descriptive study analyzed levels of acculturative stress and sociocultural adaptation among international students at a non-metropolitan university in the United States related to certain demographic characteristics. Surveys were used to measure international students' levels of acculturative stress and sociocultural adaptation,…

Knowledge Value Creation Characteristics of Virtual Teams: A Case Study in the Construction Sector

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Vorakulpipat, Chalee; Rezgui, Yacine

Any knowledge environment aimed at virtual teams should promote identification, access, capture and retrieval of relevant knowledge anytime / anywhere, while nurturing the social activities that underpin the knowledge sharing and creation process. In fact, socio-cultural issues play a critical role in the successful implementation of Knowledge Management (KM), and constitute a milestone towards value creation. The findings indicate that Knowledge Management Systems (KMS) promote value creation when they embed and nurture the social conditions that bind and bond team members together. Furthermore, technology assets, human networks, social capital, intellectual capital, and change management are identified as essential ingredients that have the potential to ensure effective knowledge value creation.

School bullying from a sociocultural perspective

OpenAIRE

Maunder, Rachel E.; Crafter, Sarah

2018-01-01

School bullying is an important concern. Whilst there is growing knowledge about the nature, extent and effects of school bullying, areas of complexity in research findings remain. In this paper we develop our thinking on school bullying using a sociocultural theoretical framework. We review existing literature around three main themes: 1) The conceptualisation and interpretation of bullying; 2) The relational aspects of bullying 3) Bullying as part of someone's life trajectory. For each them...

Sociocultural patterning of neural activity during self-reflection

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Ma, Yina; Bang, Dan; Wang, Chenbo

2014-01-01

) in Chinese than in Danish participants. Moreover, the group difference in TPJ activity was mediated by a measure of a cultural value (i.e., interdependence of self-construal). Our findings suggest that individuals in different sociocultural contexts may learn and/or adopt distinct strategies for self-reflection...

Evolution of public relations in the activity of organizations of ukrainian socio-cultural sphere

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Євгенія Олегівна Кияниця

2015-04-01

Full Text Available The article traces the evolution of public relations in various fields of life including socio-cultural and found creative and social potential of this activity. Analysis of historical experience of using the PR-technologies in the field of sociocultural institutions promotes understanding of importance of this activity for the efficient work of organizations of this sphere

Socio-Cultural Factors in Second Language Learning: A Case Study of Adventurous Adult Language Learners

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Ozfidan, Burhan; Machtmes, Krisanna L.; Demir, Husamettin

2014-01-01

Sociocultural theories consider language learning as a social practice examines students as active participants in the construction of learning processes. This study investigates sociocultural theories' central concepts, which includes peer interaction and feedback, private speech, and self-efficacy. The present study is a case study of twenty…

Current Trends in the Detection of Sociocultural Signatures: Data-Driven Models

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Sanfilippo, Antonio P.; Bell, Eric B.; Corley, Courtney D.

2014-09-15

The harvesting of behavioral data and their analysis through evidence-based reasoning enable the detection of sociocultural signatures in their context to support situation awareness and decision making. Harvested data are used as training materials from which to infer computational models of sociocultural behaviors or calibrate parameters for such models. Harvested data also serve as evidence input that the models use to provide insights about observed and future behaviors for targets of interest. The harvested data is often the result of assembling diverse data types and aggregating them into a form suitable for analysis. Data need to be analyzed to bring out the categories of content that are relevant to the domain being addressed in order to train or run a model. If, for example, we are modeling the intent of a group to engage in violent behavior using messages that the group has broadcasted, then these messages need to be processed to extract and measure indicators of violent intent. The extracted indicators and the associated measurements (e.g. rates or counts of occurrence) can then be used to train/calibrate and run computational models that assess the propensity for violence expressed in the source message. Ubiquitous access to the Internet, mobile telephony and technologies such as digital photography and digital video have enabled social media application platforms such as Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter that are altering the nature of human social interaction. The fast increasing pace of online social interaction introduces new challenges and opportunities for gathering sociocultural data. Challenges include the development of harvesting and processing techniques tailored to new data environments and formats (e.g. Twitter, Facebook), the integration of social media content with traditional media content, and the protection of personal privacy. As these and other challenges are addressed, a new wealth of behavioral data and data analysis methods becomes

Approach to assessing local socio-cultural impacts using projections of population growth and composition

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Baldwin, T. E.; Poetsch, R.

1977-08-01

All assessment of future domestic development projects assumes that the problems to be examined have been properly identified and defined before the application of a projection technique. An attempt is made to codify socio-cultural problems mentioned in literature and clarify how existing demographic projection techniques can be applied to assessing the problems. The relationship between changes in local population size and composition induced by in-migration and the potential for socio-cultural incompatibilities is described heuristically. For simplification, the problems expected to emerge from differences in demographic composition are classified into three categories: (1) service needs, such as those for housing, recreation, and education; (2) types of social organizations related to capacities for, or constraints on, reaping the benefits of rapid economic development and social changes (e.g., employment and income); and (3) attitudes, values, and cultural perspectives. These areas of concern are very broad, and quantitative projections of population size and composition are more easily related to the first than to the third. Although demographic projection provides a valuable tool for estimating future social change, the knowledge about cause and effect is not sufficient to support the quantification of socio-cultural impact. Therefore, the projections are used only as relative indicators and the assessments of socio-cultural impact based on them are qualitative only. Therefore, identification and assessment of socio-cultural impacts are a means of developing plans to overcome the expected problems.

Broadening the examination of sociocultural constructs relevant to African-American colorectal cancer screening.

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Thompson, V L Sanders; Harris, J; Clark, E M; Purnell, J; Deshpande, A D

2015-01-01

The importance of sociocultural constructs as influences on cancer attitudes and screening has been established in the literature. This paper reports on the efforts to explore alternatives to sociocultural constructs previously associated with African-American cancer screening, but with low acceptance among community members or incomplete measurement (empowerment and collectivism) and develop a measure for a recently identified construct of interest (privacy). We report preliminary psychometric data on these sociocultural scales and their associations with cancer attitudes. African-Americans (N = 1021), 50-75 years of age participated in this study. Participants were identified via a listed sample and completed a telephone survey administered via call center. Sociocultural attitudes were assessed using items identified through computerized database searches, reviewed by advisory panels, edited and tested using cognitive response strategies. Cancer screening pros and cons, cancer worry, perceived cancer risk, colorectal cancer (CRC) screening subjective norms, and perceived self-efficacy for colorectal cancer screening (CRCS) were also assessed. Confirmatory factor analyses and multivariate analyses were conducted to provide support for the validity of the constructs and to understand the associations among the selected sociocultural constructs (empowerment, collectivism, and privacy) and cancer beliefs and attitudes (CRC perceived benefits and barriers, perceived risks, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control/self-efficacy). Consistent with the literature, the factor analytic model (RMSEA for the model was .062; 90% CI: .060-.065) provided support for the empowerment, collectivism, and privacy constructs. The modified collectivism and privacy scales had acceptable reliability. The privacy scale demonstrated the strongest associations with measures of cancer beliefs and attitudes. The implication of the findings and need for further scale

Socio-Cultural Factors and Ethnic Group Relationships in ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Much has been discussed and written about ethnicity. This paper is therefore intended as a contribution to the management of interethnic/intercultural conflicts in Nigeria, with a focus on new ways of handling the basic socio-cultural institutions shaping ethnic consciousness. Furthermore, this paper highlights the basic ...

Intraoral Digital Impressions for Virtual Occlusal Records: Section Quantity and Dimensions

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Eneko Solaberrieta

2016-01-01

Full Text Available The purpose of this study was to locate the 3D spatial position mandibular cast and determine its occlusal contacts in a novel way by using an intraoral scanner as part of the virtual occlusal record procedure. This study also analyzes the requirements in quantity and dimensions of the intraoral virtual occlusal record. The results showed that the best section combination consists of 2 lateral and frontal sections, the width of this section being that of 2 teeth (24 mm × 15 mm. This study concluded that this procedure was accurate enough to locate the mandibular cast on a virtual articulator. However, at least 2 sections of the virtual occlusal records were necessary, and the best results were obtained when the distance between these sections was maximum.

Intraoral Digital Impressions for Virtual Occlusal Records: Section Quantity and Dimensions

Science.gov (United States)

Solaberrieta, Eneko; Garmendia, Asier; Brizuela, Aritza; Otegi, Jose Ramon; Pradies, Guillermo; Szentpétery, Andras

2016-01-01

The purpose of this study was to locate the 3D spatial position mandibular cast and determine its occlusal contacts in a novel way by using an intraoral scanner as part of the virtual occlusal record procedure. This study also analyzes the requirements in quantity and dimensions of the intraoral virtual occlusal record. The results showed that the best section combination consists of 2 lateral and frontal sections, the width of this section being that of 2 teeth (24 mm × 15 mm). This study concluded that this procedure was accurate enough to locate the mandibular cast on a virtual articulator. However, at least 2 sections of the virtual occlusal records were necessary, and the best results were obtained when the distance between these sections was maximum. PMID:26881226

A monument to the player: preserving a landscape of socio-cultural capital in the transitional MMORPG

Science.gov (United States)

`Adrir'Scott, Michael

2012-12-01

Massively multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPGs) produce dynamic socio-ludic worlds that nurture both culture and gameplay to shape experiences. Despite the persistent nature of these games, however, the virtual spaces that anchor these worlds may not always be able to exist in perpetuity. Encouraging a community to migrate from one space to another is a challenge now facing some game developers. This paper examines the case of Guild Wars® and its "Hall of Monuments", a feature that bridges the accomplishments of players from the current game to the forthcoming sequel. Two factor analyses describe the perspectives of 105 and 187 self-selected participants. The results reveal four factors affecting attitudes towards the feature, but they do not strongly correlate with existing motivational frameworks, and significant differences were found between different cultures within the game. This informs a discussion about the implications and facilitation of such transitions, investigating themes of capital, value perception and assumptive worlds. It is concluded that the way subcultures produce meaning needs to be considered when attempting to preserve the socio-cultural landscape.

Socio-Cultural Conception of Albinism and Sexuality Challenges ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Socio-Cultural Conception of Albinism and Sexuality Challenges among Persons with Albinism (PWA) in South-West, Nigeria. ... For the female PWA the risk of being used for money making rituals; not knowing a sincere partner; their more fragile nature and perceived fear of societal objection and hatred in seeing a ...

Socio-Cultural Problems and Maladaptive Behaviours of Post ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Through survey research design, this study investigated the socio-cultural problems and maladaptive behaviours of post-adolescents in Nigeria. Out of 379 National Youth Service Corps (N. Y. S. C.) members drawn from various parts of Nigeria for the 2010/2011 service year, deployed to Abakaliki, Ebonyi and Izzi Local ...

Aproximación a la Animación Sociocultural desde una perspectiva didáctica

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Ana CALVO SASTRE

2009-11-01

Full Text Available RESUMEN: El objetivo principal de este artículo es plantear algunas reflexiones sobre los procesos de Animación Sociocultural desde una perspectiva didáctica. Para ello se analiza, por un lado, la relación entre la Animación Sociocultural como práctica educativa y la Didáctica como disciplina centrada en el estudio de los procesos de enseñanza-aprendizaje. Este análisis se realiza desde una perspectiva de complementariedad entendiendo la Didáctica como un marco referencial para la Animación Sociocultural y, a su vez, planteando la Animación Sociocultural como un campo que amplía los espacios de acción, reflexión e investigación de la Didáctica. Por otro lado, el apartado final del artículo se centra de manera específica en la perspectiva del Curriculum y su relación con la Animación Sociocultural. Se analizan, sobre todo, aquellas teorías que conciben la práctica del Curriculum como un proceso de investigación y, de manera más específica, aquellas que expresan una visión crítica del mismo puesto que constituyen la concepción del Curriculum en la que mejor se acomoda la Animación Sociocultural desde los planteamientos que de este concepto se realizan a lo largo del artículo.ABSTRACT: The principal objective of this article is to establish some reflections on the processes of Socio-cultural Animation («Community education» in Anglo- Saxon contexts from a didactic perspective. Thus, in one part, we analyze the relationship between Socio-cultural Animation as an educational practice and Didactics as a discipline centered on the study of teaching-learning processes. This analysis is carried out from a complementary perspective, if we understand Didactics as a referential framework for Socio-cultural Animation and, in turn, establish Sociocultural Animation as a field that extends the areas of action, reflection, and investigation of Didactics. Then, the final part of the article centers specifically on the perspective

Cochrane review: virtual reality for stroke rehabilitation.

Science.gov (United States)

Laver, K; George, S; Thomas, S; Deutsch, J E; Crotty, M

2012-09-01

Virtual reality and interactive video gaming are innovative therapy approaches in the field of stroke rehabilitation. The primary objective of this review was to determine the effectiveness of virtual reality on motor function after stroke. The impact on secondary outcomes including activities of daily living was also assessed. Randomised and quasi-randomised controlled trials that compared virtual reality with an alternative or no intervention were included in the review. The authors searched the Cochrane Stroke Group Trials Register, the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, electronic databases, trial registers, reference lists, Dissertation Abstracts, conference proceedings and contacted key researchers and virtual reality manufacturers. Search results were independently examined by two review authors to identify studies meeting the inclusion criteria. Nineteen studies with a total of 565 participants were included in the review. Variation in intervention approaches and outcome data collected limited the extent to which studies could be compared. Virtual reality was found to be significantly more effective than conventional therapy in improving upper limb function (standardised mean difference, SMD) 0.53, 95% confidence intervals [CI] 0.25 to 0.81)) based on seven studies, and activities of daily living (ADL) function (SMD 0.81, 95% CI 0.39 to 1.22) based on three studies. No statistically significant effects were found for grip strength (based on two studies) or gait speed (based on three studies). Virtual reality appears to be a promising approach however, further studies are required to confirm these findings.

The socio-cultural significance of the diagnostic label "neurasthenia" in Japan's mental health care system.

Science.gov (United States)

Munakata, T

1989-06-01

This paper is an attempt to explore the socio-cultural significance of deliberately disguising schizophrenia as neurasthenia, neurosis or malfunction of autonomic nervous system. To understand its significance, the socio-cultural background of Japanese attitudes toward mental illness and Japan's mental health care system is also examined from a non-Western standpoint.

EL CARÁCTER SOCIOCULTURAL DE LA ENSEÑANZA EN LA EDUCACIÓN SUPERIOR (THE SOCIOCULTURAL NATURE OF TEACHING IN HIGHER EDUCATION

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Obregón Rodríguez Carmen

2009-11-01

Full Text Available Resumen:Como la escuela en general, el ámbito de la educación superior también nos ofrece un escenario privilegiado para recabar evidencias del carácter sociocultural del pensamiento. Fundada en las exploraciones de Vigotzky y expandida por sus seguidores, la perspectiva sociocultural establece que nuestro pensamiento en general, y las funciones mentales superiores en particular, están por definición culturalmente mediados; y que no hay forma de no estar culturalmente situados cuando llevamos a cabo una acción, usualmente acorde con los patrones aceptados por el grupo social al que se pertenece (acción mediada. A partir de estas aseveraciones, este ensayo intenta justificar la importancia de un mayor conocimiento del contexto cultural que tiene lugar al interior de la educación superior, y una mejor comprensión de las implicaciones que las diferencias disciplinarias tienen en la enseñanza y el aprendizaje; dar cuenta de algunos hallazgos de incursiones de la investigación empírica a este respecto; y cerrar enmarcando los aportes concretos de este ejercicio dentro de una eminente preocupación por encontrar nuevas formas de articular la multiculturalidad; de integrar la diversidad que nos habita y nos estructura, y que forma parte de nuestras herencias y de nuestro presente cultural.Abstract:Just like school does in a general sense, higher education creates a privileged setting for collecting evidences of the sociocultural nature of thinking. Grounded in Vygotsky’s explorations and extended by his colleagues, the sociocultural perspective establishes that our thinking in a broad sense, and higher psychological functioning in particular, are by definition culturally mediated; and that there is no other way than to be culturally situated when taking action, usually following patterns accepted by the social group to which one belongs (mediated action. Parting from those statements, this essay attempts to justify the importance of a

Bringing Technology to Students’ Proximity: A Sociocultural Account of Technology-Based Learning Projects

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Evode Mukama

2014-12-01

Full Text Available This paper depicts a study carried out in Rwanda concerning university students who participated in a contest to produce short documentary films. The purpose of this research is to conceptualize these kinds of technology-based learning projects (TBLPs through a sociocultural perspective. The methodology included focus-group discussions and field notes to collect empirical data. The findings reveal that the more educational technologies capture objects of learning positioned in the students’ sociocultural proximity, the more focused the learners’ attention is on these objects. The study shows also that a change in learning projects may depend to a large extent on whether the technology relates to the students’ sociocultural proximity, that is, taking into consideration students’ physical, cultural, and contextual real world. The study recommends a community of learning/inquiry embedded in a collaborative, problem-solving dynamic involving cognitive support from peers, teachers, external specialists, and the wider community.

COMMUNITY SOCIOCULTURAL PROJECT “GUARDIANS OF THE TIME” / PROYECTO SOCIOCULTURAL COMUNITARIO “GUARDIANES DEL TIEMPO”

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Carmen Apud García

2012-09-01

Full Text Available The project has as objective to contribute to the improvement of the quality of life of the inhabitants of La Pedrera by means of the community development and from a sociocultural perspective. For the achievement of these purposes a better culture profiled on the sustainable agriculture and the care of the environment is also inserted, using for it, mainly, to the new generations. In a general way, the project seeks to preserve the whole rich cultural flow inherited from final of the XIX century, and to insert him modern elements that allow him to validate an autochthonous culture.

Comparison of Contact Patterns Relevant for Transmission of Respiratory Pathogens in Thailand and the Netherlands Using Respondent-Driven Sampling

Science.gov (United States)

Stein, Mart L.; van Steenbergen, Jim E.; Buskens, Vincent; van der Heijden, Peter G. M.; Chanyasanha, Charnchudhi; Tipayamongkholgul, Mathuros; Thorson, Anna E.; Bengtsson, Linus; Lu, Xin; Kretzschmar, Mirjam E. E.

2014-01-01

Understanding infection dynamics of respiratory diseases requires the identification and quantification of behavioural, social and environmental factors that permit the transmission of these infections between humans. Little empirical information is available about contact patterns within real-world social networks, let alone on differences in these contact networks between populations that differ considerably on a socio-cultural level. Here we compared contact network data that were collected in the Netherlands and Thailand using a similar online respondent-driven method. By asking participants to recruit contact persons we studied network links relevant for the transmission of respiratory infections. We studied correlations between recruiter and recruited contacts to investigate mixing patterns in the observed social network components. In both countries, mixing patterns were assortative by demographic variables and random by total numbers of contacts. However, in Thailand participants reported overall more contacts which resulted in higher effective contact rates. Our findings provide new insights on numbers of contacts and mixing patterns in two different populations. These data could be used to improve parameterisation of mathematical models used to design control strategies. Although the spread of infections through populations depends on more factors, found similarities suggest that spread may be similar in the Netherlands and Thailand. PMID:25423343

The influence of socio-cultural background and product value in usability testing.

Science.gov (United States)

Sonderegger, Andreas; Sauer, Juergen

2013-05-01

This article examines the influence of socio-cultural background and product value on different outcomes of usability tests. A study was conducted in two different socio-cultural regions, Switzerland and East Germany, which differed in a number of aspects (e.g. economic power, price sensitivity and culture). Product value (high vs. low) was varied by manipulating the price of the product. Sixty-four test participants were asked to carry out five typical user tasks in the context of coffee machine usage, measuring performance, perceived usability, and emotion. The results showed that in Switzerland, high-value products were rated higher in usability than low-value products whereas in East Germany, high-value products were evaluated lower in usability. A similar interaction effect of socio-cultural background and product value was observed for user emotion. Implications are that the outcomes of usability tests do not allow for a simple transfer across cultures and that the mediating influence of perceived product value needs to be taken into consideration. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd and The Ergonomics Society. All rights reserved.

ECONOMIC, POLITICAL AND SOCIOCULTURAL CONDITIONS OF FORMATION OF ENTREPRENEURSHIP IN MODERN RUSSIA

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Walter A.

2014-12-01

Full Text Available The paper examines the ambiguous contextual manifestations that accompany the process of formation of Russian entrepreneurial community. The work presents the research results of the specifics of these manifestations derived based on the analysis of various materials from Russian official, scientific and sociopolitical as well as international sources. "Attitude towards entrepreneurship" is regarded as the most important sociocultural component of the development of the entrepreneurship as a social practice. The identified economic and political as well as sociocultural trends that accompany the formation of the modern Russian entrepreneurship reflect the incompleteness stage of the market reforms in Russia. The creation of the modern ethical basis of the development of the entrepreneurship and its interaction with the society is assumed as one of the ways to accelerate these reforms. The outcome of the present interdisciplinary work - which is in its own way “a view from the outside” - in the author’s opinion, indicates the equivalence of sociocultural and economic and political range of problems for the modern stage of development of the entrepreneurship in Russia.

Modernization of Management: Social and Socio-Cultural Aspects

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Vinogradova, Marina V.; Babakaev, Sergy V.; Larionova, Anna A.; Kobyak, Marina V.; Layko, Mikhail Y.

2016-01-01

The relevance of the topic is determined by the new challenges faced by the Russian state in modern conditions that have a significant impact on public administration, which entails the need for its comprehensive modernization. In this regard, this article is aimed at the disclosure of social and socio-cultural aspects of the modernization of…

Application of 3d Model of Cultural Relics in Virtual Restoration

Science.gov (United States)

Zhao, S.; Hou, M.; Hu, Y.; Zhao, Q.

2018-04-01

In the traditional cultural relics splicing process, in order to identify the correct spatial location of the cultural relics debris, experts need to manually splice the existing debris. The repeated contact between debris can easily cause secondary damage to the cultural relics. In this paper, the application process of 3D model of cultural relic in virtual restoration is put forward, and the relevant processes and ideas are verified with the example of Terracotta Warriors data. Through the combination of traditional cultural relics restoration methods and computer virtual reality technology, virtual restoration of high-precision 3D models of cultural relics can provide a scientific reference for virtual restoration, avoiding the secondary damage to the cultural relics caused by improper restoration. The efficiency and safety of the preservation and restoration of cultural relics have been improved.

APPLICATION OF 3D MODEL OF CULTURAL RELICS IN VIRTUAL RESTORATION

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S. Zhao

2018-04-01

Full Text Available In the traditional cultural relics splicing process, in order to identify the correct spatial location of the cultural relics debris, experts need to manually splice the existing debris. The repeated contact between debris can easily cause secondary damage to the cultural relics. In this paper, the application process of 3D model of cultural relic in virtual restoration is put forward, and the relevant processes and ideas are verified with the example of Terracotta Warriors data. Through the combination of traditional cultural relics restoration methods and computer virtual reality technology, virtual restoration of high-precision 3D models of cultural relics can provide a scientific reference for virtual restoration, avoiding the secondary damage to the cultural relics caused by improper restoration. The efficiency and safety of the preservation and restoration of cultural relics have been improved.

Virtually teaching virtual leadership

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Henriksen, Thomas Duus; Nielsen, Rikke Kristine; Børgesen, Kenneth

2017-01-01

This paper seeks to investigate the challenges to virtual collaboration and leadership on basis of findings from a virtual course on collaboration and leadership. The course used for this experiment was designed as a practical approach, which allowed participants to experience curriculum phenomena....... This experimental course provided insights into the challenges involved in virtual processes, and those experiences where used for addressing the challenges that virtual leadership is confronted with. Emphasis was placed on the reduction of undesired virtual distance and its consequences through affinity building....... We found that student scepticism appeared when a breakdown resulted in increasing virtual distance, and raises questions on how leaders might translate or upgrade their understandings of leadership to handling such increased distance through affinity building....

Sociocultural influences on strategies to lose weight, gain weight, and increase muscles among ten cultural groups.

Science.gov (United States)

McCabe, Marita P; Busija, Lucy; Fuller-Tyszkiewicz, Matthew; Ricciardelli, Lina; Mellor, David; Mussap, Alexander

2015-01-01

This study determined how sociocultural messages to change one's body are perceived by adolescents from different cultural groups. In total, 4904 adolescents, including Australian, Chilean, Chinese, Indo-Fijian, Indigenous Fijian, Greek, Malaysian, Chinese Malaysian, Tongans in New Zealand, and Tongans in Tonga, were surveyed about messages from family, peers, and the media to lose weight, gain weight, and increase muscles. Groups were best differentiated by family pressure to gain weight. Girls were more likely to receive the messages from multiple sociocultural sources whereas boys were more likely to receive the messages from the family. Some participants in a cultural group indicated higher, and others lower, levels of these sociocultural messages. These findings highlight the differences in sociocultural messages across cultural groups, but also that adolescents receive contrasting messages within a cultural group. These results demonstrate the difficulty in representing a particular message as being characteristic of each cultural group. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Socio-Cultural and Ideological Preconditions of Gender Equality

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Sviytlana Storozhuk

2017-09-01

Full Text Available The article examines the factors that have led to the contradiction between a legislated principle of gender equality and, broadcast from pre-modern by a number of social institutions a social differentiation by gender and discrimination generated by it, existing in modern outlook and socio-cultural life. The article shows that the concepts of natural equality of people and social consensus together with the process of secularization and desecration, developed during the modern period, transformed a social reality, but they usually do not apply to a person who is still viewed through the prism of axiological and ideological premodern paradigm. Thus, the concept of natural equality has extrapolated only to men who were considered carriers of social activity in premodern culture. It is emphasized that despite the radical changes of socio-cultural and political life of European society that occurred as a result of implementation of social modern program, a family, remaining a decentralized nucleus, was living by premodern values that gained social significance at a time when a woman acquired her social activity.

Virtual Sensors for Advanced Controllers in Rehabilitation Robotics.

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Mancisidor, Aitziber; Zubizarreta, Asier; Cabanes, Itziar; Portillo, Eva; Jung, Je Hyung

2018-03-05

In order to properly control rehabilitation robotic devices, the measurement of interaction force and motion between patient and robot is an essential part. Usually, however, this is a complex task that requires the use of accurate sensors which increase the cost and the complexity of the robotic device. In this work, we address the development of virtual sensors that can be used as an alternative of actual force and motion sensors for the Universal Haptic Pantograph (UHP) rehabilitation robot for upper limbs training. These virtual sensors estimate the force and motion at the contact point where the patient interacts with the robot using the mathematical model of the robotic device and measurement through low cost position sensors. To demonstrate the performance of the proposed virtual sensors, they have been implemented in an advanced position/force controller of the UHP rehabilitation robot and experimentally evaluated. The experimental results reveal that the controller based on the virtual sensors has similar performance to the one using direct measurement (less than 0.005 m and 1.5 N difference in mean error). Hence, the developed virtual sensors to estimate interaction force and motion can be adopted to replace actual precise but normally high-priced sensors which are fundamental components for advanced control of rehabilitation robotic devices.

Virtual Sensors for Advanced Controllers in Rehabilitation Robotics

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Aitziber Mancisidor

2018-03-01

Full Text Available In order to properly control rehabilitation robotic devices, the measurement of interaction force and motion between patient and robot is an essential part. Usually, however, this is a complex task that requires the use of accurate sensors which increase the cost and the complexity of the robotic device. In this work, we address the development of virtual sensors that can be used as an alternative of actual force and motion sensors for the Universal Haptic Pantograph (UHP rehabilitation robot for upper limbs training. These virtual sensors estimate the force and motion at the contact point where the patient interacts with the robot using the mathematical model of the robotic device and measurement through low cost position sensors. To demonstrate the performance of the proposed virtual sensors, they have been implemented in an advanced position/force controller of the UHP rehabilitation robot and experimentally evaluated. The experimental results reveal that the controller based on the virtual sensors has similar performance to the one using direct measurement (less than 0.005 m and 1.5 N difference in mean error. Hence, the developed virtual sensors to estimate interaction force and motion can be adopted to replace actual precise but normally high-priced sensors which are fundamental components for advanced control of rehabilitation robotic devices.

Health behavior change models and their socio-cultural relevance for breast cancer screening in African American women.

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Ashing-Giwa, K

1999-01-01

Models of health behavior provide the conceptual bases for most of the breast cancer screening intervention studies. These models were not designed for and have not been adequately tested with African American women. The models discussed in this paper are: The Health Belief Model, the Theory of Reasoned Action/Theory of Planned Behavior, and the Transtheoretical Model. This paper will examine the socio-cultural relevance of these health behavior models, and discuss specific socio-cultural dimensions that are not accounted for by these paradigms. It is critical that researchers include socio-cultural dimensions, such as interconnectedness, health socialization, ecological factors and health care system factors into their intervention models with African American women. Comprehensive and socio-culturally based investigations are necessary to guide the scientific and policy challenge for reducing breast cancer mortality in African American women.

Organizational Culture and Socio-Cultural Values: Perceptions of Managers and Employees in Five Economies in Transition

Science.gov (United States)

Cseh, Maria; Ardichvili, Alexandre; Gasparishvili, Alexander; Krisztian, Bela; Nemeskeri, Zsolt

2004-01-01

This survey-based study compared socio-cultural values and perceptions of organizational culture characteristics held by more than 3,300 managers and employees in twelve business organizations in Hungary, Russia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, and the Kyrgyz Republic. Significant differences were found between the five countries on all socio-cultural and…

Depression as a Moderator of Sociocultural Influences on Eating Disorder Symptoms in Adolescent Females and Males

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Rodgers, Rachel F.; Paxton, Susan J.; Chabrol, Henri

2010-01-01

This study aimed to explore the role of depression as a moderator of sociocultural influences on eating disorder symptoms. A sample of 509 adolescents (56% female) completed self-report questionnaires assessing depression, body dissatisfaction, drive for thinness, bulimic symptoms and sociocultural influences on appearance from family, peers and…

Forming engineers' sociocultural competence: Engineering ethics at tomsk polytechnic university

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Galanina, E.; Dulzon, A.; Schwab, A.

2015-10-01

The aim of the present research is to discuss Tomsk Polytechnic University in respect of forming engineers’ sociocultural competence and teaching engineering ethics. Today international standards of training engineers cover efficient communication skills, ability to understand societal and environment context, professional and ethical responsibility. This article deals with the problem of contradiction between the need to form engineers’ sociocultural competence in Russian higher education institutions in order to meet the requirements of international accreditation organizations and the real capabilities of existing engineering curricula. We have described ethics teaching experience of TPU, studied the engineering master programs of TPU to see how the planned results are achieved. We have also given our recommendations to alter the structure of TPU educational curricula, which can also be applied in other higher education institutions.

The Effect of Sociocultural Factors on Maternal Short Psychiatric Status and Hyperemesis Gravidarum

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Mehmet Baki Şentürk

2016-01-01

Full Text Available OBJECTIVE: This study sought to investigate the associations between Hyperemesis Gravidarum and both sociocultural factors and psychiatric status. STUDY DESIGN: A prospective non-randomized cohort design was employed. A total of 79 patients with Hyperemesis Gravidarum and 71 healthy pregnant women were enrolled. The study and control groups were compared according to results on the Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale and sociocultural factors specific to the region. RESULTS: Anxiety, somatic concern, tension, depressive mood, hostility, motor retardation, uncooperativeness and blunted effect were found to be statistically significantly higher in patients with Hyperemesis Gravidarum(p<0.01 and p<0.05. Furthermore, pregnant women living in extended families had statistically higher anxiety scores than those residing in nuclear families (p<0.05. CONCLUSION: Psychiatric status as well as sociocultural factors specific to the society in which the individuals live should be taken into account in assessments of patients with Hyperemesis Gravidarum.

Economic and socio-cultural impacts of Mainland Chinese tourists on Hong Kong residents

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Manisa Piuchan

2018-01-01

Full Text Available The aim of this study was to investigate the economic and socio-cultural impacts from the burgeoning mainland Chinese tourists on Hong Kong residents. Ten individual, semi-structured interviews were conducted to collect Hong Kong residents' views. Content analysis was employed to analyze the data. The results showed that the socio-cultural aspects were reported negatively with regard to culture, shopping and dining, and transportation but conversely, it had a positive impact on education and infrastructure. The economic aspect showed that residents accepted and appreciated the economic benefits brought by the inflow of mainland Chinese tourists. The Hong Kong government should consider these impacts, and then provide better solutions for residents' lives and plans to cope with the upcoming scenario which might arise regarding Hong Kong's economic boom and more tourists traveling to Hong Kong. Recommendations are also suggested in this study for further development. Keywords: Chinese tourists, economic impacts, socio-cultural impacts, tourism impacts

THE SOCIOCULTURAL DIMENSION IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE LANGUAGE SKILLS OF PRE - SERVICE TEACHER

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Yunaisi Pérez Vázquez

2018-01-01

Full Text Available The article approaches some reflections on a pedagogic strategy for the development of the communicative abilities, from the sociocultural dimension in the teacher training process. The methods and technical that are applied they demonstrate the inadequacies that persist. consequence there are carried out reflections about the pedagogic str ategy, which is characterized by the projection, appropriation and communicative systematizing, where the performance contexts and the demands of the school environment, have singular importance. With their implementation it is achieved the derivation of the objectives and abilities for the interdisciplinary work of the teaching staff, that makes possible a system of pedagogic actions that impact positively to improve the communicative abilities, keeping in mind the incorporation of sociocultural elements in order to contribute the personal and professional development in the pedagogic context as in other sociocultural environment.

52 Sociocultural Competence as a Basis for Functional Education: A ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

User

2010-10-17

Oct 17, 2010 ... This paper examines the relevance of socio-cultural competence in functional ... non-material expressions of the people as well as the processes with which .... themselves in all kinds of immorality, smoking, stealing, drug ...

Predictors of international students’ psychological and sociocultural adjustment to the context of reception while studying at Aarhus University, Denmark

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Ozer, Simon

2015-01-01

as adaptation challenges. This paper investigates international students’ psychological and sociocultural adjustment to studying at Aarhus University in Denmark. Both international students (n = 129) and domestic students (n = 111) participated in the study. The international students did not report impaired...... psychological conditions as compared to the control group of domestic students. However, the international students reported a significantly lower level of social support. Social support and perceived discrimination were significant predictors of both psychological and sociocultural adjustment. Additionally......, the level of English proficiency alone predicted sociocultural adjustment. Values of vertical individualism and horizontal collectivism predicted psychological adjustment. Finally, integration was found to be a significantly more adaptive acculturation orientation than separation in regard to sociocultural...

Desarrollo de la competencia sociocultural: uso de materiales audiovisuales en las clases de ELE en situación de inmersión sociocultural

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Leticia Roses-Nieves

2017-06-01

Full Text Available En los cursos de español como lengua extranjera (ELE de la Universidad de Oriente ingresan cada año estudiantes extranjeros que se sienten motivados a conocer el idioma, así como todas las particularidades referenciales y diferenciales que han venido conformando la cultura cubana. Por ello, al analizar las nuevas necesidades generadas por este aprendiz, no deja de sorprender que en las clases se utilicen generalmente muestras audiovisuales que centran su atención en los aspectos lingüísticos con una escasa integración con los socioculturales; lo que interfiere en la interacción comunicativa de los estudiantes en los contextos de actuación. Por estas razones, el propósito del artículo es mostrar las peculiaridades del proceso de enseñanza-aprendizaje de la competencia sociocultural, mediante el empleo de materiales audiovisuales en la enseñanza del ELE en situación de inmersión sociocultural.

The Chinese experience of rapid modernization: sociocultural changes, psychological consequences?

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Jiahong eSun

2016-04-01

Full Text Available Mainland China has undergone profound changes dating back to the nineteenth century, including a contemporary period of rapid modernization that began in the 1980s. The result has been dramatic social, cultural, and economic shifts impacting the daily lives of Chinese people. In this paper, we explore the psychological implications of sociocultural transformation in China, emphasizing two central themes. First, rising individualism: findings from social and developmental psychology suggest that China’s rapid development has been accompanied by ever-increasing adherence to individualistic values. Second, rising rates of depression: findings from psychiatric epidemiology point to increasing prevalence of depression over this same time period, particularly in rural settings. We argue that links between sociocultural and psychological shifts in China can be usefully studied through a cultural psychology lens, emphasizing the mutual constitution of culture, mind, and brain. In particular, we note that the link between social change, individualism, and rising mental illness deserves careful attention. Our review suggests that shifting values and socialization practices shape emotion norms of concealment and display, with implications for depressive symptom presentation. The challenge comes with interpretation. Increasing prevalence rates of depression may indeed be a general response to the rapidity of sociocultural change, or a specific consequence of rising individualism—but may also result from increasingly ‘Western’ patterns of symptom presentation, or improvements in diagnostic practice. We conclude by considering the challenges posed to standard universal models of psychological phenomena.

The Chinese Experience of Rapid Modernization: Sociocultural Changes, Psychological Consequences?

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Sun, Jiahong; Ryder, Andrew G.

2016-01-01

Mainland China has undergone profound changes dating back to the nineteenth century, including a contemporary period of rapid modernization that began in the 1980s. The result has been dramatic social, cultural, and economic shifts impacting the daily lives of Chinese people. In this paper, we explore the psychological implications of sociocultural transformation in China, emphasizing two central themes. First, rising individualism: findings from social and developmental psychology suggest that China’s rapid development has been accompanied by ever-increasing adherence to individualistic values. Second, rising rates of depression: findings from psychiatric epidemiology point to increasing prevalence of depression over this same time period, particularly in rural settings. We argue that links between sociocultural and psychological shifts in China can be usefully studied through a cultural psychology lens, emphasizing the mutual constitution of culture, mind, and brain. In particular, we note that the link between social change, individualism, and rising mental illness deserves careful attention. Our review suggests that shifting values and socialization practices shape emotion norms of concealment and display, with implications for depressive symptom presentation. The challenge comes with interpretation. Increasing prevalence rates of depression may indeed be a general response to the rapidity of sociocultural change, or a specific consequence of rising individualism—but may also result from increasingly ‘Western’ patterns of symptom presentation, or improvements in diagnostic practice. We conclude by considering the challenges posed to standard universal models of psychological phenomena. PMID:27092093

Socio-cultural attitudes of Igbomina tribe toward marriage and ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

The article namely: "Socio-cultural attitudes of Igbomina tribe toward marriage and abortion in Osun and Kwara states of Nigeria" by Adeleke Gbadebo Fatai has been updated with a new version bearing the author's current affiliation with significant editorial intervention. Abortion has been a social menace and its ...

Learning of science concepts within a traditional socio-cultural ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

The learning of science concepts within a traditional socio-cultural environment were investigated by looking at: 1) the nature of \\"cognitive border crossing\\" exhibited by the students from the traditional to the scientific worldview, and 2) whether or not three learning theories / hypotheses: border crossing, collaterality, and ...

Three Southern high school biology teachers' perspectives on teaching evolution: Sociocultural influences

Science.gov (United States)

Kyzer, Peggy Mckewen

Organizations in science and science education call for students to have a thorough understanding of the theory of evolution. Yet many high school biology teachers do not teach evolution and/or include creationism in their instruction (National Academy of Science, 1998). Historically, the controversy surrounding evolution has created tension for teachers. This case study explored the sociocultural influences related to teaching evolution in three Southern 10th-grade public high school biology classrooms. It also explored the socially and culturally embedded influences on teachers' instructional goals and personal perspectives toward evolution as well as modification of instruction when evolution is taught. Theoretically framed using symbolic interactionism and sociocultural theory, data were collected between October 2003 and April 2004 and included classroom observations two to three times per week, artifacts, and in-depth interviews of the participating teachers, their science department chairpersons, their students, and a Protestant minister. The classroom teachers were unaware of the focus of the study until after evolution was taught. The analysis used in this study was an inductive, interpretative approach that allowed exploration of the sociocultural influences that affect how teachers teach evolution. The sociocultural influences and the lived experiences of each teacher created a continuum for teaching evolution. One of the participating teachers who was heavily involved in the community and one of its fundamentalist churches elected to avoid teaching evolution. Another participating teacher at the same school integrated the theory of evolution in every unit. The third teacher who taught in another school elected to teach evolution in a superficial manner to avoid conflict. The data revealed that the participating teachers' sociocultural situatedness influenced their decisions and instruction on evolution. The influence of strong religious beliefs within

Sociocultural Barriers Related to Late-Stage Presentation of Breast Cancer in Morocco.

Science.gov (United States)

Soliman, Ann A; Khouchani, Mouna; Renne, Elisha P

2018-04-23

Breast cancer is the most prevalent cancer affecting women globally and in Morocco, where more than one fourth of patients are diagnosed at advanced stages. This study aimed to investigate sociocultural barriers that contribute to delayed presentation and diagnosis of breast cancer among women in Marrakesh, Morocco. Qualitative interviews were conducted with 25 breast cancer patients who received care at the CHU Mohammed VI Hospital in Marrakesh to elicit barriers to diagnosis and treatment and ease of access to care. Interviews with breast cancer patients revealed several themes regarding structural and sociocultural barriers to initial diagnosis and treatment. Structural barriers included high treatment-associated costs for patients and their families, burden of transportation to central treatment centers, and limited access to appropriate health care resources. Sociocultural barriers included perceived attack on one's identity associated with breast cancer diagnosis and treatment, influence of the local community, and ideas of faith, spirituality, and conception of death. Findings from this study can help identify areas for improved access and education of patients in order to improve breast cancer diagnostic and treatment efforts and enhance opportunities for early detection.

User and virtual organisation support in EGEE

CERN Document Server

Donno, Flavia

2006-01-01

User and virtual organisation support in EGEE Providing adequate user support in a grid environment is a very challenging task due to the distributed nature of the grid. The variety of users and the variety of Virtual Organizations (VO) with a wide range of applications in use add further to the challenge. The people asking for support are of various kinds. They can be generic grid beginners, users belonging to a given Virtual Organization and dealing with a specific set of applications, site administrators operating grid services and local computing infrastructures, grid monitoring operators who check the status of the grid and need to contact the specific site to report problems; to this list can be added network specialists and others. Wherever a user is located and whatever the problem experienced is, a user expects from a support infrastructure a given set of services. A non-exhaustive list is the following: a) a single access point for support; b) a portal with a well structured sources of information a...

Virtual reality for stroke rehabilitation.

Science.gov (United States)

Laver, Kate E; George, Stacey; Thomas, Susie; Deutsch, Judith E; Crotty, Maria

2011-09-07

Virtual reality and interactive video gaming have emerged as new treatment approaches in stroke rehabilitation. In particular, commercial gaming consoles are being rapidly adopted in clinical settings; however, there is currently little information about their effectiveness. To evaluate the effects of virtual reality and interactive video gaming on upper limb, lower limb and global motor function after stroke. We searched the Cochrane Stroke Group Trials Register (March 2010), the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (The Cochrane Library 2010, Issue 1), MEDLINE (1950 to March 2010), EMBASE (1980 to March 2010) and seven additional databases. We also searched trials registries, conference proceedings, reference lists and contacted key researchers in the area and virtual reality equipment manufacturers. Randomised and quasi-randomised trials of virtual reality ('an advanced form of human-computer interface that allows the user to 'interact' with and become 'immersed' in a computer-generated environment in a naturalistic fashion') in adults after stroke. The primary outcomes of interest were: upper limb function and activity, gait and balance function and activity and global motor function. Two review authors independently selected trials based on pre-defined inclusion criteria, extracted data and assessed risk of bias. A third review author moderated disagreements when required. The authors contacted all investigators to obtain missing information. We included 19 trials which involved 565 participants. Study sample sizes were generally small and interventions and outcome measures varied, limiting the ability to which studies could be compared. Intervention approaches in the included studies were predominantly designed to improve motor function rather than cognitive function or activity performance. The majority of participants were relatively young and more than one year post stroke. results were statistically significant for arm function (standardised

Clinical diagnostic and sociocultural dimensions of deliberate self-harm in Mumbai, India.

Science.gov (United States)

Parkar, Shubhangi R; Dawani, Varsha; Weiss, Mitchell G

2006-04-01

Patients' accounts complement psychiatric assessment of deliberate self-harm (DSH). In this study we examined psychiatric disorders, and sociocultural and cross-cultural features of DSH. SCID diagnostic interviews and a locally adapted EMIC interview were used to study 196 patients after DSH at a general hospital in Mumbai, India. Major depression was the most common diagnosis (38.8%), followed by substance use disorders (16.8%), but 44.4% of patients did not meet criteria for an enduring Axis-I disorder (no diagnosis, V-code, or adjustment disorder). Psychache arising from patient-identified sociocultural contexts and stressors complements, but does not necessarily fulfill, criteria for explanatory psychiatric disorders.

Future Time Perspective in Sociocultural Contexts: A Discussion Paper

Science.gov (United States)

Phan, Huy P.

2009-01-01

Future time perspective (FTP) serves as a strong motivational force for individuals to engage in activities that may be instrumental in future outcomes. There has been a voluminous body of research studies, to date, that explored the importance of FTP. This article discusses FTP from sociocultural perspectives. Based on previous empirical…

Children's Sense of Agency in Preschool: A Sociocultural Investigation

Science.gov (United States)

Hilppö, Jaakko; Lipponen, Lasse; Kumpulainen, Kristiina; Rainio, Anna

2016-01-01

This socioculturally informed study investigated children's sense of agency in relation to their everyday life in preschool. The empirical data comprised focus groups reflection situations wherein Finnish preschool children (n. 19, aged 6-7) reflected on their everyday life with the help of photographs and drawings they made. Building on a…

Analysis Testing of Sociocultural Factors Influence on Human Reliability within Sociotechnical Systems: The Algerian Oil Companies

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Abdelbaki Laidoune

2016-09-01

Conclusion: The explored sociocultural factors influence the human reliability both in qualitative and quantitative manners. The proposed model shows how reliability can be enhanced by some measures such as experience feedback based on, for example, safety improvements, training, and information. With that is added the continuous systems improvements to improve sociocultural reality and to reduce negative behaviors.

Physical culture as a phenomenon of the development of socio-cultural competence of future teachers of physical education

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I.V. Ivanii

2014-04-01

Full Text Available Purpose : to substantiate the phenomenon of formation of physical culture of the individual in terms of theoretical and methodological approaches to the development of socio-cultural competence of future teachers. Material : 22 literary sources analyzed on the issue of formation of physical culture of the individual. Used cultural studies, axiological and competence approach. Results : define the concept of socio-cultural competence of the teacher of physical education. Competence is considered as an integrative motivational tumor - activity sphere of the individual. It determines the focus of an expert on the formation of spiritual values and is the foundation for its further self-development. Disclosed structure sociocultural competence of the teacher in the unity components: cognitive, motivational-value, behavioral. For each component defined system of spiritual values. The system covers the socio- psychological, mental and cultural values of physical culture. Conclusions : the sociocultural competence of the teacher of physical education meaningful and functionally related to the values of the physical culture of the individual. Spiritual, value the personality of the teacher - is the foundation for all of the components of socio-cultural competence. This competence provides social and cultural development of the individual.

Nursing students' views of sociocultural factors in clinical learning: a qualitative content analysis.

Science.gov (United States)

Dadgaran, Ideh; Parvizy, Soroor; Peyrovi, Hamid

2013-06-01

The aim of this study is description of nursing students' views of sociocultural factors in clinical learning. A qualitative content analysis was conducted to describe nursing students' views of sociocultural factors in clinical learning. The participants consisted of 21 nursing students. Semi-structured and interactive interviews were used to collect data. All the interviews were recorded and transcribed, and then, they were analyzed using Qualitative Content Analysis and Max Qualitative Data Analysis 2010. From the transcripts, a remarkable number of primary themes, main themes, and sub-themes emerged. The main themes consisted of elements related to "society and culture", "family", "staff", and "classmates". The themes encompassed a spectrum of facilitators of and impediments to clinical learning. The findings showed that the administrators of nursing education should coordinate with faculty and staff by adopting interactive and participatory solutions, including the establishment of clinical learning teams and the transformation of hospitals into suitable sociocultural environments for education. © 2012 The Authors. Japan Journal of Nursing Science © 2012 Japan Academy of Nursing Science.

Learner interaction in a massively multiplayer online role playing game (MMORPG): A sociocultural discourse analysis

OpenAIRE

Peterson, Mark

2012-01-01

This exploratory study investigates the linguistic and social interaction of four intermediate EFL learners during game play in a massively multiplayer online role playing game (MMORPG). Twelve illustrative episodes drawn from the participants’ text chat, collected in four 70-minute sessions held over a one-month period, are analyzed from a sociocultural perspective. Qualitative analysis reveals the presence of interactional features associated with the development of sociocultural competence...

A teleoperation training simulator with visual and kinesthetic force virtual reality

Science.gov (United States)

Kim, Won S.; Schenker, Paul

1992-01-01

A force-reflecting teleoperation training simulator with a high-fidelity real-time graphics display has been developed for operator training. A novel feature of this simulator is that it enables the operator to feel contact forces and torques through a force-reflecting controller during the execution of the simulated peg-in-hole task, providing the operator with the feel of visual and kinesthetic force virtual reality. A peg-in-hole task is used in our simulated teleoperation trainer as a generic teleoperation task. A quasi-static analysis of a two-dimensional peg-in-hole task model has been extended to a three-dimensional model analysis to compute contact forces and torques for a virtual realization of kinesthetic force feedback. The simulator allows the user to specify force reflection gains and stiffness (compliance) values of the manipulator hand for both the three translational and the three rotational axes in Cartesian space. Three viewing modes are provided for graphics display: single view, two split views, and stereoscopic view.

Virtual reality as therapeutic tool in the confines of social anxiety disorder treatment

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Grillon, Helena; Riquier, Francoise; Herbelin, Bruno

2006-01-01

, is identical in content and structure for each patient. This study’s second goal is to use the confines of virtual exposure to objectively evaluate a specific parameter present in social phobia, namely eye contact avoidance, by using an eye-tracking system. Analysis of our results shows...... that there is a tendency to improvement in both the questionnaires and eye contact avoidance....

Digital Divide among Youth: Socio-Cultural Factors and Implications

Science.gov (United States)

Parycek, Peter; Sachs, Michael; Schossbock, Judith

2011-01-01

Purpose: This paper aims to examine socio-cultural differences in internet use (Digital Divide) among 14-year-old Austrian pupils, in particular usage scenarios and research competences. It is based on a paper presented at the International Association for the Development of the Information Society e-Society conference, 10-13 March 2011, Spain…

Application of the principles of Vygotsky's sociocultural theory of ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Sociocultural theory by Vygotsky (1896-1934) is a theory that has become popular in educational practice in recent years. It is especially important in the instruction of children in the preschool level as it is most suitable for their development and learning, which is more of social interaction. This paper discussed the ...

Community Lenses Revealing the Role of Sociocultural Environment on Physical Activity

Science.gov (United States)

Belon, Ana Paula; Nieuwendyk, Laura M.; Vallianatos, Helen; Nykiforuk, Candace I. J.

2016-01-01

Purpose To identify perceptions of how sociocultural environment enabled and hindered physical activity (PA) participation. Design Community-based participatory research. Setting Two semirural and two urban communities located in Alberta, Canada. Participants Thirty-five people (74.3% females, 71.4% aged 25–64 years) across the four communities. Method PhotoVoice activities occurred over 3 months during the spring of 2009. Participants were asked to document perceived environmental attributes that might foster or inhibit PA in their community. Photographs and narratives were shared in one-on-one interviews. Line-by-line coding of the transcripts was independently conducted by two researchers using an inductive approach. Codes were arranged into themes and subthemes, which were then organized into the Analysis Grid for Environments Linked to Obesity (ANGELO) framework. Results Six main themes (accompanied by subthemes) emerged: sociocultural aesthetics, safety, social involvement, PA motivation, cultural ideas of recreation, and car culture. Representative quotes and photographs illustrate enablers and obstacles identified by participants. Conclusion This PhotoVoice study revealed how aspects of participants’ sociocultural environments shaped their decisions to be physically active. Providing more PA resources is only one step in the promotion of supportive environments. Strategies should also account for the beautification and maintenance of communities, increasing feelings of safety, enhancement of social support among community members, popularization of PA, and mitigating car culture, among others. PMID:25973966

Community Lenses Revealing the Role of Sociocultural Environment on Physical Activity.

Science.gov (United States)

Belon, Ana Paula; Nieuwendyk, Laura M; Vallianatos, Helen; Nykiforuk, Candace I J

2016-01-01

To identify perceptions of how sociocultural environment enabled and hindered physical activity (PA) participation. Community-based participatory research. Two semirural and two urban communities located in Alberta, Canada. Thirty-five people (74.3% females, 71.4% aged 25-64 years) across the four communities. PhotoVoice activities occurred over 3 months during the spring of 2009. Participants were asked to document perceived environmental attributes that might foster or inhibit PA in their community. Photographs and narratives were shared in one-on-one interviews. Line-by-line coding of the transcripts was independently conducted by two researchers using an inductive approach. Codes were arranged into themes and subthemes, which were then organized into the Analysis Grid for Environments Linked to Obesity (ANGELO) framework. Six main themes (accompanied by subthemes) emerged: sociocultural aesthetics, safety, social involvement, PA motivation, cultural ideas of recreation, and car culture. Representative quotes and photographs illustrate enablers and obstacles identified by participants. This PhotoVoice study revealed how aspects of participants' sociocultural environments shaped their decisions to be physically active. Providing more PA resources is only one step in the promotion of supportive environments. Strategies should also account for the beautification and maintenance of communities, increasing feelings of safety, enhancement of social support among community members, popularization of PA, and mitigating car culture, among others.

Into the Woods or a Stroll in the Park: How Virtual Contact with Nature Impacts Positive and Negative Affect.

Science.gov (United States)

McAllister, Elizabeth; Bhullar, Navjot; Schutte, Nicola S

2017-07-14

This study examined the effects of virtual contact with nature on positive and negative affect, and investigated the psychological process of perceived restorativeness as a mediator of this relationship. A sample of 220 Australians aged between 18 and 75 years (M = 49.07, SD = 14.34, female = 72%) participated in the study. Participants were randomly allocated to one of the three experimental conditions experienced through video presentations: (1) 'wild' nature, (2) 'urban' nature, and (3) non-nature control. They then completed measures of perceived restorativeness as well as positive and negative affect. Compared to the non-nature control condition, the experience of wild nature resulted in significantly higher levels of positive affect and lower levels of negative affect. The experience of urban nature resulted in significantly lower levels of negative affect only compared to the non-nature control video. Experience of wild and urban nature resulted in greater perceptions of restorativeness as compared to the non-nature control video. Restorativeness was a significant underlying psychological mediating path through which nature experience exerted its influence on affect. These results have the potential to inform nature-based green care interventions for mental health as well as for urban planning to maximize beneficial effects of natural environments.

Sociocultural Meanings of Nanotechnology: Research Methodologies

Science.gov (United States)

Bainbridge, William Sims

2004-06-01

This article identifies six social-science research methodologies that will be useful for charting the sociocultural meaning of nanotechnology: web-based questionnaires, vignette experiments, analysis of web linkages, recommender systems, quantitative content analysis, and qualitative textual analysis. Data from a range of sources are used to illustrate how the methods can delineate the intellectual content and institutional structure of the emerging nanotechnology culture. Such methods will make it possible in future to test hypotheses such as that there are two competing definitions of nanotechnology - the technical-scientific and the science-fiction - that are influencing public perceptions by different routes and in different directions.

Virtual marketing in virtual enterprises

OpenAIRE

Ale Ebrahim, Nader; Fattahi, Hamaid Ali; Golnam, Arash

2008-01-01

Virtualization caused tremendous evolution in the economics of marketing channels, patterns of physical distribution and the structure of distributors and developed a new concept that is known as virtual marketing (VM). VM combines the powerful technologies of interactive marketing and virtual reality. Virtual enterprise (VE) refers to an organization not having a clear physical locus. In other words, VE is an organization distributed geographically and whose work is coordinated through e...

The role of E-mentorship in a virtual world for youth transplant recipients.

Science.gov (United States)

Cantrell, Kathryn; Fischer, Amy; Bouzaher, Alisha; Bers, Marina

2010-01-01

Because of geographic distances, many youth transplant recipients do not have the opportunity to meet and form relationships with peers who have undergone similar experiences. This article explores the role of E-mentorship in virtual environments. Most specifically, by analyzing data from a study conducted with the Zora virtual world with pediatric transplant recipients, suggestions and recommendations are given for conceiving the role of virtual mentors and allocating the needed resources. Zora is a graphical virtual world designed to create a community that offers psychoeducational support and the possibility of participating in virtual activities following a curriculum explicitly designed to address issues of school transition and medical adherence. Activities are designed to foster relationships, teach technological skills, and facilitate the formation of a support network of peers and mentors.This article addresses the research question, "What makes a successful E-mentorship model in virtual worlds for children with serious illnesses?" by looking at E-mentoring patterns such as time spent online, chat analysis, initiation of conversation, initiation of activities, and out-of-world contact.

La Comunidad de Pensamiento Mágico : un laboratorio de cambio virtual para experimentar nuevas formas de aprender a leer y escribir en secundaria /

OpenAIRE

Ramírez Molina, Catalina,

2017-01-01

Departament responsable de la tesi: Departament de Didàctica de la Llengua, de la Literatura i de les Ciències Socials. La present recerca analitza de quina manera una metodologia d'intervenció formativa, dins una comunitat virtual, contribueix a la construcció col·lectiva de coneixement entre professors i professores per tal de reorientar la pràctica de la lectura i l'escriptura, des d'un enfocament sociocultural. L'estudi s'emmarca dins del camp científic de la didàctica de la llengua i ...

The socio-cultural implications of African music and dance ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

This paper sets out to discuss the socio-cultural implications of African music and dance. To this end, the paper looks at African music, African dance and human culture, kinds of dance, dance and the human body, dance and the society, the interrelationship between African music and dance, the importance of dance to the ...

The socio-cultural implications of climate change in Cameroon ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Climate change impact has remained a serious threat to man and more particularly in the water-stressed environment of north Cameroon where in most cases, man struggles for bare survival by eking out a living from a harsh or hostile climatic environment. In this region, the socio-cultural impacts can be devastating as has ...

Cognitive and sociocultural aspects of robotized technology: innovative processes of adaptation

Science.gov (United States)

Kvesko, S. B.; Kvesko, B. B.; Kornienko, M. A.; Nikitina, Y. A.; Pankova, N. M.

2018-05-01

The paper dwells upon interaction between socio-cultural phenomena and cognitive characteristics of robotized technology. The interdisciplinary approach was employed in order to cast light on the manifold and multilevel identity of scientific advance in terms of robotized technology within the mental realm. Analyzing robotized technology from the viewpoint of its significance for the modern society is one of the upcoming trends in the contemporary scientific realm. The robots under production are capable of interacting with people; this results in a growing necessity for the studies on social status of robotized technological items. Socio-cultural aspect of cognitive robotized technology is reflected in the fact that the nature becomes ‘aware’ of itself via human brain, a human being tends to strives for perfection in their intellectual and moral dimensions.

Virtual Presenters: Towards Interactive Virtual Presentations

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Nijholt, Antinus; Cappellini, V.; Hemsley, J.

2005-01-01

We discuss having virtual presenters in virtual environments that present information to visitors of these environments. Some current research is surveyed and we will look in particular to our research in the context of a virtual meeting room where a virtual presenter uses speech, gestures, pointing

Opposition to Women in Congregational Leadership: A Sociocultural Perspective

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Solomon Kofi Amoah

2015-04-01

Full Text Available Although many efforts have been made in time past in demonstrating that women are similar to men, there still appear to be a widespread persistent belief that women are indeed inferior to men even until today. What is even worrying is the theological backing that this sociocultural belief of society enjoys. One notices in the literature that God ordains, sanctions, and upholds the spiritual authority of women today as he did in time past as his official spokespersons and leaders of his people. However, the evidence and discussion presented in this paper demonstrate that problems with women being accepted as leaders by congregations, gender differences in pay and promotions, and the experiences and dissatisfaction of women clergy who feel constrained by these gender discrimination is widespread. The paper discusses this phenomenon and presents an often neglected perspective in the discourse – the sociocultural perspective. It interrogates the various stands on women and leadership in congregations. In doing this, the paper explores the position of women in the Old Testament through to the New Testament and the centuries following.

Simulating crowd evacuation with socio-cultural, cognitive, and emotional elements

NARCIS (Netherlands)

van der Wal, C. Natalie; Formolo, Daniel; Robinson, Mark A.; Minkov, Michael; Bosse, Tibor

2017-01-01

In this research, the effects of culture, cognitions, and emotions on crisis management and prevention are analysed. An agent-based crowd evacuation simulation model was created, named IMPACT, to study the evacuation process from a transport hub. To extend previous research, various socio-cultural,

The English in Japanese University Entrance Examinations: A Sociocultural Analysis.

Science.gov (United States)

Locastro, Virginia

1990-01-01

Sociocultural and historical examination of the kind of English used in Japanese university entrance examinations suggests that such usage mirrors and reinforces general Japanese attitudes about language, language learning, and national interests, resulting in a closed system highly resistant to change. (28 references) (Author/CB)

Plea bargaining and the religious cum socio-cultural concept of ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Plea bargaining and the religious cum socio-cultural concept of Yoruba ọmọlúàbí in the Nigerian political landscape. ... Ilorin Journal of Religious Studies ... It therefore, attempts to define what is meant by plea bargaining, introduction as to its ...

Darwinism and the Behavioral Theory of Sociocultural Evolution: An Analysis.

Science.gov (United States)

Langdon, John

1979-01-01

Challenges the view that the social sciences are theoretically impoverished disciplines when compared with the natural sciences. Demonstrates that the synthesis of an abstract Darwinian model of systemic adaptation and the behavioral principles of social learning produces a logical theory of sociocultural evolution. (DB)

Virtual Worlds for Virtual Organizing

Science.gov (United States)

Rhoten, Diana; Lutters, Wayne

The members and resources of a virtual organization are dispersed across time and space, yet they function as a coherent entity through the use of technologies, networks, and alliances. As virtual organizations proliferate and become increasingly important in society, many may exploit the technical architecture s of virtual worlds, which are the confluence of computer-mediated communication, telepresence, and virtual reality originally created for gaming. A brief socio-technical history describes their early origins and the waves of progress followed by stasis that brought us to the current period of renewed enthusiasm. Examination of contemporary examples demonstrates how three genres of virtual worlds have enabled new arenas for virtual organizing: developer-defined closed worlds, user-modifiable quasi-open worlds, and user-generated open worlds. Among expected future trends are an increase in collaboration born virtually rather than imported from existing organizations, a tension between high-fidelity recreations of the physical world and hyper-stylized imaginations of fantasy worlds, and the growth of specialized worlds optimized for particular sectors, companies, or cultures.

Control of master-slave manipulator using virtual force

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kosuge, Kazuhiro; Fukuda, Toshio; Itoh, Tomotaka; Sakamoto, Keizoh; Noma, Yasuo.

1994-01-01

We propose a control system for a master-slave manipulator system having a rate-controlled slave manipulator. In this system, the master manipulator is stiffness-controlled in the Cartesian coordinate system, and the slave manipulator is damping-controlled in the Cartesian coordinate system. The desired velocity of the slave arm is given by a displacement of the master arm from a nominal position. The operator feels virtual contact force from the environment because the contact force is proportional to the displacement when the slave arm motion is constrained by the environment. The proposed method is experimentally applied to manipulators with three degrees of freedom. The experimental results illustrate the validity of the proposed system. (author)

Explaining suicide in an urban slum of Mumbai, India: a sociocultural autopsy.

Science.gov (United States)

Parkar, Shubhangi R; Nagarsekar, Balkrishna; Weiss, Mitchell G

2009-01-01

Health demographic mortality studies use verbal autopsies to identify suicide as a cause of death. Psychological autopsies focus almost exclusively on associated high-risk psychiatric disorders. New approaches considering contextual factors are needed for preventing suicide and promoting mental health. This study examined explanations of suicide reported by surviving family members or close friends with reference to social, cultural, and environmental conditions as well as the challenges of life in the Malavani slum of Mumbai. An EMIC (Explanatory Model Interview Catalog) interview based on a cultural epidemiological framework considered underlying problems, perceived causes, and sociocultural contexts. It was administered to survivors of 76 people who had died by suicide (56.6% women). Accounts of underlying problems typically referred to various aspects of tension (73.7%). Perceived causes often identified multiple factors. The sociocultural contexts of suicide included the victimization of women, the personal and social impact of problem drinking, marital problems, physical health problems, mental tension, possession and sorcery. Women were particularly vulnerable to the impact of problem drinking by a spouse or father. This study demonstrates the value of an approach to sociocultural autopsy examining local contexts and explanations of suicide. Findings highlight needs for both mental health services and culturally sensitive social interventions.

Ethical and Sociocultural Aspects of Sexual Function and Dysfunction in Both Sexes.

Science.gov (United States)

Atallah, Sandrine; Johnson-Agbakwu, Crista; Rosenbaum, Talli; Abdo, Carmita; Byers, E Sandra; Graham, Cynthia; Nobre, Pedro; Wylie, Kevan; Brotto, Lori

2016-04-01

This study aimed to highlight the salient sociocultural factors contributing to sexual health and dysfunction and to offer recommendations for culturally sensitive clinical management and research as well for an ethically sound sexual health care, counseling and medical decision-making. There are limited data on the impact of sociocultural factors on male and female sexual function as well as on ethical principles to follow when clinical care falls outside of traditional realms of medically indicated interventions. This study reviewed the current literature on sociocultural and ethical considerations with regard to male and female sexual dysfunction as well as cultural and cosmetic female and male genital modification procedures. It is recommended that clinicians evaluate their patients and their partners in the context of culture and assess distressing sexual symptoms regardless of whether they are a recognized dysfunction. Both clinicians and researchers should develop culturally sensitive assessment skills and instruments. There are a number of practices with complex ethical issues (eg, female genital cutting, female and male cosmetic genital surgery). Future International Committee of Sexual Medicine meetings should seek to develop guidelines and associated recommendations for a separate, broader chapter on ethics. Copyright © 2016 International Society for Sexual Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

SOCIO-CULTURAL COMPETENCE FORMATION BY MEANS OF TRANSLATION IN THE CONDITIONS OF INCLUSIVE EDUCATION

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kateryna Shapochka

2016-12-01

Full Text Available The article is devoted to the problem of socio-cultural competence formation by means of translation / interpretation and the necessity of foreign language communicative competence formation in the process of inclusive education. The question of training of young generation for life in a multi-ethnic and multicultural society, forming skills of communication and cooperation with people of different nationalities, the foreign language learning, the formation of the communicative and socio-cultural competence is one of the main tasks of modern school to meet educational needs persons with disabilities. Today’s realities require that students with special educational needs should study a foreign language and use it in the process of learning. In turn, the use of translation in the process of learning a foreign language helps students to get new skills, to form general and specific competences, including socio-cultural competence, which promotes socialization of children with special needs, and integrating them into a comprehensive system of Ukraine. The article raises the problem of modernization of the educational system. It was established that the formation of socio-cultural competence by means of written translation is done by means of a system of exercises. Based on this system, subsystems, groups and types of exercises their systems can be developed in accordance with human activity, objectives and learning environment. It shows that the development of an inclusive approach to learning demands new solutions towards learning a foreign language at different levels of education.

Language Study: Language and Socio-Cultural Values: An Analysis ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Language is an important tool in the human society. Apart from the fact that it makes communication and integration possible, it is an important aspect of the socio-cultural life of a people. To this extent, language is closely knit with culture as it embodies the society's value system and patterned way of life. This paper ...

Solving conformal contacts using multi-Hertzian techniques

Science.gov (United States)

Pascal, Jean-Pierre; Soua, Brahim

2016-06-01

Recently, publications aiming at wheel-rail contact surveys let readers think that multi-Hertzian methods present severe drawbacks with respect to 'virtual penetration' methods. These surveys criticise multi-Hertzian solutions mainly because presenting 'larger contacts overlaps' and 'frequent secondary contacts near the border of the first contact', both obvious geometric possibilities of which the practical occurrence and eventual inconvenience would remain purely theoretical unless established over definite methods demonstrating poor practical results. Recent surveys all quote Piotrowski-Chollet 2005 survey of wheel-rail contact models that attempted to illustrate defective multi-Hertzian techniques by concentrating on the method initiated by Sauvage in the 1990s and further developed by Pascal. The 2005 paper not only gives no evidence of practical inconveniences of Sauvage's method but also confuses static geometric contact overlaps with the dynamical overlapping of forces. In reality it mixes Sauvage method up with a quite different technique. Thus a clarification is now necessary by reminding what the proper Sauvage technique really is and by showing some of its practical successful applications. The present paper, focusing on determination of normal contact forces in conformal situations, intends to explain clearly the advantages of the unequivocal localisation of secondary ellipses in that multi-Hertzian method which has been developed in INRETS VOCO codes in the 1990s and successfully used by SNCF and ALSTOM in the INRETS-SNCF code, VOCODYM, and later in Pascal's online calculation of railway elastic contacts code. It proved its effectiveness for studying freight wagons derailments as well as rail wear and head-check, unrounded wheels wear, high-speed lines' deformations or TGV comfort. While simulating American ACELA trainsets' behaviour on the US North-East Corridor tracks, prior to actual tests, as part of the commercial contract. It has been also a

Comparison of student achievement among two science laboratory types: traditional and virtual

Science.gov (United States)

Reese, Mary Celeste

Technology has changed almost every aspect of our daily lives. It is not surprising then that technology has made its way into the classroom. More and more educators are utilizing technological resources in creative ways with the intent to enhance learning, including using virtual laboratories in the sciences in place of the "traditional" science laboratories. This has generated much discussion as to the influence on student achievement when online learning replaces the face-to-face contact between instructor and student. The purpose of this study was to discern differences in achievement of two laboratory instruction types: virtual laboratory and a traditional laboratory. Results of this study indicate statistical significant differences in student achievement defined by averages on quiz scores in virtual labs compared with traditional face-to-face laboratories and traditional laboratories result in greater student learning gains than virtual labs. Lecture exam averages were also greater for students enrolled in the traditional laboratories compared to students enrolled in the virtual laboratories. To account for possible differences in ability among students, a potential extraneous variable, GPA and ACT scores were used as covariates.

Medical Student Bias and Care Recommendations for an Obese versus Non-Obese Virtual Patient

Science.gov (United States)

Persky, Susan; Eccleston, Collette P.

2010-01-01

Objective This study examined the independent effect of a patient's weight on medical students' attitudes, beliefs, and interpersonal behavior toward the patient, in addition to the clinical recommendations they make for her care. Design Seventy-six clinical-level medical students were randomly assigned to interact with a digital, virtual female patient who was visibly either obese or non-obese. Methods Interactions with the patient took place in an immersive virtual clinical environment (i.e., virtual reality) which allowed standardization of all patient behaviors and characteristics except for weight. Visual contact behavior was automatically recorded during the interaction. Afterward, participants filled out a battery of self-report questionnaires. Results Analyses revealed more negative stereotyping, less anticipated patient adherence, worse perceived health, more responsibility attributed for potentially weight-related presenting complaints, and less visual contact directed toward the obese version of a virtual patient than the non-obese version of the patient. In contrast, there was no clear evidence of bias in clinical recommendations made for the patient's care. Conclusion Biases in attitudes, beliefs, and interpersonal behavior have important implications because they can influence the tone of clinical encounters and rapport in the patient-provider relationship, which can have important downstream consequences. Gaining a clear understanding of the nature and source of weight bias in the clinical encounter is an important first step toward development of strategies to address it. PMID:20820169

La comunidad de pensamiento mágico: Un laboratorio de cambio virtual para experimentar nuevas formas de aprender a leer y escribir en secundaria

OpenAIRE

Ramírez Molina, Catalina

2017-01-01

La present recerca analitza de quina manera una metodologia d’intervenció formativa, dins una comunitat virtual, contribueix a la construcció col·lectiva de coneixement entre professors i professores per tal de reorientar la pràctica de la lectura i l’escriptura, des d’un enfocament sociocultural. L’estudi s’emmarca dins del camp científic de la didàctica de la llengua i la literatura, i centra el seu interès a descriure els processos transformatius en la pràctica docent —mitjançant activitat...

Managing Socio-Cultural Impacts of Tourism on the Rural Tourism ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Rural destinations within and around the World Heritage Sites have been required to implement planning procedures which would attract tourists that bring economic benefits while at the same time ensuring that the socio-cultural and environmental fabric of the community is not compromised. KwaZulu-Natal province has ...

USES OF SOCIAL MEDIA TO PROMOTE ASEAN SOCIO-CULTURAL COMMUNITY IN VIETNAM

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ulas Basar Gezgin

2017-01-01

Full Text Available The global openness of Vietnam brought out very fast major social changes. The country is a party to a number of international economic agreements and frameworks including World Trade Organization, Trans Pacific Partnership as well as ASEAN (Association of South East Asian Nations. External economic factors such as those associated with South East Asian integration are coupled with ASEAN’s ambition to set up a socio-cultural community in addition to the economic community. In the meantime, the popularity of social media is rapidly growing in Vietnam with more than 30 million Vietnamese Facebook accounts. Considering these 2 major influences, ie social media and regional integration efforts, this article proposes a number of recommendations to use social media to promote ASEAN Socio-Cultural Community.

Socio-cultural determinants of anticipated acceptance of an oral cholera vaccine in Western Kenya.

Science.gov (United States)

Sundaram, N; Schaetti, C; Chaignat, C-L; Hutubessy, R; Nyambedha, E O; Mbonga, L A; Weiss, M G

2013-03-01

Determinants of anticipated acceptance of an oral cholera vaccine (OCV) were studied in urban and rural communities of Western Kenya. An explanatory model interview administered to 379 community residents assessed anticipated vaccine acceptance at various prices from no cost to full-cost recovery, socio-cultural features of cholera and social characteristics. Nearly all (99%) residents indicated willingness to accept a no-cost OCV, 95% at a price of US$ 0·8, 73% at US$ 4·2 and 59% at US$ 8·4. Logistic regression models analysed socio-cultural determinants of anticipated OCV acceptance. Prominence of non-specific symptoms for cholera was negatively associated with acceptance. A cholera-specific symptom (thirst), self-help referring to prayer, income and education were positively associated. In the high-cost model, education was no longer significant and reliance on herbal treatment was a significant determinant of vaccine non-acceptance. Findings suggest high motivation for OCVs, if affordable. Socio-cultural determinants are better predictors of anticipated acceptance than socio-demographic factors alone.

The influence of sociocultural factors on the eating attitudes of Lebanese and Cypriot students: a cross-cultural study.

Science.gov (United States)

Zeeni, N; Gharibeh, N; Katsounari, I

2013-07-01

The present comparative cross-cultural study aimed to explore the relationship between eating behaviour and sociocultural influences with respect to appearance and body image in female university students from two cultural contexts, namely Cyprus and Lebanon. The Dutch Eating Behavior questionnaire (DEBQ) and the Perceived Sociocultural Influences on Body Image and Body Change Questionnaire were used to assess sociocultural influences and body image, respectively, in 200 students from each country. The results indicated that the Lebanese students were more likely to engage in emotional and external eating and their body image was impacted to a larger extent by sociocultural agents, including media influences, compared to the Cypriot students. Also, a positive relationship was found between emotional and external eating in both cultures. Finally, sociocultural influences correlated positively with external eating only in the Cypriot sample. Culture-specific factors, such as the societal values and norms, as well as the Westernisation history of each country, are discussed as underpinnings for the differences found. These findings are significant for understanding the rise of eating pathology in these two cultures and provide evidence for a need to consider cultural environment when designing public health policies addressing the negative aspects of nutrition transition. © 2013 The Authors Journal of Human Nutrition and Dietetics © 2013 The British Dietetic Association Ltd.

Analysis Testing of Sociocultural Factors Influence on Human Reliability within Sociotechnical Systems: The Algerian Oil Companies.

Science.gov (United States)

Laidoune, Abdelbaki; Rahal Gharbi, Med El Hadi

2016-09-01

The influence of sociocultural factors on human reliability within an open sociotechnical systems is highlighted. The design of such systems is enhanced by experience feedback. The study was focused on a survey related to the observation of working cases, and by processing of incident/accident statistics and semistructured interviews in the qualitative part. In order to consolidate the study approach, we considered a schedule for the purpose of standard statistical measurements. We tried to be unbiased by supporting an exhaustive list of all worker categories including age, sex, educational level, prescribed task, accountability level, etc. The survey was reinforced by a schedule distributed to 300 workers belonging to two oil companies. This schedule comprises 30 items related to six main factors that influence human reliability. Qualitative observations and schedule data processing had shown that the sociocultural factors can negatively and positively influence operator behaviors. The explored sociocultural factors influence the human reliability both in qualitative and quantitative manners. The proposed model shows how reliability can be enhanced by some measures such as experience feedback based on, for example, safety improvements, training, and information. With that is added the continuous systems improvements to improve sociocultural reality and to reduce negative behaviors.

Agency-communion and interest in prosocial behavior: social motives for assimilation and contrast explain sociocultural inconsistencies.

Science.gov (United States)

Gebauer, Jochen E; Sedikides, Constantine; Lüdtke, Oliver; Neberich, Wiebke

2014-10-01

Identifying the "prosocial personality" is a classic project in personality psychology. However, personality traits have been elusive predictors of prosocial behavior, with personality-prosociality relations varying widely across sociocultural contexts. We propose the social motives perspective to account for such sociocultural inconsistencies. According to this perspective, a focal quality of agency (e.g., competence, independence, openness) is the motive to swim against the social tide-agentic social contrast. Conversely, a focal quality of communion (e.g., warmth, interdependence, agreeableness) is the motive to swim with the social tide-communal social assimilation. We report two cross-sectional studies. Study 1 (N = 131,562) defined social context at the country level (11 European countries), whereas Study 2 (N = 56,395) defined it at the country level (11 European countries) and the city level (296 cities within these countries). Communion predicted interest in prosocial behavior comparatively strongly in sociocultural contexts where such interest was common and comparatively weakly where such interest was uncommon. Agency predicted interest in prosocial behavior comparatively strongly in sociocultural contexts where such interest was uncommon and comparatively weakly where such interest was common. The results supported the social motives perspective. Also, the findings help to reestablish the importance of personality for understanding prosociality. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Socio-cultural barriers to the development of a sustainable energy system - the case of hydrogen

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kjerulf Petersen, L.; Holst Andersen, A.

2009-02-15

Any transition to a more sustainable energy system, radically reducing greenhouse gas emissions, is bound to run in to a host of different barriers - technological and economic, but also socio-cultural. This will also be the case for any large-scale application of hydrogen as energy carrier, especially if the system is going to be based on renewable energy sources. The aim of these research notes is to review and discuss major socio-cultural barriers to new forms of energy supply in general and to hydrogen specifically. Reaching sufficient reductions in greenhouse gas emissions may require more than large-scale dissemination of renewable energy sources. Also reductions or moderations in energy demand may be necessary. Hence, a central point in the research note is to consider not only socio-cultural obstacles for changing technologies in energy production, distribution and consumption but also obstacles for changing the scale of energy consumption, i.e. moderating the growth in how much energy is consumed or even reducing consumption volumes. (au)

Sensorial Virtualization: Coupling Gaming and Virtual Environment

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Garbaya, S.; Miraoui, C.; Wendrich, Robert E.; Lim, T.; Stanescu, I.A.; Hauge, J.B.

2014-01-01

Virtual reality and virtualization are currently used to design complex systems and demonstrate that they represent the functionalities of real systems. However, the design refinement of the virtual environment (VE) and distributed virtual environment (DVE) are still time consuming and costly, as it

Sociocultural Influences on Body Image Concerns of Young Chinese Males

Science.gov (United States)

Jackson, Todd; Chen, Hong

2008-01-01

This research assessed the extent to which sociocultural factors implicated in explanations of weight dissatisfaction among young Western females extend to sources of body image concern in emerging adult and adolescent males from the People's Republic of China. In Study 1, 219 Mainland Chinese male university students completed measures of stature…

A virtual work space for both hands manipulation with coherency between kinesthetic and visual sensation

Science.gov (United States)

Ishii, Masahiro; Sukanya, P.; Sato, Makoto

1994-01-01

This paper describes the construction of a virtual work space for tasks performed by two handed manipulation. We intend to provide a virtual environment that encourages users to accomplish tasks as they usually act in a real environment. Our approach uses a three dimensional spatial interface device that allows the user to handle virtual objects by hand and be able to feel some physical properties such as contact, weight, etc. We investigated suitable conditions for constructing our virtual work space by simulating some basic assembly work, a face and fit task. We then selected the conditions under which the subjects felt most comfortable in performing this task and set up our virtual work space. Finally, we verified the possibility of performing more complex tasks in this virtual work space by providing simple virtual models and then let the subjects create new models by assembling these components. The subjects can naturally perform assembly operations and accomplish the task. Our evaluation shows that this virtual work space has the potential to be used for performing tasks that require two-handed manipulation or cooperation between both hands in a natural manner.

A Case Study on Socio-cultural Impacts of Tourism in the city of Jaipur, Rajasthan: India

OpenAIRE

Singla, Dr. Manika

2014-01-01

This paper focuses on the community perceptions of the socio-cultural impacts of culture and heritage tourism in particular and examines the extent to which they coincide with the tourism impact literature. This study not only deals with socio-cultural impacts perceived by residents as the impacts of tourism development but also identify the effects of demographic variation on the residents' attitudes towards tourism. Considering the relationship between residents and tourism, the present stu...

Virtual Class Support at the Virtual Machine Level

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Nielsen, Anders Bach; Ernst, Erik

2009-01-01

This paper describes how virtual classes can be supported in a virtual machine.  Main-stream virtual machines such as the Java Virtual Machine and the .NET platform dominate the world today, and many languages are being executed on these virtual machines even though their embodied design choices...... conflict with the design choices of the virtual machine.  For instance, there is a non-trivial mismatch between the main-stream virtual machines mentioned above and dynamically typed languages.  One language concept that creates an even greater mismatch is virtual classes, in particular because fully...... general support for virtual classes requires generation of new classes at run-time by mixin composition.  Languages like CaesarJ and ObjectTeams can express virtual classes restricted to the subset that does not require run-time generation of classes, because of the restrictions imposed by the Java...

Socio-Cultural Impacts in the Formation of Urban Village

Science.gov (United States)

Marpaung, B. O. Y.

2017-03-01

In Indonesia, a group of village people tends to move from one place to another and develops a living space to create a settlement. This research is conducted by taking an example of a particular ethnic group that leaves the forestry area to a new place in the city. After some time, this group of people creates a similar or adapted socio-cultural system adapted from their origin place. The purpose of this research is to examine the socio-cultural aspects that significantly influence the emergence of urban village. This influence is interpreted as social and cultural relations with the establishment of space and significance of urban village. By focusing on this issue, this research will trace the process of how a new and unplanned settlement could emerge. The process and elements are indispensable from social and cultural factors. Essentially, the shape of bulit space is a non-physical manifestation of local people, which is established from time to time. In this case, the research’s challenge lies on the circumstance in Indonesia where society and culture influence the emergence of urban village. Physical appearance can be identified as a tipology of settlement and morphology of urban village.

Deficient gaze pattern during virtual multiparty conversation in patients with schizophrenia.

Science.gov (United States)

Han, Kiwan; Shin, Jungeun; Yoon, Sang Young; Jang, Dong-Pyo; Kim, Jae-Jin

2014-06-01

Virtual reality has been used to measure abnormal social characteristics, particularly in one-to-one situations. In real life, however, conversations with multiple companions are common and more complicated than two-party conversations. In this study, we explored the features of social behaviors in patients with schizophrenia during virtual multiparty conversations. Twenty-three patients with schizophrenia and 22 healthy controls performed the virtual three-party conversation task, which included leading and aiding avatars, positive- and negative-emotion-laden situations, and listening and speaking phases. Patients showed a significant negative correlation in the listening phase between the amount of gaze on the between-avatar space and reasoning ability, and demonstrated increased gaze on the between-avatar space in the speaking phase that was uncorrelated with attentional ability. These results suggest that patients with schizophrenia have active avoidance of eye contact during three-party conversations. Virtual reality may provide a useful way to measure abnormal social characteristics during multiparty conversations in schizophrenia. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Sociocultural Variations in the Body Image Perceptions of Urban Adolescent Females.

Science.gov (United States)

Abrams, Laura S.; Stormer, Colleen Cook

2002-01-01

Investigated the influences of ethnicity, socioeconomic status, and ethnic peer group composition on awareness and internalization of socially sanctioned standards of appearance using the Sociocultural Attitudes towards Adolescence Questionnaire. Findings for 208 adolescent females highlight the importance of multiple ecological factors in…

Towards Contemporary Play: Sociocultural Theory and the Digital-Consumerist Context

Science.gov (United States)

Edwards, Susan

2014-01-01

This article introduces the notion of "contemporary" play in relation to existing ideas about children's play, learning and development from a sociocultural perspective. The need to think about the nature of contemporary play is considered in response to arguments suggesting that the quality of children's play has declined in…

Importance-performance matrix analysis of the factors influencing international students’ psychological and sociocultural adaptations using SmartPLS

OpenAIRE

Shafaei, Azadeh; Razak, Nordin Abd

2015-01-01

With the increase in international mobility in higher education especially in Asia, the issue of cross-cultural adaptation becomes paramount since international students try to overcome challenges and flourish psychologically and socioculturally in a new environment. Therefore, this study is conducted to identify the factors influencing international postgraduate students’ psychological and sociocultural adaptations in Malaysian public universities, an emerging education hub in the region. It...

Hosts' perception of economic and socio-cultural tourism impacts

OpenAIRE

Kamšek, David; Milfelner, Borut; Ogorelc, Anton

2015-01-01

Analyzing tourism perceptions of host communities and residents' attitudes toward tourism development has been gaining increasing attention in the tourism research. This paper examines how residents perceive positive and negative economic and socio-cultural impacts of tourism. The authors identify several differences between two groups of respondents: residents employed in tourism and other residents. The study provides tourism planners with useful information concerning specific elements ass...

Microsoft Virtualization Master Microsoft Server, Desktop, Application, and Presentation Virtualization

CERN Document Server

Olzak, Thomas; Boomer, Jason; Keefer, Robert M

2010-01-01

Microsoft Virtualization helps you understand and implement the latest virtualization strategies available with Microsoft products. This book focuses on: Server Virtualization, Desktop Virtualization, Application Virtualization, and Presentation Virtualization. Whether you are managing Hyper-V, implementing desktop virtualization, or even migrating virtual machines, this book is packed with coverage on all aspects of these processes. Written by a talented team of Microsoft MVPs, Microsoft Virtualization is the leading resource for a full installation, migration, or integration of virtual syste

Sociocultural context as a facilitator of student learning of function concepts in mathematics

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Evangelina Díaz Obando

2016-03-01

Full Text Available In Costa Rica, many secondary students have serious difficulties to establish relationships between mathematics and real-life contexts. They question the utilitarian role of the school mathematics. This fact motivated the research object of this report which evidences the need to overcome methodologies unrelated to students’ reality, toward new didactical options that help students to value mathematics, reasoning and its  applications, connecting it with their socio-cultural context. The research used a case study as a qualitative methodology and the social constructivism as an educational paradigm in which the knowledge is built by the student; as a product of his social interactions. A collection of learning situations was designed, validated, and implemented. It allowed establishing relationships between mathematical concepts and the socio-cultural context of participants. It analyzed the impact of students’socio-cultural context in their mathematics learning of basic concepts of real variable functions, consistent with the Ministry of Education (MEP Official Program.  Among the results, it was found that using students’sociocultural context improved their motivational processes, mathematics sense making, and promoted cooperative social interactions. It was evidenced that contextualized learning situations favored concepts comprehension that allow students to see mathematics as a discipline closely related with their every-day life.

HORIZONTAL OBJECTIVES OF EU PROGRAMMES AND THE SOCIO-CULTURAL CONTEXT FOR EAP MEMBERS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Irina Teodora MANOLESCU

2016-10-01

Full Text Available As the Eastern Partnership (EaP was founded in 2009, between European Union (EU and six countries from Eastern Europe, its main goal was to create adequate conditions for economic integration, social and regional development of the EaP country members. Based on the same principles as the EU was built, international law and fundamental values (e.g. human rights, freedom, democracy, rule of law, sustainable development and also good governance, the EaP was regularly analysed and renewed (once every two years in order to better respond to the needs of Eastern European countries. Even so, while the economic context was especially considered, there are still some actions to be undertaken with regards to socio-cultural factors. Therefore the aim of the paper is to analyse the socio-cultural context of the six Eastern European EaP members (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine in order to make recommendations regarding their absorption capacity when integrating the horizontal EU objectives into the funding neighbourhood instruments. Our main research question is: what is the right approach for developing operational funding programmes (individual/bilateral or partnership/multilateral participations for EaP members: is it by maintaining the EU horizontal objective or by adapting these objectives from the beginning considering the socio-cultural context?

O amor pode ser virtual? O relacionamento amoroso pela Internet ¿Puede el amor ser virtual? Un estudio sobre el relacionamiento virtual usando la internet Can love be virtual? Affective relationships through the Internet

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Alessandra dos Santos Menezes Dela Coleta

2008-06-01

lo tanto, los datos sugieren la importancia de planear más investigaciones para elucidar las consecuencias de relaciones virtuales y el abuso del Internet como una forma de la comunicación social.Current analysis contributes towards a new way of relationships, or rather, virtual relationship. Fifty Brazilian Internet users answered a questionnaire containing 31 questions about opinions and behaviors related to affective and virtual relationship. Sample comprised males, or rather, young adults, single, with no children, middle or high socioeconomic level. Subjects believed that there might be virtual relationships at an initial phase. However, they reported the need of face-to-face contact so that the relationship could last. Further, a relatively high number of subjects considered themselves to be Internet-addicted. Results show that there were no significant behavioral and affectionate changes in this new type of relationship. Data suggest the importance of planning more researches to elucidate the consequences of virtual relationships and the abuse of Internet as a way of social communication.

Impact of Sociocultural Background and Assessment Data Upon School Psychologists' Decisions.

Science.gov (United States)

Huebner, E. Scott; Cummings, Jack A.

1985-01-01

Psychologists (N=56) participated in an adapted version of Algozzine and Ysseldyke's (1981) diagnostic simulation to investigate the effects of sociocultural background (rural vs. suburban) and assessment data (normal vs. learning disabled) on educational decisions. Findings suggest school psychologists utilize multiple sources of information but…

Exploration of Food Culture in Kisumu: A Socio-Cultural Perspective

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Fredrick Argwenge Odede

2017-07-01

Full Text Available Increasingly food culture in the context of socio-cultural dimension is becoming important for sustainable urban development. In the last four years food festivals have been held in Kisumu attracting several interests both from within and without the City. The Kisumu fish night event of 2013 marked the melting point of food culture in Kisumu. This paper thus explores the noble intention of integrating food culture in Kisumu as a socio-cultural capital for the advancement of City sustainable development agenda. To an agrarian society, life is about food from its production, the processing/preservation up to the consumption or the sharing. People connect to their cultural or ethnic background through similar food patterns.  People from different cultural backgrounds eat different foods leading to the question: Are Luos in Kisumu defined by their own food culture? This study further investigated the mode of production, and storage of food resources, examined food cuisines of the Luo community in Kisumu, and assessed the food habits, practices and beliefs associated with food cuisines, as well as, the nutritional and socio-cultural values of Luo cuisines. The research employed qualitative methods of data collection such as interviews, observation, focused group discussion and photography using purposive and snowball sampling technique. Content analysis was used to draw general universal statements in thematic areas with respect to the research objectives. The study revealed that Luo community in Kisumu has a food culture laced with rich cultural practices, rituals and societal norms that defines them as a distinct cultural identity but interacts with other cultural groups in the metropolitan city of Kisumu. Further, the study confirms that indeed food culture is vital for sustainable development of urban centre granted that Kisumu largely evolved as urban centre for exchange of goods for food.

Do "Virtual" and "Outpatient" Public Health Tuberculosis Clinics Perform Equally Well? A Program-Wide Evaluation in Alberta, Canada.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Richard Long

Full Text Available Meeting the challenge of tuberculosis (TB elimination will require adopting new models of delivering patient-centered care customized to diverse settings and contexts. In areas of low incidence with cases spread out across jurisdictions and large geographic areas, a "virtual" model is attractive. However, whether "virtual" clinics and telemedicine deliver the same outcomes as face-to-face encounters in general and within the sphere of public health in particular, is unknown. This evidence is generated here by analyzing outcomes between the "virtual" and "outpatient" public health TB clinics in Alberta, a province of Western Canada with a large geographic area and relatively small population.In response to the challenge of delivering equitable TB services over long distances and to hard to reach communities, Alberta established three public health clinics for the delivery of its program: two outpatient serving major metropolitan areas, and one virtual serving mainly rural areas. The virtual clinic receives paper-based or electronic referrals and generates directives which are acted upon by local providers. Clinics are staffed by dedicated public health nurses and university-based TB physicians. Performance of the two types of clinics is compared between the years 2008 and 2012 using 16 case management and treatment outcome indicators and 12 contact management indicators.In the outpatient and virtual clinics, respectively, 691 and 150 cases and their contacts were managed. Individually and together both types of clinics met most performance targets. Compared to outpatient clinics, virtual clinic performance was comparable, superior and inferior in 22, 3, and 3 indicators, respectively.Outpatient and virtual public health TB clinics perform equally well. In low incidence settings a combination of the two clinic types has the potential to address issues around equitable service delivery and declining expertise.

Virtual Library: An essential component of virtual education

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

M zarghani

2015-06-01

Full Text Available Abstract Introduction: Library is one of the essential elements of universities which provide some important educational needs of students. Virtual education can not be exempted and virtual libraries are important support for virtual training programs. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the viewpoint of administrators and students in virtual education centers about the virtual library, its role and resources. Methods: This study was a descriptive survey. The research instrument was a researcher made questionnaire that its validity and reliability was confirmed. The study population consisted of 19 virtual training centers in Tehran city. Out of 19 centers, simple randomized sampling was done in five Centers. The sample size was 360 students. Data collection was conducted online and descriptive statistics using SPSS 18 and Excel software were used. Results: The results showed that viewpoints of administrators and students about the mission and services of virtual libraries in some cases were similar and in some cases were different. One of the administrators’ reasons for setting up a virtual learning system was lifelong learning, and lack of knowledge about virtual libraries was the reason for inadequate use of virtual libraries. The best format of virtual library from the administrators’ and students’ viewpoint, was portal document format (PDF. Conclusion: One of the most important function of a virtual library, is lifelong learning and empowering users to provide information and educational needs. The main reason for not setting up a virtual library is t lack of knowledge about it.

Virtually compliant: Immersive video gaming increases conformity to false computer judgments.

Science.gov (United States)

Weger, Ulrich W; Loughnan, Stephen; Sharma, Dinkar; Gonidis, Lazaros

2015-08-01

Real-life encounters with face-to-face contact are on the decline in a world in which many routine tasks are delegated to virtual characters-a development that bears both opportunities and risks. Interacting with such virtual-reality beings is particularly common during role-playing videogames, in which we incarnate into the virtual reality of an avatar. Video gaming is known to lead to the training and development of real-life skills and behaviors; hence, in the present study we sought to explore whether role-playing video gaming primes individuals' identification with a computer enough to increase computer-related social conformity. Following immersive video gaming, individuals were indeed more likely to give up their own best judgment and to follow the vote of computers, especially when the stimulus context was ambiguous. Implications for human-computer interactions and for our understanding of the formation of identity and self-concept are discussed.

Broadening the examination of socio-cultural constructs relevant to African American colorectal cancer screening

Science.gov (United States)

Sanders Thompson, V. L.; Harris, J.; Clark, E.M.; Purnell, J.; Deshpande, A.D.

2014-01-01

The importance of socio-cultural constructs as influences on cancer attitudes and screening has been established in the literature. This paper reports on efforts to explore alternatives to constructs previously associated with African American cancer screening, but with low acceptance among community members or incomplete measurement (empowerment and collectivism) and develop a measure for a recently identified construct of interest (privacy). We report preliminary psychometric data on these socio-cultural scales and their associations with cancer attitudes. African Americans (N=1021), 50 to 75 years of age participated in this study. Participants were identified via a listed sample and completed a telephone survey administered via call center. Socio-cultural attitudes were assessed using items identified through computerized database searches, reviewed by advisory panels, edited and tested using cognitive response strategies. Cancer screening pros and cons, cancer worry, perceived cancer risk, colorectal cancer screening subjective norms, and perceived self-efficacy for colorectal cancer screening were also assessed. Confirmatory factor analyses and multivariate analyses were conducted to provide support for the validity of the constructs and to understand the associations among the selected socio-cultural constructs (empowerment, collectivism and empowerment) and cancer beliefs and attitudes (CRC perceived benefits and barriers, perceived risks, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control/self-efficacy). Consistent with the literature, the factor analytic model (RMSEA for the model was 0.062; 90% CI: 0.060-0.065) provided support for the empowerment, collectivism and privacy constructs. The modified collectivism and privacy scales had acceptable reliability. The privacy scale demonstrated the strongest associations with measures of cancer beliefs and attitudes. The implication of the findings and need for further scale development activities is discussed

Virtual Reality and the Virtual Library.

Science.gov (United States)

Oppenheim, Charles

1993-01-01

Explains virtual reality, including proper and improper uses of the term, and suggests ways that libraries might be affected by it. Highlights include elements of virtual reality systems; possible virtual reality applications, including architecture, the chemical industry, transport planning, armed forces, and entertainment; and the virtual…

From virtual environment to virtual community

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Nijholt, Antinus; Terano, Takao; Nishida, Toyoaki; Namatame, Akira; Tsumoto, Syusaku; Ohsawa, Yukido; Washio, Takashi

2001-01-01

We discuss a virtual reality theater environment and its transition to a virtual community by adding domain agents and by allowing multiple users to visit this environment. The environment has been built using VRML (Virtual Reality Modeling Language). We discuss how our ideas about this environment

CHANNELING: SEARCH OF THE METAANTHROPOLOGIC MEAS-UREMENTS OF MIND BEING IN THE UNIVERSE (based on the World Wide Web

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Anatoly T. Tshedrin

2014-06-01

Full Text Available The relevance of the study. In the context of religious and philosophical movements of the «New Age» gained channeling phenomenon – «laying channel», «transmission channel» information from the consciousness that is not in human form, to the individual and humanity as a whole. In the socio-cultural environment of the postmodern channeling reflects the problem of finding extraterrestrial intelligence (ETI; «ETC-problem»; SETІ problem and to establish contacts with them, this problem has a different projection, important philosophical and anthropological measurements in culture. Investigation of mechanisms of constructing virtual superhuman personalities in the world web is not only of interest for further analysis of the problem of extraterrestrial intelligence (ETI, but also to extend subject field of anthropology of the Internet as an important area of philosophical and anthropological studies. The purpose of the study. Analysis of the phenomenon of channeling as a projection of the fundamental problems of life ETI, its representation on the World Wide Web, the impact on the archaism of postmodern culture posing problems meta an-thropological dimensions of existence in the universe of reason and contact with him in the doctrinal grounds channeling. Analysis of research on the problem and its empirical base. Clustered nature of the problem of ETI and channeling its element involves the widespread use of radio astronomy paradigm works carriers solve CETI; work in anthropology Internet; works of researchers of the phenomenon of «New Age». Empirical basis of the study are network resources, as well as texts–representatives created and introduced into circulation by the channelers, their predecessors. Research Methodology. Channeling as an object of research, its network of representation – as a matter of methods involve the use of analytical hermeneutics and archaeographic commenting text fractal logic cluster analysis. The main

Art and social health. Sociocultural program participation for people with funcional diversity

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

María Martínez Lemos

2015-12-01

Full Text Available Martinez, M. y Rodríguez, J. (2015: “Arte y salud social. Programas de participación sociocultural para personas con diversidad funcional”, Revista Española de Discapacidad, 3 (2: 125-131.

Curing and sociocultural separatism in South Thailand.

Science.gov (United States)

Golomb, L

1985-01-01

In much of Thailand animistic curing practices have lost ground to great tradition herbal medicine and modern scientific medicine as more people achieve literacy. Especially in urbanizing areas, Buddhist and Muslim Thais hold in the highest esteem traditional curers whose knowledge derives from patient experimentation and the study of ancient texts. However, among Malay-speaking Muslims in south Thailand, the most respected therapeutic knowledge is revelatory in nature. Southern Muslim curers are generally mystics or spirit-mediums whose direct channels of communication with the supernatural convey remedies for afflictions but also provide guidelines for maintaining sociocultural separatism.

The Development of Mirror Self-Recognition in Different Sociocultural Contexts

Science.gov (United States)

Kartner, Joscha; Keller, Heidi; Chaudhary, Nandita; Yovsi, Relindis D.

2012-01-01

The overarching goal of the present study was to trace the development of mirror self-recognition (MSR), as an index of toddlers' sense of themselves and others as autonomous intentional agents, in different sociocultural environments. A total of 276 toddlers participated in the present study. Toddlers were either 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, or 21 months…

Perceptions & Attitudes of Male Homosexuals from Differing Socio-Cultural & Audiological Backgrounds.

Science.gov (United States)

Swartz, Daniel B.

This study examined four male homosexual, sociocultural groups: normal-hearing homosexuals with normal-hearing parents, deaf homosexuals with normal-hearing parents, deaf homosexuals with hearing-impaired parents, and hard-of-hearing homosexuals with normal-hearing parents. Differences with regard to self-perception, identity, and attitudes were…

Use of virtual reality as therapeutic tool for behavioural exposure in the ambit of social anxiety disorder treatment

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Grillon, Helena; Riquier, Francoise; Herbelin, Bruno

2006-01-01

, is identical in content and structure for each patient. This study’s second goal is to use the confines of virtual exposure to objectively evaluate a specific parameter present in social phobia, namely eye contact avoidance, by using an eye-tracking system. Analysis of our results shows...... that there is a tendency to improvement in both the questionnaires and eye contact avoidance....

Research on The Construction of Flexible Multi-body Dynamics Model based on Virtual Components

Science.gov (United States)

Dong, Z. H.; Ye, X.; Yang, F.

2018-05-01

Focus on the harsh operation condition of space manipulator, which cannot afford relative large collision momentum, this paper proposes a new concept and technology, called soft-contact technology. In order to solve the problem of collision dynamics of flexible multi-body system caused by this technology, this paper also proposes the concepts of virtual components and virtual hinges, and constructs flexible dynamic model based on virtual components, and also studies on its solutions. On this basis, this paper uses NX to carry out model and comparison simulation for space manipulator in 3 different modes. The results show that using the model of multi-rigid body + flexible body hinge + controllable damping can make effective control on amplitude for the force and torque caused by target satellite collision.

Influences of Sociocultural Factors Within the Clinical Learning Environment on Students' Perceptions of Learning: An Integrative Review.

Science.gov (United States)

Jessee, Mary Ann

A persistent deficit in new graduate nurses' clinical reasoning skill exists. Clinical reasoning is best learned in the sociocultural clinical learning environment (CLE), yet many CLEs fail to engage nursing students in the cognitive work of nursing that promotes development of clinical reasoning. Despite two decades of recommendations to improve CLEs based on students' perceptions of learning, widespread improvement remains elusive. The aim of this review was to synthesize what is known about the influence of sociocultural factors in the acute-care CLE on prelicensure nursing students' perceptions of learning, for the purpose of identifying factors that when modified may promote improvement of clinical reasoning skill. The integrative review methodology was used to synthesize and identify gaps in evidence on students' perceptions of learning in the acute-care CLE. Global commonalities exist in the impact of the sociocultural CLE on students' perceptions of learning, including overall sociocultural atmosphere, membership in the health care team, supervisory relationships, peer relationships, and clinical education structure. This review provides evidence that modification of CLE factors and examination of their influence on measurable learning outcomes such as clinical reasoning are the necessary next steps to facilitate improvement of new graduate nurses' clinical reasoning skill. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Contact mechanics: contact area and interfacial separation from small contact to full contact

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yang, C; Persson, B N J

2008-01-01

We present a molecular dynamics study of the contact between a rigid solid with a randomly rough surface and an elastic block with a flat surface. The numerical calculations mainly focus on the contact area and the interfacial separation from small contact (low load) to full contact (high load). For a small load the contact area varies linearly with the load and the interfacial separation depends logarithmically on the load. For a high load the contact area approaches the nominal contact area (i.e. complete contact), and the interfacial separation approaches zero. The numerical results have been compared with analytical theory and experimental results. They are in good agreement with each other. The present findings may be very important for soft solids, e.g. rubber, or for very smooth surfaces, where complete contact can be reached at moderately high loads without plastic deformation of the solids

Research and Application of Virtual Simulation Technology in the Aerospace Bearing Design and Manufacture

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jiangshan Liu

2018-01-01

Full Text Available Bearings are widely used in aerospace and other fields, its performance directly affects the production efficiency and safety. Nowadays, virtual simulation technology has become an indispensable part of intelligent manufacturing field. As a virtual simulation technology, FEA has been widely used in bearing design. China needs to import many aerospace bearings every year in aerospace area, Chinese national defense and other high precision technology is limited because the blockade of advanced bearing technology. We can use dynamics modeling and virtual simulation technology to achieve the predictive design, and strive to achieve foreign level. In this paper, the author proposed a method of bearing design based on virtual simulation technology. The factors of bearing which affect the dynamic characteristics are considered, the process of design bearing based on virtual simulation is also considered. According to the different design parameters, the simulation results are used to verify the rationality, these can reduce the cost and improve the reliability. The virtual simulation technology is applied to design the 7016C angular contact ball bearing which used in aerospace area, and supported decision-making in structure design and data analyze. Finally, The feasibility of this method is verified by experiments..

Leveraging Sociocultural Theory to Create a Mentorship Program for Doctoral Students

Science.gov (United States)

Crosslin, Matt; Wakefield, Jenny S.; Bennette, Phyllis; Black, James William, III

2013-01-01

This paper details a proposed doctoral student connections program that is based on sociocultural theory. It is designed to assist new students with starting their educational journey. This program is designed to leverage social interactions, peer mentorship, personal reflection, purposeful planning, and existing resources to assist students in…

Ligwomi Cult: A Facilitator of the Socio-Cultural Development of Igbo ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Ligwomi cult practiced among Igbo Imabana people of Abi Local Government Area of Cross River State is unlike other cults whose activities are regarded as nefarious. This cult has great socio-cultural significance and has brought some remarkable development in Igbo Imabana. We are poised to investigate such ...

Risks and opportunities of virtual learning: the experience of UOC

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Adela Ros Híjar

2001-06-01

Full Text Available In this article, I have tried to give answers to the question of what the risks and opportunities of virtual learning are. In this sense, the UOC's experience has been of great value to analyse several key issues such as the new ways of accessing quality education, the new ways of participation, the new values of educational processes as well as some of the structural factors on which e-learning is based, but which place its very model in jeopardy. Direct observation of some key processes as well as contact with the main actors (e.g. students, teachers and technicians have provided valuable information about some factors to consider when analysing the social implications of virtual learning.

An Explication of Vygotskian Sociocultural Theory as Evidenced by Ethomethodological Findings

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Behrooz Azabdaftari

2012-11-01

Full Text Available For centuries the speculations on man's mental functioning posed a great challenge for the scholars in various disciplines such as philosophy, psychology, sociocultural studies, education, ethnolinguistics, discourse analysis, literary criticism. Researchers have been pondering over the ticklish question: is it the mind making the human society, or is it the society that shapes up the human mind? Researchers not informed in Vygotsky's contribution to the resolution of the issue, may still find the vicious circular question glaring in the face. But thanks to Vygotsky's sociocultural theory (SCT, the hazy horizon has cleared away and today we are convinced of the truth of Vygotsky's claim that man's mental functioning is mediated by sociocultural artifacts (physical and psychological tools which imbue us with the capacity the shape natural environment, and in so doing change the natural circumstances in which we live, and the capacity to organize and gain voluntary control over our biologically specified mental functioning. The pivotal concept in this outlook is that man, released from biological constraints, emerges as the master of his own destiny. It goes without saying that a conception as such invests the educationists, social reformers, statesmen with a grave responsibility regarding the necessity of providing appropriate conditions for individual's cognitive, ethical and social development. Indeed, Vygotsky's position on the genesis of man's higher mental functioning which is said to be hinging on the social, cultural, and historical variables provides a viable solution to the mind-society enigma. This said, we intend to submit some ethnomethodological evidence in support of Vygotsky's claim regarding the genesis of man's higher mental conditioning.

Socio-cultural barriers to the development of a sustainable energy system - the case of hydrogen

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Petersen, Lars Kjerulf; Andersen, Anne Holst

Any transition to a more sustainable energy system, radically reducing greenhouse gas emissions, is bound to run in to a host of different barriers - technological and economic, but also socio-cultural. This will also be the case for any large-scale application of hydrogen as energy carrier......, especially if the system is going to be based on renewable energy sources. The aim of these research notes is to review and discuss major socio-cultural barriers to new forms of energy supply in general and to hydrogen specifically. Reaching sufficient reductions in greenhouse gas emissions may require more...

Critical Socio-Cultural Elements of the Intercultural Endeavour of English Teaching in Colombian Rural Areas

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Sandra Ximena Bonilla

2014-10-01

Full Text Available This article reports a study done with five English language teachers in Colombian rural areas. Questionnaires and interviews were used to see how these teachers understand their professional practice considering the contextual features of their regional workplaces. Amongst the findings, we noticed that these teachers have to mediate between local and global tensions and also deal with socio-cultural matches and mismatches in their labours. It is hoped this work raises awareness of critical socio-cultural factors involved in the teaching of English in rural settings and of the complexity of its intercultural dimension.

Embodied social interaction constitutes social cognition in pairs of humans: a minimalist virtual reality experiment.

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Froese, Tom; Iizuka, Hiroyuki; Ikegami, Takashi

2014-01-14

Scientists have traditionally limited the mechanisms of social cognition to one brain, but recent approaches claim that interaction also realizes cognitive work. Experiments under constrained virtual settings revealed that interaction dynamics implicitly guide social cognition. Here we show that embodied social interaction can be constitutive of agency detection and of experiencing another's presence. Pairs of participants moved their "avatars" along an invisible virtual line and could make haptic contact with three identical objects, two of which embodied the other's motions, but only one, the other's avatar, also embodied the other's contact sensor and thereby enabled responsive interaction. Co-regulated interactions were significantly correlated with identifications of the other's avatar and reports of the clearest awareness of the other's presence. These results challenge folk psychological notions about the boundaries of mind, but make sense from evolutionary and developmental perspectives: an extendible mind can offload cognitive work into its environment.

Basic Behavioral Science Research for Mental Health. Sociocultural and Environmental Processes.

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American Psychologist, 1996

1996-01-01

Provides an overview of accomplishments in sociocultural and cross-cultural research and explores how culture influences the course of mental illness. The influence of race and ethnicity on mental health within a multicultural society is discussed as well as the influences of socioeconomic status, changing work roles, communities, and local…

Different Prices for Identical Products? Market Efficiency and the Virtual Location in B2C E-Commerce

OpenAIRE

Häring, Julia

2003-01-01

This paper analyses market efficiency and the role of the virtual location in digital markets using a data set containing more than 23,000 price observations from the online market for contact lenses as well as detailed information about online retailer and product characteristics. The data allow to implement and test the concept of virtual location. The empirical results reveal evidence for lower prices and less price dispersion among e-retailers in comparison to hybrid retailers, which supp...

The Integration of Cognitive and Sociocultural Theories of Literacy Development: Why? How?

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Davidson, Katherine

2010-01-01

Cognitive and sociocultural theories of literacy development are historically considered incommensurable in practice and in research. Cognitivists view literacy development as a succession of qualitatively varied skills whereas socioculturalists view literacy as socially and culturally embedded. Traditional educational discourses tend to reflect…

Socio-cultural variation in reading comprehension development among fifth graders in Peru

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Morales Silva, S.L.; Verhoeven, L.T.W.; Leeuwe, J.F.J. van

2011-01-01

In this study, the socio-cultural variation in reading comprehension development was examined in 331 fifth graders from schools in Lima, Peru. Reading comprehension was measured using an adaptation of the PIRLS Reading Literacy test. The fifth graders' reading comprehension results, measured over

Socio-cultural predictors of reading literacy in fourth graders in Lima, Peru

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Morales Silva, S.L.; Verhoeven, L.T.W.; Leeuwe, J.F.J. van

2008-01-01

This study investigates socio-cultural cognitive literacy predictors for reading literacy (RL), tested in 314 fourth graders from two different levels of social economic status in Lima, Peru. The following variables were tested as predictors: word decoding, vocabulary, motivation to read, reading

Learning motivation and giftedness in sociocultural diverse Latin America and the Caribbean societies

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Sheyla Blumen

2015-03-01

Full Text Available This theoretical review aims to integrate state-of-the-art learning motivation theoretical concepts within the context of gifted and talent development models for native children living in Latin America and the Caribbean sociocultural diverse societies. Motivation as a determinant factor and a promoter of gifted achievement is analyzed. Also the relation between motivation, outstanding performance and underachievement is discussed and tendencies found in social-emotional development of the gifted linked to motivation are explored. Final remarks are given on the significant role of motivation in the achievement of gifted and talented children living under diverse socio-cultural influences that bias their performance on standardized measures. Recommendations highlight the importance of further research, in order to reach a convergence of theoretical and practical elements needed to promote Latin American children's talent.

Virtual Team Governance: Addressing the Governance Mechanisms and Virtual Team Performance

Science.gov (United States)

Zhan, Yihong; Bai, Yu; Liu, Ziheng

As technology has improved and collaborative software has been developed, virtual teams with geographically dispersed members spread across diverse physical locations have become increasingly prominent. Virtual team is supported by advancing communication technologies, which makes virtual teams able to largely transcend time and space. Virtual teams have changed the corporate landscape, which are more complex and dynamic than traditional teams since the members of virtual teams are spread on diverse geographical locations and their roles in the virtual team are different. Therefore, how to realize good governance of virtual team and arrive at good virtual team performance is becoming critical and challenging. Good virtual team governance is essential for a high-performance virtual team. This paper explores the performance and the governance mechanism of virtual team. It establishes a model to explain the relationship between the performance and the governance mechanisms in virtual teams. This paper is focusing on managing virtual teams. It aims to find the strategies to help business organizations to improve the performance of their virtual teams and arrive at the objectives of good virtual team management.

Body dissatisfaction and socio-cultural factors in women with and without BED: their relation with eating psychopathology.

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Bautista-Díaz, M L; Franco-Paredes, K; Mancilla-Díaz, J M; Alvarez-Rayón, G; López-Aguilar, X; Ocampo Téllez-Girón, T; Soto-González, Y

2012-06-01

The goal of the present study was to assess the role of body dissatisfaction and socio-cultural factors on eating psychopathology in women with Binge Eating Disorder (BED) and women without BED. Seventy obese women consecutively evaluated participated: 35 with BED and 35 without BED who attended for the first time in a weight loss program. All participants completed a battery of questionnaires, including: Body Shape Questionnaire, Questionnaire of Influences on the Aesthetic Body Shape Model, Questionnaire on Eating and Weight Patterns, Three Factor Eating Questionnaire, and they were interviewed with the Interview for the Diagnosis of Eating Disorder-IV. The Body Mass Index, Waist-to-Hip Ratio and Body Fat were calculated. The results showed that 21% of obese women who participated in a weight reduction program met BED criteria. The scores of body dissatisfaction, influences of socio-cultural factors and eating psychopathology were higher in women with BED compared with women without BED. In the same way, significantly stronger correlations were found among influences of socio-cultural factors, specifically, influence of advertisement, social relations and eating psychopathology in women with BED than women without BED. It is concluded that the high body dissatisfaction as well as stronger associations among influence of socio-cultural factors and eating psychopathology could play an important role in women with BED.

The Impact of TV Viewing Motivations on Psychological and Sociocultural Adjustment.

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, Guo-Ming

A study examined the impact of TV viewing motivations on 126 Asian students' psychological and sociocultural adjustment. Subjects were enrolled in a midsize university in the New England area. TV viewing motivation was measured by A. M. Rubin's TV Viewing Motivations Scale. Psychological adjustment was measured by W. Zung's Self Rating Depression…

Socio-cultural factors of formation of musical preferences of Ukrainian students

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

L. M. Nesterenko

2016-10-01

of economy, politics, culture, have been analyzed. For example, during transformational years, musical preferences differed greatly due to the transitional nature of the necessity to choose between the old musical genres and intonations, and the new, which were not formed. As a result of the change of musical paradigm, the “withering away” genre of Soviet mass song disappeared and variety of Ukrainian song genres was created. The change in the role of students in the post-war period has been described. Students were the object of influence and became an active subject, which not only mastered the values and cultural patterns, but also became the founder of the youth culture and youth subcultures. Finally, the formation of the musical preferences of students in a transitional society has been described, which were characterized by the diversification of opportunities, first of all, by the access to information and communication technologies aimed at different musical forms, styles, genres. Such musical preferences have been defined as “pluralistic” or “mosaic, fragmentary”. As a result, the following conclusions have been formulated, which presented the results of sociological-historical changes of students’ musical preferences studies, caused by socio-cultural factors. The configuration of musical preferences in different types of societies has been shown. The results of empirical sociological studies of musical preferences have been presented. Factors that influenced their formation and changes have been described. The advantages of the use new information and communication technologies by modern students have been grounded and a significant decrease in the use of traditional technical means for the purpose of listening to music has been based. In addition, musical preferences practics and interactions with favorite artists and bands have shown the difference between the choice of real concert communication situations and virtual communication within

SOCIOCULTURAL INTEGRATION AS A TOOL FOR CONSTRUCTIVE CONFLICT RESOLUTION: THE CASE OF THE NORTH CAUCASUS

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M. E. Popov

2017-01-01

Full Text Available The paper is devoted to research of sociocultural integration as a tool for resolving regional conflicts. The modern theory of conflict resolution focuses on the ability of the sociocultural integration in the transformation of destructive identity-based conflicts into conflicts of interest. The author considers the systemic factors of the identity-based conflicts and emphasizes destabilizing role of the politicization of ethnicity. Ethnic mobilization, social inequalities, economic polarization and civic identity crisis are structural factors that determine the acuity of ethnic tension and escalation of regional identity conflicts as a result. Contradictions between the modernization system and social disintegration are the primary source of identity conflicts in theNorth Caucasus. Regionalization takes conflictogenic form in this case, i.e. the specifics of regional conflicts is associated with a conflict of static (traditionalization and dynamic (modernization types of social propagation. Structurally, escalation of violence in regional conflicts is determined by the intensity and scope of ethnic mobilization and social dissatisfaction as necessary conditions of a collision. Regional conflicts affect existentially meaningful collective values and group identities, that is why the participants are involved emotionally into identification conflicts; due to their emotional charge and irrationality, identity conflicts are no longer a means of overcoming social frustrations, but a destructive goal in itself, i.e. ethnicity polarization and negative cultural stereotypes in perceiving “the others” play a key role in initiating such conflicts. The following must be considered for discussing anti-conflict mechanisms of sociocultural integration in theNorth Caucasus. First, sociocultural integration is a political project with its content determined to a wide extent by defense challenges of the polyethnic Russian society. Second, development of the

Sociocultural tailoring of a healthy lifestyle intervention to reduce cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes risk among Latinos.

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Mudd-Martin, Gia; Martinez, Maria C; Rayens, Mary Kay; Gokun, Yevgeniya; Meininger, Janet C

2013-11-27

Suboptimal lifestyle factors in combination with genetic susceptibility contribute to cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes risk among Latinos. We describe a community-academic collaboration that developed and explored the feasibility of implementing a socioculturally tailored, healthy lifestyle intervention integrating genomics and family history education to reduce risk of cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes among Latinos. The community-based participatory research was conducted with communities in Kentucky, which has a rapidly growing Latino population. This growth underscores the need for socioculturally appropriate health resources. Su Corazon, Su Vida (Your Heart, Your Life) is a Spanish-language, healthy lifestyle educational program to reduce cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes risk among Latinos. Twenty natural leaders from an urban Latino community in Kentucky participated in sociocultural tailoring of the program and development of a genomics and family history module. The tailored program was presented to 22 participants to explore implementation feasibility and assess appropriateness for community use. Preintervention and postintervention assessments of genomic knowledge and lifestyle behaviors and qualitative postintervention evaluations were conducted. Postintervention improvements in health-promoting lifestyle choices and genomic knowledge specific to cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes suggested that the program may be effective in reducing risk. Feedback indicated the program was socioculturally acceptable and responsive to community needs. These findings indicated that a tailored healthy lifestyle program integrating genomics and family history education was socioculturally appropriate and may feasibly be implemented to reduce cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes risk in a Latino community with limited health care resources. The project highlights contributions of community-based processes in tailoring

A Socio-Cultural Perspective on Children's Early Language: A Family Study

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Marjanovic-Umek, Ljubica; Fekonja-Peklaj, Urška; Socan, Gregor; Tašner, Veronika

2015-01-01

This study examines the effect of certain socio-cultural factors of the family environment on the language of toddlers and children in early childhood. The sample included 86 families with one- to six-year-old children. The data on the social, economic, and cultural factors of the family environment, parental reading literacy, parental knowledge…

From Sociocultural Disintegration to Community Connectedness Dimensions of Local Community Concepts and Their Effects on Psychological Health of Its Residents

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Tom Sørensen

2013-01-01

Full Text Available In a series of community mental health promotion studies in Lofoten, Norway, the concept of sociocultural integration is used to describe properties of a local community that are related to people's psychological health. Starting with Durkheim's description of a cohesive society, we compare different concepts that are related to sociocultural integration, for example, sense of community, social capital, and social cohesion. We then examine the relationship of various individual oriented social psychological concepts to sociocultural integration. These concepts often share theoretical and operational definitions. The concept of sociocultural integration in the Lofoten studies was proved to be very valuable in understanding how the properties of a community can affect people's mental health and their social psychological properties. It has also shown its value in the planning of mental health services and demonstrating its success in concrete community-based mental health promotion projects. Thus they could make important contributions to further studies and actions in local communities where the intersection between the individual, their social network, and their local community occurs.

The Sociocultural and Economic Evolution of Mansaf in Hartha, Northern Jordan

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Ammar Abdelkarim Ali Alobiedat

2016-04-01

Full Text Available Food and cooking techniques play key roles in preserving cultural sustainability and individual identity. Everything people eat becomes a part of not only their biological being, but also represents and identifies a part of a community’s sociocultural fabric. Using the loom approach, a new model to heritage interpretation, this paper intends to examine the sociocultural and economic dynamics during the preparation, cooking, and eating of mansaf—Jordan’s national dish—throughout its history. To reconstruct the heritage of mansaf and present it as a complete picture, both the tangible heritage, such as cooking equipment, whether modern or traditional, and the intangible heritage, such as the cooking techniques and associated traditions and activities, were analyzed. Mansaf has changed greatly over the past decades; however, living memory does not extend much beyond the 1940s within the informants to further examine mansaf’s changes in the case study of the village of Hartha, Northwest Jordan. Mansaf still remains an important signifier of major occasions, a tie to local heritage, and part of local and national identities.

Innovative application of virtual display technique in virtual museum

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Zhang, Jiankang

2017-09-01

Virtual museum refers to display and simulate the functions of real museum on the Internet in the form of 3 Dimensions virtual reality by applying interactive programs. Based on Virtual Reality Modeling Language, virtual museum building and its effective interaction with the offline museum lie in making full use of 3 Dimensions panorama technique, virtual reality technique and augmented reality technique, and innovatively taking advantages of dynamic environment modeling technique, real-time 3 Dimensions graphics generating technique, system integration technique and other key virtual reality techniques to make sure the overall design of virtual museum.3 Dimensions panorama technique, also known as panoramic photography or virtual reality, is a technique based on static images of the reality. Virtual reality technique is a kind of computer simulation system which can create and experience the interactive 3 Dimensions dynamic visual world. Augmented reality, also known as mixed reality, is a technique which simulates and mixes the information (visual, sound, taste, touch, etc.) that is difficult for human to experience in reality. These technologies make virtual museum come true. It will not only bring better experience and convenience to the public, but also be conducive to improve the influence and cultural functions of the real museum.

Feasibility of Using an Augmented Immersive Virtual Reality Learning Environment to Enhance Music Conducting Skills

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Orman, Evelyn K.; Price, Harry E.; Russell, Christine R.

2017-01-01

Acquiring nonverbal skills necessary to appropriately communicate and educate members of performing ensembles is essential for wind band conductors. Virtual reality learning environments (VRLEs) provide a unique setting for developing these proficiencies. For this feasibility study, we used an augmented immersive VRLE to enhance eye contact, torso…

Realistic Visualization of Virtual Views and Virtual Cinema

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Livatino, Salvatore

2005-01-01

Realistic Virtual View Visualization is a new field of research which has received increasing attention in recent years. It is strictly related to the increased popularity of virtual reality and the spread of its applications, among which virtual photography and cinematography. The use of computer...... generated characters, "virtual actors", in the motion picture production increases every day. While the most known computer graphics techniques have largely been adopted successfully in nowadays fictions, it still remains very challenging to implement virtual actors which would resemble, visually, human...... beings. Interestingly, film directors have been looking at the recent progress achieved by the research community in the field of realistic visualization of virtual views, and they have successfully implemented state of the art research approaches in their productions. An innovative concept...

Virtual Trondheim: A Virtual Environment for Tourism and Education

OpenAIRE

Jose, Dawn Alphonse

2015-01-01

The purpose of this study is to investigate whether educational activities in tourism can be supported by virtual reality technologies, using virtual world frameworks. Settings of virtual world of SecondLife and a recent Virtual Reality technology known as Oculus Rift were used in the thesis work with the city of Trondheim as the main context. Theoretical studies on Virtual Reality systems were conducted and data for the research were obtained through empirical studies condu...

Teachers' Knowledge and Views on the Use of Learners' Socio-Cultural Background in Teaching Natural Sciences in Grade 9 Township Classes

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Mavuru, Lydia; Ramnarain, Umesh

2017-01-01

This article explores teachers' knowledge and views on the role of learners' socio-cultural background when teaching Natural Sciences to Grade 9 learners at three South African township schools. Within a socio-cultural framework, the research investigated how teachers accommodate learners' cultural norms and values, religion and beliefs,…

"Cooking Lunch, That's Swiss": Constructing Hybrid Identities Based on Socio-Cultural Practices

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Gonçalves, Kellie

2013-01-01

This study looks at the discursive construction and negotiation of hybrid identities within binational couples. I analyze conversations produced by Anglophones married to German-speaking Swiss residing in central Switzerland. I employ Bucholtz & Hall's sociocultural linguistic model (2004, 2005, 2010), which views identity as emergent in…

Oral health in children and adolescents with different socio-cultural and socio-economic backgrounds

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Christensen, Lisa Bøge; Twetman, Svante; Sundby, Annette

2010-01-01

OBJECTIVES: To describe the occurrence and severity of dental caries in children and adolescents and to relate these findings to the subject's socio-cultural and socio-economic backgrounds. MATERIAL AND METHODS: A cross-sectional study in 12 706 children aged 5, 7, 12 and 15 years was conducted...... in 2006. Data on children's caries experience were collected from public oral health registers and pooled with socio-cultural and socio-economic data obtained from official statistics. The study population represented 76% of all registered inhabitants. RESULTS: Among 5- and 7-year-old children with non...... preventive strategy is proposed to meet the needs of children in risk of caries, and appropriate oral health-promotion programmes should be organized in collaboration with leaders from different ethnic minorities....

Virtual Trackballs Revisited

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Henriksen, Knud; Sporring, Jon; Hornbæk, Kasper

2004-01-01

reviews and provides a mathematical foundation for virtual trackballs. The first, but still popular, virtual trackball was described by Chen et al. [CHECK END OF SENTENCE]. We show that the virtual trackball by Chen et al. does not rotate the object along the intended great circular arc on the virtual...... trackball and we give a correction. Another popular virtual trackball is Shoemake's quaternion implementation [CHECK END OF SENTENCE], which we show to be a special case of the virtual trackball by Chen et al.. Shoemake extends the scope of the virtual trackball to the full screen. Unfortunately, Shoemake......'s virtual trackball is inhomogeneous and discontinuous with consequences for usability. Finally, we review Bell's virtual trackball [CHECK END OF SENTENCE] and discuss studies of the usability of virtual trackballs....

Acculturation Attitudes and Sociocultural Adaptation of Chinese Mainland Sojourners in Hong Kong

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Yuanyi Ma

2015-12-01

Full Text Available Within these years, there has been a significant increase in the number of Chinese Mainland sojourners studying in Hong Kong. Due to the huge differences in various aspects like language, culture, cultural value, it would be considerably difficult for the Chinese Mainland students to adapt to the Hong Kong environment. This article investigates the ways for a group of doctoral students from Chinese Mainland to acculturate in Hong Kong. With the help of questionnaires, the difficulties that the sojourners have encountered in social situations are measured. It is found out that age and gender may have influenced the participants’ acculturation strategies, and interpersonal relationship is that which the subjects have the most difficulties with, while academic domain is the area with the least difficulties. Meanwhile, the results have shown that competence of local language is not a determinant factor of the sociocultural adaptation, and female subjects seem to adapt better than male subjects. Keywords: sojourner, acculturation, sociocultural adaptation, acculturation strategy

Personal Virtual Libraries

Science.gov (United States)

Pappas, Marjorie L.

2004-01-01

Virtual libraries are becoming more and more common. Most states have a virtual library. A growing number of public libraries have a virtual presence on the Web. Virtual libraries are a growing addition to school library media collections. The next logical step would be personal virtual libraries. A personal virtual library (PVL) is a collection…

Development of and feedback on a fully automated virtual reality system for online training in weight management skills.

Science.gov (United States)

Thomas, J Graham; Spitalnick, Josh S; Hadley, Wendy; Bond, Dale S; Wing, Rena R

2015-01-01

Virtual reality (VR) technology can provide a safe environment for observing, learning, and practicing use of behavioral weight management skills, which could be particularly useful in enhancing minimal contact online weight management programs. The Experience Success (ES) project developed a system for creating and deploying VR scenarios for online weight management skills training. Virtual environments populated with virtual actors allow users to experiment with implementing behavioral skills via a PC-based point and click interface. A culturally sensitive virtual coach guides the experience, including planning for real-world skill use. Thirty-seven overweight/obese women provided feedback on a test scenario focused on social eating situations. They reported that the scenario gave them greater skills, confidence, and commitment for controlling eating in social situations. © 2014 Diabetes Technology Society.

Do silêncio à polifonia : contributos da teoria sociocultural para a educação online

OpenAIRE

Aires, Luísa

2003-01-01

No presente artigo exploram-se as potencialidades da teoria sociocultural e a sua aplicação à análise dos processos educativos online. Parte-se da seguinte questão básica: qual é a relevância teórico-metodológica da teoria sociocultural para a interpretação da acção educativa, em geral, e da acção educativa online, em particular? A forte imbricação entre indivíduos, contextos e instrumentos mediadores ganha especial consistência nas investigações desenvolvidas no âmbito desta corr...

Wireless virtualization

CERN Document Server

Wen, Heming; Le-Ngoc, Tho

2013-01-01

This SpringerBriefs is an overview of the emerging field of wireless access and mobile network virtualization. It provides a clear and relevant picture of the current virtualization trends in wireless technologies by summarizing and comparing different architectures, techniques and technologies applicable to a future virtualized wireless network infrastructure. The readers are exposed to a short walkthrough of the future Internet initiative and network virtualization technologies in order to understand the potential role of wireless virtualization in the broader context of next-generation ubiq

Interactive virtual mock-ups for Remote Handling compatibility assessment of heavy components

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Oosterhout, J. van, E-mail: j.vanoosterhout@differ.nl [FOM Institute DIFFER (Dutch Institute for Fundamental Energy Research), Association EURATOM-FOM, Partner in the Trilateral Euregio Cluster, PO Box 1207, 3430 BE Nieuwegein (Netherlands); Heemskerk, C.J.M.; Koning, J.F. [Heemskerk Innovative Technology B.V., Jonckerweg 12, 2201 DZ Noordwijk 6 (Netherlands); Ronden, D.M.S.; Baar, M. de [FOM Institute DIFFER (Dutch Institute for Fundamental Energy Research), Association EURATOM-FOM, Partner in the Trilateral Euregio Cluster, PO Box 1207, 3430 BE Nieuwegein (Netherlands)

2014-10-15

Highlights: •Specific ITER components require RHCA on hardware mock-ups. •Hardware mock-ups are expensive and have a long lead time. •Interactive Virtual Reality mock-ups are readily available and easily adapted. •This paper analysis and proposes improvements to simulator capabilities. -- Abstract: ITER standards Tesini (2009) require hardware mock-ups to validate the Remote Handling (RH) compatibility of RH class 1- and critical class 2-components. Full-scale mock-ups of large ITER components are expensive, have a long lead time and lose their relevance in case of design changes. Interactive Virtual Reality simulations with real time rigid body dynamics and contact interaction allow for RH Compatibility Assessment during the design iterations. This paper explores the use of interactive virtual mock-ups to analyze the RH compatibility of heavy component handling and maintenance. It infers generic maintenance operations from the analysis and proposes improvements to the simulator capabilities.

Interactive virtual mock-ups for Remote Handling compatibility assessment of heavy components

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Oosterhout, J. van; Heemskerk, C.J.M.; Koning, J.F.; Ronden, D.M.S.; Baar, M. de

2014-01-01

Highlights: •Specific ITER components require RHCA on hardware mock-ups. •Hardware mock-ups are expensive and have a long lead time. •Interactive Virtual Reality mock-ups are readily available and easily adapted. •This paper analysis and proposes improvements to simulator capabilities. -- Abstract: ITER standards Tesini (2009) require hardware mock-ups to validate the Remote Handling (RH) compatibility of RH class 1- and critical class 2-components. Full-scale mock-ups of large ITER components are expensive, have a long lead time and lose their relevance in case of design changes. Interactive Virtual Reality simulations with real time rigid body dynamics and contact interaction allow for RH Compatibility Assessment during the design iterations. This paper explores the use of interactive virtual mock-ups to analyze the RH compatibility of heavy component handling and maintenance. It infers generic maintenance operations from the analysis and proposes improvements to the simulator capabilities

Risk analysis-based food safety policy: scientific factors versus socio-cultural factors

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Rosa, P.; Knapen, van F.; Brom, F.W.A.

2008-01-01

The purpose of this article is to illustrate the importance of socio-cultural factors in risk management and the need to incorporate these factors in a standard, internationally recognized (wto) framework. This was achieved by analysing the relevance of these factors in 3 cases
The purpose of

Socio-cultural inhibitors to use of modern contraceptive techniques in rural Uganda: a qualitative study

Science.gov (United States)

Kabagenyi, Allen; Reid, Alice; Ntozi, James; Atuyambe, Lynn

2016-01-01

Introduction Family planning is one of the cost-effective strategies in reducing maternal and child morbidity and mortality rates. Yet in Uganda, the contraceptive prevalence rate is only 30% among married women in conjunction with a persistently high fertility rate of 6.2 children per woman. These demographic indicators have contributed to a high population growth rate of over 3.2% annually. This study examines the role of socio-cultural inhibitions in the use of modern contraceptives in rural Uganda. Methods This was a qualitative study conducted in 2012 among men aged 15-64 and women aged 15-49 in the districts of Mpigi and Bugiri in rural Uganda. Eighteen selected focus group discussions (FGDs), each internally homogeneous, and eight in-depth interviews (IDIs) were conducted among men and women. Data were collected on sociocultural beliefs and practices, barriers to modern contraceptive use and perceptions of and attitudes to contraceptive use. All interviews were tape recoded, translated and transcribed verbatim. All the transcripts were coded, prearranged into categories and later analyzed using a latent content analysis approach, with support of ATLAS.ti qualitative software. Suitable quotations were used to provide in-depth explanations of the findings. Results Three themes central in hindering the uptake of modern contraceptives emerged: (i) persistence of socio-cultural beliefs and practices promoting births (such as polygamy, extending family lineage, replacement of the dead, gender-based violence, power relations and twin myths). (ii) Continued reliance on traditional family planning practices and (iii) misconceptions and fears about modern contraception. Conclusion Sociocultural expectations and values attached to marriage, women and child bearing remain an impediment to using family planning methods. The study suggests a need to eradicate the cultural beliefs and practices that hinder people from using contraceptives, as well as a need to scale

Socio-cultural inhibitors to use of modern contraceptive techniques in rural Uganda: a qualitative study.

Science.gov (United States)

Kabagenyi, Allen; Reid, Alice; Ntozi, James; Atuyambe, Lynn

2016-01-01

Family planning is one of the cost-effective strategies in reducing maternal and child morbidity and mortality rates. Yet in Uganda, the contraceptive prevalence rate is only 30% among married women in conjunction with a persistently high fertility rate of 6.2 children per woman. These demographic indicators have contributed to a high population growth rate of over 3.2% annually. This study examines the role of socio-cultural inhibitions in the use of modern contraceptives in rural Uganda. This was a qualitative study conducted in 2012 among men aged 15-64 and women aged 15-49 in the districts of Mpigi and Bugiri in rural Uganda. Eighteen selected focus group discussions (FGDs), each internally homogeneous, and eight in-depth interviews (IDIs) were conducted among men and women. Data were collected on sociocultural beliefs and practices, barriers to modern contraceptive use and perceptions of and attitudes to contraceptive use. All interviews were tape recoded, translated and transcribed verbatim. All the transcripts were coded, prearranged into categories and later analyzed using a latent content analysis approach, with support of ATLAS.ti qualitative software. Suitable quotations were used to provide in-depth explanations of the findings. Three themes central in hindering the uptake of modern contraceptives emerged: (i) persistence of socio-cultural beliefs and practices promoting births (such as polygamy, extending family lineage, replacement of the dead, gender-based violence, power relations and twin myths). (ii) Continued reliance on traditional family planning practices and (iii) misconceptions and fears about modern contraception. Sociocultural expectations and values attached to marriage, women and child bearing remain an impediment to using family planning methods. The study suggests a need to eradicate the cultural beliefs and practices that hinder people from using contraceptives, as well as a need to scale-up family planning services and sensitization

Sociocultural and psychological determinants in migrants for noncompliance with occlusion therapy for amblyopia

NARCIS (Netherlands)

A.M. Tjiam (Angela); H. Akcan (Hilal); F. Ziylan (Fatma); E. Vukovic; S.E. Loudon (Sjoukje); C.W.N. Looman (Caspar); J. Passchier (Jan); H.J. Simonsz (Huib)

2011-01-01

textabstractBackground: Compliance with occlusion therapy for amblyopia in children is low when their parents have a low level of education, speak Dutch poorly, or originate from another country. We determined how sociocultural and psychological determinants affect compliance. Methods: Included were

Virtual colonoscopy

Science.gov (United States)

Colonoscopy - virtual; CT colonography; Computed tomographic colonography; Colography - virtual ... Differences between virtual and conventional colonoscopy include: VC can view the colon from many different angles. This is not as easy ...

Virtual Exploratories

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Jensen, Sisse Siggaard

2006-01-01

-systems, the paper introduces the designing strategy referred to as virtual exploratories. Some of the advanced virtual worlds may inspire the design of such provoking and challenging virtual exploratories, and especially the Massively Multi-User Online Role-Playing Games (MMORPGS). However, if we have to learn from...... the design and activity of the advanced virtual worlds and role-playing games, then the empirical research on the actors’ activity, while they are acting, is an important precondition to it. A step towards the conception of such a designing strategy for virtual exploratories is currently pursued....... [1] The research project: Actors and Avatars Communicating in Virtual Worlds – an Empirical Analysis of Actors’ Sense-making Strategies When Based on a Communication Theoretical Approach’ (2006-2007) is supported...

Search for Compositeness, Leptoquarks and Large Extra Dimensions in eq Contact Interactions at HERA

CERN Document Server

Adloff, C.; Andrieu, B.; Arkadov, V.; Astvatsatourov, A.; Ayyaz, I.; Babaev, A.; Bahr, J.; Baranov, P.; Barrelet, E.; Bartel, W.; Bassler, U.; Bate, P.; Beglarian, A.; Behnke, O.; Beier, C.; Belousov, A.; Benisch, T.; Berger, Christoph; Bernardi, G.; Berndt, T.; Bertrand-Coremans, G.; Bizot, J.C.; Borras, K.; Boudry, V.; Braunschweig, W.; Brisson, V.; Broker, H.B.; Brown, D.P.; Bruckner, W.; Bruel, P.; Bruncko, D.; Burger, J.; Busser, F.W.; Bunyatyan, A.; Burkhardt, H.; Burrage, A.; Buschhorn, G.; Campbell, A.J.; Cao, Jun; Carli, T.; Caron, S.; Chabert, E.; Clarke, D.; Clerbaux, B.; Collard, C.; Contreras, J.G.; Coughlan, J.A.; Cousinou, M.C.; Cox, B.E.; Cozzika, G.; Cvach, J.; Dainton, J.B.; Dau, W.D.; Daum, K.; David, M.; Davidsson, M.; Delcourt, B.; Delerue, N.; Demirchyan, R.; De Roeck, A.; De Wolf, E.A.; Diaconu, C.; Dixon, P.; Dodonov, V.; Donovan, K.T.; Dowell, J.D.; Droutskoi, A.; Duprel, C.; Ebert, J.; Eckerlin, Guenter; Eckstein, D.; Efremenko, V.; Egli, S.; Eichler, R.; Eisele, F.; Eisenhandler, E.; Ellerbrock, M.; Elsen, E.; Erdmann, M.; Erdmann, W.; Faulkner, P.J.W.; Favart, L.; Fedotov, A.; Felst, R.; Ferencei, J.; Ferrarotto, F.; Ferron, S.; Fleischer, M.; Flugge, G.; Fomenko, A.; Foresti, I.; Formanek, J.; Foster, J.M.; Franke, G.; Gabathuler, E.; Gabathuler, K.; Garvey, J.; Gassner, J.; Gayler, Joerg; Gerhards, R.; Ghazarian, S.; Goerlich, L.; Gogitidze, N.; Goldberg, M.; Goodwin, C.; Grab, C.; Grassler, H.; Greenshaw, T.; Grindhammer, Guenter; Hadig, T.; Haidt, D.; Hajduk, L.; Haustein, V.; Haynes, W.J.; Heinemann, B.; Heinzelmann, G.; Henderson, R.C.W.; Hengstmann, S.; Henschel, H.; Heremans, R.; Herrera, G.; Herynek, I.; Hilgers, M.; Hiller, K.H.; Hilton, C.D.; Hladky, J.; Hoting, P.; Hoffmann, D.; Hoprich, W.; Horisberger, R.; Hurling, S.; Ibbotson, M.; Issever, C.; Jacquet, M.; Jaffre, M.; Janauschek, L.; Jansen, D.M.; Janssen, X.; Jemanov, V.; Jonsson, L.; Johnson, D.P.; Jones, M.A.S.; Jung, H.; Kastli, H.K.; Kant, D.; Kapichine, M.; Karlsson, M.; Karschnick, O.; Kaufmann, O.; Kausch, M.; Keil, F.; Keller, N.; Kennedy, J.; Kenyon, I.R.; Kermiche, S.; Kiesling, Christian M.; Klein, M.; Kleinwort, C.; Knies, G.; Koblitz, B.; Kolanoski, H.; Kolya, S.D.; Korbel, V.; Kostka, P.; Kotelnikov, S.K.; Krasny, M.W.; Krehbiel, H.; Kroseberg, J.; Krucker, D.; Kruger, K.; Kupper, A.; Kuhr, T.; Kurca, T.; Kutuev, R.; Lachnit, W.; Lahmann, R.; Lamb, D.; Landon, M.P.J.; Lange, W.; Lastovicka, T.; Lebedev, A.; Leissner, B.; Lemrani, R.; Lendermann, V.; Levonian, S.; Lindstrom, M.; Lobo, G.; Lobodzinska, E.; Lobodzinski, B.; Loktionova, N.; Lubimov, V.; Luders, S.; Luke, D.; Lytkin, L.; Magnussen, N.; Mahlke-Kruger, H.; Malden, N.; Malinovski, E.; Malinovski, I.; Maracek, R.; Marage, P.; Marks, J.; Marshall, R.; Martyn, H.U.; Martyniak, J.; Maxfield, S.J.; Mehta, A.; Meier, K.; Merkel, P.; Metlica, F.; Meyer, A.; Meyer, H.; Meyer, J.; Meyer, P.O.; Mikocki, S.; Milstead, D.; Mkrtchyan, T.; Mohr, R.; Mohrdieck, S.; Mondragon, M.N.; Moreau, F.; Morozov, A.; Morris, J.V.; Muller, D.; Muller, K.; Murin, P.; Nagovizin, V.; Naroska, B.; Naumann, J.; Naumann, T.; Negri, I.; Nellen, G.; Newman, Paul R.; Nicholls, T.C.; Niebergall, F.; Niebuhr, C.; Nix, O.; Nowak, G.; Nunnemann, T.; Olsson, J.E.; Ozerov, D.; Panassik, V.; Pascaud, C.; Patel, G.D.; Perez, E.; Phillips, J.P.; Pitzl, D.; Poschl, R.; Potachnikova, I.; Povh, B.; Rabbertz, K.; Radel, G.; Rauschenberger, J.; Reimer, P.; Reisert, B.; Reyna, D.; Riess, S.; Rizvi, E.; Robmann, P.; Roosen, R.; Rostovtsev, A.; Royon, C.; Rusakov, S.; Rybicki, K.; Sankey, D.P.C.; Scheins, J.; Schilling, F.P.; Schleif, S.; Schleper, P.; Schmidt, D.; Schoeffel, L.; Schoning, A.; Schorner, T.; Schroder, V.; Schultz-Coulon, H.C.; Sedlak, K.; Sefkow, F.; Chekelian, V.I.; Sheviakov, I.; Shtarkov, L.N.; Siegmon, G.; Sievers, P.; Sirois, Y.; Sloan, T.; Smirnov, P.; Smith, M.; Solochenko, V.; Solovev, Y.; Spaskov, V.; Specka, Arnd E.; Spitzer, H.; Stamen, R.; Steinhart, J.; Stella, B.; Stellberger, A.; Stiewe, J.; Straumann, U.; Struczinski, W.; Swart, M.; Tasevsky, M.; Tchernyshov, V.; Tchetchelnitski, S.; Thompson, Graham; Thompson, P.D.; Tobien, N.; Traynor, D.; Truoel, Peter; Tsipolitis, G.; Turnau, J.; Turney, J.E.; Tzamariudaki, E.; Udluft, S.; Usik, A.; Valkar, S.; Valkarova, A.; Vallee, C.; Van Mechelen, P.; Vazdik, Y.; von Dombrowski, S.; Wacker, K.; Wallny, R.; Walter, T.; Waugh, B.; Weber, G.; Weber, M.; Wegener, D.; Wegner, A.; Wengler, T.; Werner, M.; White, G.; Wiesand, S.; Wilksen, T.; Winde, M.; Winter, G.G.; Wissing, C.; Wobisch, M.; Wollatz, H.; Wunsch, E.; Wyatt, A.C.; Zacek, J.; Zalesak, J.; Zhang, Z.; Zhokin, A.; Zomer, F.; Zsembery, J.; zur Nedden, M.

2000-01-01

The reaction e+p --> e+X is studied with the H1 detector at Hera. The datacover momentum transfers Q^2 between 200 GeV^2 and 30,000 GeV^2 and correspondto an integrated luminosity of 35.6 pb^(-1). The differential cross sectiondsigma/dQ^2 is compared to the Standard Model expectation for neutral currentscattering and analysed to search for bar(e)e bar(q)q contact interactions. Noevidence for new phenomena is observed. The results are used to set limits onscales within models of electron--quark compositeness, quark form factors andthe exchange of virtual heavy leptoquarks. A search for gravitational effectsmediated through the exchange of virtual gravitons which propagate into largeextra dimensions is presented.

Designing virtual audiences for fear of public speaking training - an observation study on realistic nonverbal behavior.

Science.gov (United States)

Poeschl, Sandra; Doering, Nicola

2012-01-01

Virtual Reality technology offers great possibilities for Cognitive Behavioral Therapy of fear of public speaking: Clients can be exposed to virtual fear-triggering stimuli (exposure) and are able to role-play in virtual environments, training social skills to overcome their fear. Usually, prototypical audience behavior (neutral, social and anti-social) serves as stimulus in virtual training sessions, although there is significant lack of theoretical basis on typical audience behavior. The study presented deals with the design of a realistic virtual presentation scenario. An audience (consisting of n=18 men and women) in an undergraduate seminar was observed during three frontal lecture sessions. Behavior frequency of four nonverbal dimensions (eye contact, facial expression, gesture, and posture) was rated by means of a quantitative content analysis. Results show audience behavior patterns which seem to be typical in frontal lecture contexts, like friendly and neutral face expressions. Additionally, combined and even synchronized behavioral patterns between participants who sit next to each other (like turning to the neighbor and start talking) were registered. The gathered data serve as empirical design basis for a virtual audience to be used in virtual training applications that stimulate the experiences of the participants in a realistic manner, thereby improving the experienced presence in the training application.

Study of urban spatial utilization on socio-cultural and environment based on sustainability index (study in Denpasar city)

Science.gov (United States)

Wiryananda, N. G. A. K.; Hasibuan, H. S.; Madiasworo, T.

2018-03-01

The rapid development of tourism and population growth in Denpasar City stimulated the dynamic changes in the spatial utilization. This study aims to analyse the impact of spatial utilization on sociocultural and environment and formulate the sustainable spatial utilization that accommodate both social and environmental aspects. This research uses methods of spatial analysis and sustainability index. The results showed that during the period of 2011 to 2015 there was an increase of settlement and tourism land uses, meanwhile at the same period the paddy field decreased. The impact of spatial utilization on sociocultural leads to unsustainable, that showed by the decreasing of the sociocultural index from 1.038 in 2011 to 1.036 in 2015. The low of sociocultural index was stated by the increasing poverty, the obedience of traditional rules of purity radius of Temple and the height limit of the building. The impact of spatial utilization on environmental leads to unsustainable, with the environmental index of 1.065 in 2011 decreased to 1.056 in 2015. The decline of environmental index is due to reduced green open space and paddy field. The strategy formulation of sustainable spatial utilization is done by integrating traditional rules into spatial planning, plan the vertical building, strengthening implementation of traditional rules, implementation of perennial paddy field, and the establishment of traditional task control unit of spatial control.

The effects of acute sleep restriction on adolescents' pedestrian safety in a virtual environment.

Science.gov (United States)

Davis, Aaron L; Avis, Kristin T; Schwebel, David C

2013-12-01

Over 8,000 American adolescents ages 14-15 years require medical attention owing to pedestrian injury annually. Cognitive factors contributing to pedestrian safety include reaction time, impulsivity, risk taking, attention, and decision making. These characteristics are also influenced by sleep restriction. Experts recommend that adolescents obtain 8.5 hours of uninterrupted sleep each night, but most American adolescents do not. Inadequate sleep may place adolescents at risk for pedestrian injury. Using a within-subjects design, 55 14- and 15-year-olds engaged in a virtual reality pedestrian environment under two conditions, scheduled a week apart: sleep-restricted (4 hours' sleep the previous night) and adequate sleep (8.5 hours). Sleep was assessed using actigraphy and pedestrian behavior via four outcome measures: time to initiate crossing, time before contact with vehicle while crossing, virtual hits or close calls and attention to traffic (looks left and right). While acutely sleep restricted, adolescents took more time to initiate pedestrian crossings, crossed with less time before contact with vehicles, experienced more virtual hits or close calls, and looked left and right more often compared with when adequately rested. Results were maintained after controlling for age, gender, ethnicity, and average total sleep duration before each condition. Adolescent pedestrian behavior in the simulated virtual environment was markedly different, and generally more risky, when acutely sleep restricted compared with adequately rested. Inadequate sleep may influence cognitive functioning to the extent that pedestrian safety is jeopardized among adolescents capable of crossing streets safely when rested. Policy decisions might be educated by these results. Copyright © 2013 Society for Adolescent Health and Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Sociocultural factors contributing to teenage pregnancy in Zomba district, Malawi.

Science.gov (United States)

Kaphagawani, Nanzen Caroline; Kalipeni, Ezekiel

2017-06-01

This study explores sociocultural and other risk factors associated with unplanned teenage pregnancy in Zomba district of Malawi. Data were obtained from 505 participants under the age of 20 years using a questionnaire administered through face-to-face interviews held at five antenatal clinics. The data were analysed using descriptive statistics, frequency tables and chi-square analysis which allowed comparative understanding of the sociocultural risk factors for planned and unplanned teenage pregnancy in Zomba district. The findings revealed that teenage pregnancy is a major health and social problem. Over 76% of the teenage respondents in the study had experienced unplanned pregnancy. Among the prominent factors that stood out in the analysis for this high rate of teenage pregnancy were early sex and marriage, low contraceptive use, low educational levels, low socio-economic status, lack of knowledge of reproductive and sexual health, gender inequity, and physical/sexual violence. The consequences on teenage mothers of unplanned pregnancy have been tragic and have compromised their physical, psychological and socioeconomic wellbeing, not just on them but also their families and society at large. The findings point to the need for a multi-sectoral approach to tackle the problem on teenage pregnancy in this district, and likely throughout Malawi.

Clinical Diagnostic and Sociocultural Dimensions of Deliberate Self-Harm in Mumbai, India

Science.gov (United States)

Parkar, Shubhangi R.; Dawani, Varsha; Weiss, Mitchell G.

2006-01-01

Patients' accounts complement psychiatric assessment of deliberate self-harm (DSH). In this study we examined psychiatric disorders, and sociocultural and cross-cultural features of DSH. SCID diagnostic interviews and a locally adapted EMIC interview were used to study 196 patients after DSH at a general hospital in Mumbai, India. Major depression…

Biological and socio-cultural factors during the school years predicting women’s lifetime educational attainment

Science.gov (United States)

Hendrick, C. Emily; Cohen, Alison K.; Deardorff, Julianna

2015-01-01

BACKGROUND Lifetime educational attainment is an important predictor of health and well-being for women in the United States. In the current study, we examine the roles of socio-cultural factors in youth and an understudied biological life event, pubertal timing, in predicting women’s lifetime educational attainment. METHODS Using data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997 cohort (N = 3889), we conducted sequential multivariate linear regression analyses to investigate the influences of macro-level and family-level socio-cultural contextual factors in youth (region of country, urbanicity, race/ethnicity, year of birth, household composition, mother’s education, mother’s age at first birth) and early menarche, a marker of early pubertal development, on women’s educational attainment after age 24. RESULTS Pubertal timing and all socio-cultural factors in youth, other than year of birth, predicted women’s lifetime educational attainment in bivariate models. Family factors had the strongest associations. When family factors were added to multivariate models, geographic region in youth and pubertal timing were no longer significant. CONCLUSION Our findings provide additional evidence that family factors should be considered when developing comprehensive and inclusive interventions in childhood and adolescence to promote lifetime educational attainment among girls. PMID:26830508

CZT Virtual Frisch-grid Detector: Principles and Applications

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cui, Y.; Bolotnikov, A.; Camarda, G.; Hossain, A.; James, R.B.

2009-01-01

Cadmium Zinc Telluride (CdZnTe or CZT) is a very attractive material for using as room-temperature semiconductor detectors, because it has a wide bandgap and a high atomic number. However, due to the material's poor hole mobility, several special techniques were developed to ensure its suitability for radiation detection. Among them, the virtual Frisch-grid CZT detector is an attractive option, having a simple configuration, yet delivering an outstanding spectral performance. The goal of our group in Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL) is to improve the performance of Frisch-ring CZT detectors; most recently, that effort focused on the non-contacting Frisch-ring detector, allowing us to build an inexpensive, large-volume detector array with high energy-resolution and a large effective area. In this paper, the principles of virtual Frisch-grid detectors are described, especially BNL's innovative improvements. The potential applications of virtual Frisch-grid detectors are discussed, and as an example, a hand-held gamma-ray spectrometer using a CZT virtual Frischgrid detector array is introduced, which is a self-contained device with a radiation detector, readout circuit, communication circuit, and high-voltage supply. It has good energy resolution of 1.4% (FWHM of 662-keV peak) with a total detection volume of ∼20 cm 3 . Such a portable inexpensive device can be used widely in nonproliferation applications, non-destructive detection, radiation imaging, and for homeland security. Extended systems based on the same technology have potential applications in industrial- and nuclear-medical-imaging

Etiology of eating disorders: biological, psychological and sociocultural determinants

OpenAIRE

Morgan, Christina Marcondes [UNIFESP; Vecchiatti, Ilka Ramalho [UNIFESP; Negrão, André Brooking [UNIFESP

2002-01-01

Os transtornos alimentares possuem uma etiologia multifatorial, composta de predisposições genéticas, socioculturais e vulnerabilidades biológicas e psicológicas. Entre os fatores predisponentes, destacam-se a história de transtorno alimentar e (ou) transtorno do humor na família, os padrões de interação presentes no ambiente familiar, o contexto sociocultural, caracterizado pela extrema valorização do corpo magro, disfunções no metabolismo das monoaminas centrais e traços de personalidade. A...

Sensitivity-based virtual fields for the non-linear virtual fields method

Science.gov (United States)

Marek, Aleksander; Davis, Frances M.; Pierron, Fabrice

2017-09-01

The virtual fields method is an approach to inversely identify material parameters using full-field deformation data. In this manuscript, a new set of automatically-defined virtual fields for non-linear constitutive models has been proposed. These new sensitivity-based virtual fields reduce the influence of noise on the parameter identification. The sensitivity-based virtual fields were applied to a numerical example involving small strain plasticity; however, the general formulation derived for these virtual fields is applicable to any non-linear constitutive model. To quantify the improvement offered by these new virtual fields, they were compared with stiffness-based and manually defined virtual fields. The proposed sensitivity-based virtual fields were consistently able to identify plastic model parameters and outperform the stiffness-based and manually defined virtual fields when the data was corrupted by noise.

A New Method Solving Contact/Detach Problem in Fluid and Structure Interaction Simulation with Application in Modeling of a Safety Valve

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Zheng Guo

2010-01-01

Full Text Available A new virtual baffle methodology is implemented to solve contact/detach problem which is often encountered in fluid and structure interaction simulations while using dynamic grids technique. The algorithm is based on tetrahedral unstructured grid, and a zero thickness baffle face is generated between actually contacted two objects. In computation process, this baffle face is divided into two parts representing convective and blocked area, respectively; the area of each part is calculated according to the actual displacement between the two objects. Convective part in a baffle face is treated as inner interface between cells, and on blocked part wall boundary condition is applied; so convective and blocking effect can be achieved on a single baffle face. This methodology can simulate real detaching process starting from contact, that is, zero displacement, while it has no restriction to minimum grid cell size. The methodology is then applied in modeling of a complicated safety valve opening process, involving multidisciplinary fluid and structure interaction and dynamic grids. The results agree well with experimental data, which proves that the virtual baffle method is successful.

On virtual displacement and virtual work in Lagrangian dynamics

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ray, Subhankar; Shamanna, J

2006-01-01

The confusion and ambiguity encountered by students in understanding virtual displacement and virtual work is discussed in this paper. A definition of virtual displacement is presented that allows one to express them explicitly for holonomic (velocity independent), non-holonomic (velocity dependent), scleronomous (time independent) and rheonomous (time dependent) constraints. It is observed that for holonomic, scleronomous constraints, the virtual displacements are the displacements allowed by the constraints. However, this is not so for a general class of constraints. For simple physical systems, it is shown that the work done by the constraint forces on virtual displacements is zero. This motivates Lagrange's extension of d'Alembert's principle to a system of particles in constrained motion. However, a similar zero work principle does not hold for the allowed displacements. It is also demonstrated that d'Alembert's principle of zero virtual work is necessary for the solvability of a constrained mechanical problem. We identify this special class of constraints, physically realized and solvable, as the ideal constraints. The concept of virtual displacement and the principle of zero virtual work by constraint forces are central to both Lagrange's method of undetermined multipliers and Lagrange's equations in generalized coordinates

Virtual Reality

Science.gov (United States)

1993-04-01

until exhausted. SECURITY CLASSIFICATION OF THIS PAGE All other editions are obsolete. UNCLASSIFIED " VIRTUAL REALITY JAMES F. DAILEY, LIEUTENANT COLONEL...US" This paper reviews the exciting field of virtual reality . The author describes the basic concepts of virtual reality and finds that its numerous...potential benefits to society could revolutionize everyday life. The various components that make up a virtual reality system are described in detail

Framework for Virtual Cognitive Experiment in Virtual Geographic Environments

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Fan Zhang

2018-01-01

Full Text Available Virtual Geographic Environment Cognition is the attempt to understand the human cognition of surface features, geographic processes, and human behaviour, as well as their relationships in the real world. From the perspective of human cognition behaviour analysis and simulation, previous work in Virtual Geographic Environments (VGEs has focused mostly on representing and simulating the real world to create an ‘interpretive’ virtual world and improve an individual’s active cognition. In terms of reactive cognition, building a user ‘evaluative’ environment in a complex virtual experiment is a necessary yet challenging task. This paper discusses the outlook of VGEs and proposes a framework for virtual cognitive experiments. The framework not only employs immersive virtual environment technology to create a realistic virtual world but also involves a responsive mechanism to record the user’s cognitive activities during the experiment. Based on the framework, this paper presents two potential implementation methods: first, training a deep learning model with several hundred thousand street view images scored by online volunteers, with further analysis of which visual factors produce a sense of safety for the individual, and second, creating an immersive virtual environment and Electroencephalogram (EEG-based experimental paradigm to both record and analyse the brain activity of a user and explore what type of virtual environment is more suitable and comfortable. Finally, we present some preliminary findings based on the first method.

Breaking the circle: challenging Western sociocultural norms for appearance influences young women's attention to appearance-related media.

Science.gov (United States)

Mischner, Isabelle H S; van Schie, Hein T; Engels, Rutger C M E

2013-06-01

Paying attention to thin media models may negatively affect women's self-evaluation. This study aimed to reduce the amount of attention that young women give to appearance-related information by challenging the sociocultural norms for appearance, and studied the moderating role of self-esteem. Seventy-one college women either received norm-confirming, norm-challenging, or no information regarding the sociocultural norms for appearance. Subsequently, participants' visual attention to appearance-related and neutral advertisements was measured using an eye-tracker. The results demonstrate that when no information or norm-confirming information was received, women with lower self-esteem paid more attention to the appearance-related advertisements than women with higher self-esteem. Importantly however, when norm-challenging information was received, women with lower self-esteem paid significantly less attention to the appearance-related ads than women with lower self-esteem who did not receive this manipulation. These findings indicate that challenging the sociocultural norms for appearance can attenuate the amount of attention women give to appearance-related media. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Socio-Cultural Variation in Reading Comprehension Development among Fifth Graders in Peru

Science.gov (United States)

Silva, Silvia Morales; Verhoeven, Ludo; van Leeuwe, Jan

2011-01-01

In this study, the socio-cultural variation in reading comprehension development was examined in 331 fifth graders from schools in Lima, Peru. Reading comprehension was measured using an adaptation of the PIRLS Reading Literacy test. The fifth graders' reading comprehension results, measured over the course of fifth grade, were related to the…

Confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling of socio-cultural constructs among chamorro and non-chamorro micronesian betel nut chewers.

Science.gov (United States)

Murphy, Kelle L; Liu, Min; Herzog, Thaddeus A

2017-07-05

Betel nut chewing is embedded within the cultures of South Asia, and Southeast Asia, and the Western Pacific. The determinants of betel nut consumption are complex. Ongoing consumption of betel nut is affected by cultural, social, and drug-specific effects (i.e. dependence). This study's first objective was to assess the psychometric properties (i.e. reliability and validity) of the socio-cultural constructs in a survey developed for betel nut chewers. The study's second objective was to investigate the influence of socio-cultural variables on betel nut chewing behaviors among Chamorro and non-Chamorro Micronesians in Guam. The current study was a secondary analysis of a larger study (N = 600; n = 375 chewers and n = 225 former chewers) that examined socio-cultural factors that influence why chewers chew betel nut, along with assessing chewing behaviors, perceptions of risks, probability of changing behaviors, and methods that could be used to reduce use or quit. The socio-cultural constructs of the survey were analyzed using confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling. The socio-cultural factors were a sufficient fit with data and the instrument is reliable and valid, as indicated by various model fit indices (χ 2 (13) = 18.49 with p = .14, TLI = .99, CFI = 1.00, SRMR = .02, RMSEA = .03 with 90% CIs [.00,.07]). Cronbach's alpha, the sign and magnitude of the factor loadings, the inter-factor correlations, and the large proportion of variance extracted for each factor, all indicate that the instrument is reliable and valid. Additionally, multivariate analyses showed that socio-cultural reasons were important contributing or chewing betel nut. Participants cited chewing because their friends and family members chewed, the behavior is embedded within their culture, and it would be considered rude and disrespectful to not chew. Based on the findings, this study provides important implications pertaining to

Virtual reality for stroke rehabilitation.

Science.gov (United States)

Laver, Kate E; Lange, Belinda; George, Stacey; Deutsch, Judith E; Saposnik, Gustavo; Crotty, Maria

2017-11-20

Virtual reality and interactive video gaming have emerged as recent treatment approaches in stroke rehabilitation with commercial gaming consoles in particular, being rapidly adopted in clinical settings. This is an update of a Cochrane Review published first in 2011 and then again in 2015. Primary objective: to determine the efficacy of virtual reality compared with an alternative intervention or no intervention on upper limb function and activity.Secondary objectives: to determine the efficacy of virtual reality compared with an alternative intervention or no intervention on: gait and balance, global motor function, cognitive function, activity limitation, participation restriction, quality of life, and adverse events. We searched the Cochrane Stroke Group Trials Register (April 2017), CENTRAL, MEDLINE, Embase, and seven additional databases. We also searched trials registries and reference lists. Randomised and quasi-randomised trials of virtual reality ("an advanced form of human-computer interface that allows the user to 'interact' with and become 'immersed' in a computer-generated environment in a naturalistic fashion") in adults after stroke. The primary outcome of interest was upper limb function and activity. Secondary outcomes included gait and balance and global motor function. Two review authors independently selected trials based on pre-defined inclusion criteria, extracted data, and assessed risk of bias. A third review author moderated disagreements when required. The review authors contacted investigators to obtain missing information. We included 72 trials that involved 2470 participants. This review includes 35 new studies in addition to the studies included in the previous version of this review. Study sample sizes were generally small and interventions varied in terms of both the goals of treatment and the virtual reality devices used. The risk of bias present in many studies was unclear due to poor reporting. Thus, while there are a large

The Position of a Teacher as a Factor of Forming Students' Socio-Cultural Identities (On the Example of the Russian Civil Identity)

Science.gov (United States)

Shakurova, Marina V.

2015-01-01

The article presents experience of structuring and description of teachers' position in the process of forming socio-cultural identity of the person, detailed in regard to the process of formation of one of the subtypes of socio-cultural identity--Russian civil identity. We identified and described real subjective, nominally subjective and…

Virtualization Security Combining Mandatory Access Control and Virtual Machine Introspection

OpenAIRE

Win, Thu Yein; Tianfield, Huaglory; Mair, Quentin

2014-01-01

Virtualization has become a target for attacks in cloud computing environments. Existing approaches to protecting the virtualization environment against the attacks are limited in protection scope and are with high overheads. This paper proposes a novel virtualization security solution which aims to provide comprehensive protection of the virtualization environment.

Sobre las habilidades espaciales y la dimensión sociocultural del aprendizaje de "lo geométrico"

OpenAIRE

Andrade, Melissa; Cantoral, Ricardo

2013-01-01

En esta comunicación se establece la primera aproximación a un proyecto de investigación, enmarcado bajo la Teoría Socioepistemológica, que busca responder de qué manera las culturas a través de la historia han logrado apropiarse del espacio y cómo ésta apropiación ha sido influenciada por su entorno sociocultural. Para ello se presenta el estado del arte, dando a conocer algunos estudios en torno a la visualización espacial y a la profunda interacción de lo sociocultural en el aprendizaje de...

Impactul spectacolului de teatru asupra procesului sociocultural în oglinda criticii teatrale

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Elfrida Koroliova

2016-10-01

Full Text Available The article discusses the history of theatre development since its appearance and up-to-date in the relations and mutual influences with social consciousness through theoretical visions. Following the analysis, the transformation of theatrical forms determined by the socio-cultural atmosphere of the era is highlighted. The emergence and development of theatrical critique is studied in their context. In the Republic of Moldova, theatrical critique developed in close connection with the theatre, which was meant to educate the new man. At the turn of the XX – XXI centuries, a decline in local theatre critique is recorded, which no longer has time for a thorough analysis of artistic successes and failures, but nurtures the newspaper reportage of the day and the dithyrambic style. The multi-secular history of European theatrical art, whose indispensable part is the Moldovan theatre as well, being reflected in social consciousness and recorded in the media, allows us to see the transformation of man and of society in the socio-cultural space.

School Culture: Reflections on Speaking from a sociocultural view of educational psychology

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Eduardo Guzmán Utreras

2015-11-01

Full Text Available The following article discusses the relative importance of school culture as the main element of educational intervention to be considered by the educational psychology, understood in this context as a discipline plays in formal educational settings. From a sociocultural school look, culture and intervention, it seeks to synthesize some basic elements that must be taken into account in developing the practice of psychologists in these areas, giving rise to complex, embedded interventions in a context education and in relation to all participating actors and members of the institutions, thus creating the potential to develop shared changes and transformations between those who build this school culture. The following sections granted emphasize three specific points and tensions highlight and work as proposed: 1 The problem of school culture and the inclusion of educational psychologist; 2 School culture as an object of interest from a sociocultural look; and their interaction with the curriculum; and 3 a description of some basic guidelines for intervention counselors from the school culture, from the perspective of an educational psychologist focused on a cultural paradigm.

Socio-Cultural Factors of the Russian Reforming Process of the 18-20th Centuries

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Yuriy Korobkov

2017-11-01

Full Text Available The modern Russian reforms aimed at moving the society to a new stage of development are going through a complicated, contradictory way, with great social costs and zigzags of the political course of power. This poses the task of identifying and overcoming the inhibiting factors in the development of the country. One of the most effective mechanisms of such work is the study of the three-hundred-year experience of Russian reformation and the identification of timeless sociocultural and mental risk factors affecting the nature and content of reforms. This article is devoted to this purpose. In the course of study, we have drawn the conclusions about the deterrent effect on the development of the country of such features of Russian society as its socio-cultural split, absence of internal mechanisms for the self-development of society, lack of a dialogue between government and society, whose relationships are determined by the principle of "antisocial state - anti-state society", mental characteristics of the Russian intelligentsia, which dogmatically implements particular ideas at the expense of economic expediency and common sense, orientation of the ruling elite on the Western values as opposed to national traditions, conservatism and lack of conscious reformative motivation of the masses. This leads to the need to correlate the current reforms not only with the current trends of socio-economic development, but also with the sociocultural foundations of Russian society and the peculiarities of its mentality.

Socio-cultural impacts of large-scale cruise tourism in Souq Mutrah, Sultanate of Oman

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Manuela Gutberlet

2016-02-01

Full Text Available The following paper explores socio-cultural impacts of large-scale cruise liner tourism on the traditional bazaar (souq in the district of Mutrah. The souq is located opposite the port in the Omani capital Muscat. Large-scale cruise tourism in Muscat started only in 2004 and has increased in scale and numbers in the past years. 24 cruise vessels with around 7600 passengers arrived in Muscat in 2005. Seven years later 135 cruise liners carrying 257,000 tourists docked in Muscat. Due to this dramatic rise of international cruise ships, the socio-cultural impacts have increased for local residents, shop vendors/owners and tourists alike. To capture those socio-cultural impacts on Souq Mutrah, a survey of cruise tourists was conducted by a questionnaire. In addition, the researcher used participatory observation, counting, and in-depth interviews with different stakeholders of the local community and different types of tourists during the cruise seasons 2012/13 and 2013/14. Moreover, content analysis of statistics and local media publications were used. Results indicate that the souq has become “the core of a tourist bubble”, where crowding is a major problem and local residents avoid the place. The social carrying capacity of the souq has been reached. Omani vendors are leaving their businesses and renting their shops out to expatriates. Since contemporary cruise tourists are low spenders, expatriate shop sellers have become more aggressive.

Virtual Box

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Davis, Hilary; Skov, Mikael B.; Stougaard, Malthe

2007-01-01

. This paper reports on the design, implementation and initial evaluation of Virtual Box. Virtual Box attempts to create a physical and engaging context in order to support reciprocal interactions with expressive content. An implemented version of Virtual Box is evaluated in a location-aware environment...

Model of socio-cultural dimensions involved in adherence to antiretroviral therapy for HIV/AIDS in public health care centers in Chile.

Science.gov (United States)

Stuardo Ávila, Valeria; Manriquez Urbina, Jose Manuel; Fajreldin Chuaqui, Valentina; Belmar Prieto, Julieta; Valenzuela Santibáñez, Victoria

2016-11-01

In Chile, over 14,000 adults are living with HIV receive antiretroviral therapy (HAART). Adequate adherence to HAART has a major impact on survival. There is little consensus on the causes of poor adherence, due to the unique and diverse sociocultural parameters involved in the issue. The objective of this study was to identify sociocultural dimensions that serve as barriers or facilitators to HAART adherence among persons living with HIV/AIDS (PLHIV) in Chile. A qualitative study design, with an exploratory followed by a descriptive phase was conducted. The study population consisted of adults living with HIV/AIDS, with and without HAART. A theoretical sample was designed and three gender profiles defined: women, men, and transwomen. Data collection methods included in-depth interviews by anthropologists in seven public health care centers for PLHIV. The model of sociocultural dimensions indicated that factors associated with family, expectations, gender/sexuality, affect, relationship with HIV, HAART, work, social support and networks, and stigma and discrimination influenced adherence, with different patterns among profiles. This study found that adherence is a dynamic category. It is crucial to consider sociocultural factors in developing strategies to improve HAART adherence.

Peer mentoring – is a virtual form of support a viable alternative?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Pat Gannon-Leary

2011-12-01

Full Text Available Support systems are vital for university entrants and one established means of support is peer mentoring, which has the potential to improve student engagement and retention. Peer mentoring models are generally based on face-to-face contact. However, given the increasing number of higher education institutions using social media, might online models be beneficial in a peer mentoring context? This article describes a literature review and case study that considers the advantages and disadvantages of three potential virtual models to facilitate a peer mentoring scheme. The case study, undertaken at Northumbria University, UK, involved an investigation of mentoring needs and current usage of electronic media where special attention is afforded to a diverse student body. The three models discussed are virtual learning environments (VLE, social networking sites and virtual worlds. We find that the VLE is established within institutions but lacks excitement; social networking is popular particularly with younger students but there may be resentment if this appears to be appropriated by the institution; whilst virtual worlds are unfamiliar to many students and require advanced skills to use successfully. Based on these findings the social networking model is now being run as a pilot study by business programmes at Northumbria University.

Contexto sociocultural y alimentario de mujeres con embarazos de riesgo

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Reyna Sámano Sámano

2014-05-01

Full Text Available Para favorecer una alimentación correcta la orientación alimentaria debe considerar factores socioculturales que condicionen patrones y preferencias del consumo de alimentos propios de cada población. El objetivo de esta investigación fue describir el contexto sociocultural del embarazo y su alimentación en el ámbito doméstico, mediante un enfoque cualitativo. Se realizaron entrevistas en profundidad a 6 mujeres con embarazo de alto riesgo bajo la técnica de saturación de la información. Las entrevistas se transcribieron y analizaron de acuerdo a Bardín con ayuda del programa Atlas TI. Se identificó: incertidumbre por el embarazo no planeado y poco apoyo de la pareja; ciertos cambios en la alimentación para mejorar la salud; percepción de una mala y buena alimentación, aunque ésta no cumplía con las características de una dieta correcta; omisión de la cena y del grupo de verduras y frutas. Las encargadas de preparar y servir los alimentos no siempre fueron las mujeres embarazadas; los alimentos percibidos peligrosos fueron consumidos y los benéficos presentaron consumo escaso. Resaltó la necesidad de capacitar a los profesionales de la salud para considerar al contexto sociocultural en la orientación alimentaria que proporcionen.

Entrepreneurial Skills and Socio-Cultural Factors: An Empirical Analysis in Secondary Education Students

Science.gov (United States)

Rosique-Blasco, Mario; Madrid-Guijarro, Antonia; García-Pérez-de-Lema, Domingo

2016-01-01

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore how entrepreneurial skills (such as creativity, proactivity and risk tolerance) and socio-cultural factors (such as role model and businessman image) affect secondary education students' propensity towards entrepreneurial options in their future careers. Design/methodology/approach: A sample of…

Realidad virtual y materialidad

OpenAIRE

Pérez Herranz, Fernando Miguel

2009-01-01

1. Fenomenología de partida: Real / Simbólico / Imaginario 2. Realidad 3. Virtual 3.1. Virtual / real / posible / probable 3.2. Los contextos de la realidad virtual A) REALIDAD VIRTUAL INMERSIVA B) REALIDAD VIRTUAL NO INMERSIVA C) REALIDAD VIRTUAL Y DIGITALIZACIÓN 3.3. Cruce virtual / real 3.4. Cuestiones filosóficas 4. Materialidad 5. Materialidad y descentramiento 5.1. Ejemplos de descentramiento en los contextos de Realidad Virtual A’) DUALISMO CARTESIANO, CUERPO Y «CIBORG » B’) EL ESPÍRIT...

A novel phosphorylcholine-coated contact lens for extended wear use.

Science.gov (United States)

Court, J L; Redman, R P; Wang, J H; Leppard, S W; Obyrne, V J; Small, S A; Lewis, A L; Jones, S A; Stratford, P W

2001-12-01

The preparation and characterisation of a new phosphorylcholine (PC)-coated silicone hydrogel contact lens for use in extended wear is described. The Michael-type addition of amines to acrylates forms the basis of the synthesis of a novel silicone-based macromer with hydrophilic functionality. It is demonstrated that this macromer can be combined with other silicone-based monomers, hydrophilic monomers and crosslinker to produce a contact lenses formulation. Examples of lenses with water contents of 33% and 46% are illustrated and their properties compared to other commercially available lenses. Materials with comparatively low modulus (2-4MPa) with excellent elongation to break (>200%) can be obtained using this technology. In addition to the mechanical aspects. both the oxygen and solute permeabilities of the material can be controlled by the hydrophilic: hydrophobic monomer balance in the formulation. to obtain materials with attributes suitable for extended wear use. The PC coating is achieved by means of an in-mould coating (IMC) technique that produces a uniform and stable surface as determined by staining and XPS. The coating imparts both improved lens wettability (advancing contact angle of approximately 50 with virtually no hysteresis) and lower protein adsorption relative to the uncoated lens.

A virtual network computer's optical storage virtualization scheme

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Jianzong; Hu, Huaixiang; Wan, Jiguang; Wang, Peng

2008-12-01

In this paper, we present the architecture and implementation of a virtual network computers' (VNC) optical storage virtualization scheme called VOSV. Its task is to manage the mapping of virtual optical storage to physical optical storage, a technique known as optical storage virtualization. The design of VOSV aims at the optical storage resources of different clients and servers that have high read-sharing patterns. VOSV uses several schemes such as a two-level Cache mechanism, a VNC server embedded module and the iSCSI protocols to improve the performance. The results measured on the prototype are encouraging, and indicating that VOSV provides the high I/O performance.

Socio-cultural factors, gender roles and religious ideologies contributing to Caesarian-section refusal in Nigeria.

Science.gov (United States)

Ugwu, Nnanna U; de Kok, Bregje

2015-08-12

The death of women from pregnancy-related causes is a serious challenge that international development initiatives, including the Millennium Development Goals, have been trying to redress for decades. The majority of these pregnancy-related deaths occur in developing countries especially in Sub-Saharan Africa. The provision of Emergency Obstetric Care (EmOC), including Caesarean section (CS) has been identified as one of the key ingredients necessary for the reduction of high maternal mortality ratios. However, it appears that creating access to EmOC facilities is not all that is required to reduce maternal mortality: socio-cultural issues in Sub-Saharan countries including Nigeria seem to deter women from accepting CS. This study seeks to explore some of the socio-cultural concerns that reinforce delays and non-acceptance of CS in a Nigerian community. This is a mixed method study that combined both qualitative and quantitative strategies of enquiry. The hospital's delivery records from 2006-2010 provided data for quantitative analysis. This quantitative data was supplemented with prospective data collected during one month. Semi-structured interviews, focus group discussions (FGD) and informal observations served as the sources of data on the qualitative end. In total, 22% of maternity clients refused CS and more than 90% of the CSs in the focal hospital were emergencies which may indicate late arrival at the hospital after seeking assistance elsewhere. The qualitative analysis reveals that socio-cultural meanings informed by gender and religious ideologies, the relational consequences of having a C-section, and the role of alternative providers are some key factors which influence when, where and whether women will accept C-section or not. There is need to find means of facilitating necessary CS by addressing the prevailing socio-cultural norms and expectations that hinder its acceptance. Engaging and guiding alternative providers (traditional birth attendants

Virtual bronchoscopy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rogalla, P.; Meiri, N.; Hamm, B.; Rueckert, J.C.; Schmidt, B.; Witt, C.

2001-01-01

Flexible bronchoscopy represents a clinically well-established invasive diagnostic tool. Virtual bronchoscopies, calculated from thin-slice CT sections, allow astonishing immitations of reality although principal differences exist between both technologies: the Fact that colour representation is artificial and concommitant interventions are impossible limits the clinical use of virtual bronchoscopy. However, its value increases when calculations can be attained within minutes due to technological advancements, and when virtually any chest CT is suitable for further postprocessing. Indications, findings and the clinical role of virtual bronchoscopy are discussed. (orig.) [de

Virtual button interface

Science.gov (United States)

Jones, J.S.

1999-01-12

An apparatus and method of issuing commands to a computer by a user interfacing with a virtual reality environment are disclosed. To issue a command, the user directs gaze at a virtual button within the virtual reality environment, causing a perceptible change in the virtual button, which then sends a command corresponding to the virtual button to the computer, optionally after a confirming action is performed by the user, such as depressing a thumb switch. 4 figs.

The Sociocultural Psychology as a Postformal Theory of Academic Achievement: Interrogating Formal Education

Science.gov (United States)

Sinha, Chetan

2013-01-01

The present paper interrogates the dominance of formal education. As formal education system relies on ability based academic achievement as a goal, exploring post-formal approaches, such as sociocultural notion of academic achievement is the hallmark of present paper. An attempt is made to interrogate the existing cultural dominance in formal…

School Socio-Cultural Identity and Perceived Parental Involvement about Mathematics Learning in Greece

Science.gov (United States)

Moutsios-Rentzos, Andreas; Chaviaris, Petros; Kafoussi, Sonia

2015-01-01

In this quantitative study we investigated the primary school students' perceived parental involvement in mathematics with respect to different school socio-cultural identity as identified by the students' ethnicity. 493 students attending the two last grades of three primary schools participated in the study. The role of the students' grade and…

Integrating the Ontological, Epistemological, and Sociocultural Aspects: A Holistic View of Teacher Education

Science.gov (United States)

Huang, Teng

2016-01-01

The three aspects of teacher change--ontological, epistemological, and sociocultural--are traditionally regarded as independent. Usually only the epistemological aspect is highlighted in formal teacher education. In this paper, I argue that a holistic and interdependent view of these aspects is needed. Thus, this paper aims to explore the process…

Bringing Technology to Students' Proximity: A Sociocultural Account of Technology-Based Learning Projects

Science.gov (United States)

Mukama, Evode

2014-01-01

This paper depicts a study carried out in Rwanda concerning university students who participated in a contest to produce short documentary films. The purpose of this research is to conceptualize these kinds of technology-based learning projects (TBLPs) through a sociocultural perspective. The methodology included focus group discussions and field…

Virtual Web Services

OpenAIRE

Rykowski, Jarogniew

2007-01-01

In this paper we propose an application of software agents to provide Virtual Web Services. A Virtual Web Service is a linked collection of several real and/or virtual Web Services, and public and private agents, accessed by the user in the same way as a single real Web Service. A Virtual Web Service allows unrestricted comparison, information merging, pipelining, etc., of data coming from different sources and in different forms. Detailed architecture and functionality of a single Virtual We...

Symbolic healing of early psychosis: psychoeducation and sociocultural processes of recovery.

Science.gov (United States)

Larsen, John Aggergaard

2007-09-01

This article analyzes sociocultural processes of recovery in a Danish mental health service providing two years of integrated biopsychosocial treatment following first-episode psychosis. The study is based on ethnographic research in the service and person-centered involvement with 15 clients. The analysis applies Dow's [1986 American Anthropologist 88:56-69] model of universal components of symbolic healing to elucidate sociocultural aspects of therapeutic efficacy that are alternatively disregarded as placebo or nonspecific effects. It is demonstrated how staff engaged with clients to deliver "psychoeducation" that provided scientific and biomedical theories about mental illness, constituting a shared "mythic world" that was accepted as an experiential truth and used to explain clients' illness experiences. The analysis highlights the need to supplement attention in Dow's model to the healing procedure with consideration of variability in the healing process. Depending on individual responses to the intervention, the staff's professional backgrounds and staff-client relationships different recovery models were applied. One suggested "episodic psychosis" and full recovery, and the other suggested "chronic schizophrenia" and the necessity of comprehensive life adjustments to the mental illness. The recovery models influenced clients' perspectives on illness and self as they engaged in identity work, negotiating future plans and individual life projects by including also alternative systems of explanation from the wider cultural repertoire.

Structure functions of longitudinal virtual photons at low virtualities

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ioffe, B.L.; Shushpanov, I.A.

1996-01-01

The structure functions F L 1 and F L 2 of longitudinal virtual photons at low virtualities are calculated in the framework of chiral perturbation theory (ChPT) in the zero and first order of ChPT. It is assumed that the virtuality of a target longitudinal photon p 2 is much less than the virtuality of the hard projectile photon Q 2 and both are less than the characteristic ChPT scale. In this approximation the structure functions are determined by the production of two pions in γγ collisions. The numerical results for F L 2 and F L 1 are presented (the upper index refers to the longitudinal polarization of the virtual target photon). The possibilities of measurements of these structure functions are briefly discussed. copyright 1996 The American Physical Society

Virtual hand: a 3D tactile interface to virtual environments

Science.gov (United States)

Rogowitz, Bernice E.; Borrel, Paul

2008-02-01

We introduce a novel system that allows users to experience the sensation of touch in a computer graphics environment. In this system, the user places his/her hand on an array of pins, which is moved about space on a 6 degree-of-freedom robot arm. The surface of the pins defines a surface in the virtual world. This "virtual hand" can move about the virtual world. When the virtual hand encounters an object in the virtual world, the heights of the pins are adjusted so that they represent the object's shape, surface, and texture. A control system integrates pin and robot arm motions to transmit information about objects in the computer graphics world to the user. It also allows the user to edit, change and move the virtual objects, shapes and textures. This system provides a general framework for touching, manipulating, and modifying objects in a 3-D computer graphics environment, which may be useful in a wide range of applications, including computer games, computer aided design systems, and immersive virtual worlds.

Sociocultural Attitudes and Symptoms of Bulimia: Evaluating the SATAQ with Diverse College Groups

Science.gov (United States)

Cashel, Mary Louise; Cunningham, Dana; Landeros, Clarinda; Cokley, Kevin O.; Muhammad, Grace

2003-01-01

This study evaluated the utility of the Sociocultural Attitudes Towards Appearance Questionnaire (SATAQ; L. J. Heinberg, J. K. Thompson, & S. Stormer, 1995) for the assessment of diverse college groups, including men, women, minorities, and sorority members. Scores from the SATAQ were compared with the Eating Disorder Inventory-2 (EDI-2; D. M.…

"My Home and My School": Examining Immigrant Adolescent Narratives from the Critical Sociocultural Perspective

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Jun

2010-01-01

Privileging the voices of 12 recent Chinese immigrant adolescents, this multiple-case narrative study examined their home and school experiences from the critical sociocultural perspective. The adolescent stories about home testified to the significant influence of immigrant poverty, parental sacrificial altruism, and disciplinary Chinese…

Understanding Higher Education-Based Teacher Educators' Identities in Hong Kong: A Sociocultural Linguistic Perspective

Science.gov (United States)

Yuan, Rui

2016-01-01

While teacher educator identities have received increasing attention over the past decade, there is a lack of research on teacher educators' professional identities in the complex and shifting higher education contexts. Informed by the sociocultural linguistic perspective, this study investigates two language teacher educators' professional…

Advanced server virtualization VMware and Microsoft platforms in the virtual data center

CERN Document Server

Marshall, David; McCrory, Dave

2006-01-01

Executives of IT organizations are compelled to quickly implement server virtualization solutions because of significant cost savings. However, most IT professionals tasked with deploying virtualization solutions have little or no experience with the technology. This creates a high demand for information on virtualization and how to properly implement it in a datacenter. Advanced Server Virtualization: VMware® and Microsoft® Platforms in the Virtual Data Center focuses on the core knowledge needed to evaluate, implement, and maintain an environment that is using server virtualization. This boo

The importance of socio-cultural context for understanding students' meaning making in the study of genetics

Science.gov (United States)

Furberg, Anniken; Arnseth, Hans Christian

2009-03-01

In this rejoinder to Ann Kindfield and Grady Venville's comments on our article "Reconsidering conceptual change from a socio-cultural perspective: Analyzing students' meaning making in genetics in collaborative learning activities," we elaborate on some of the critical issues they raise. Their comments make apparent some of the crucial differences between a socio-cultural and a socio-cognitive approach towards conceptual change. We have selected some issues that are addressed, either implicitly or explicitly, in their comments. The main issues discussed are talk and interaction as data, the significance of context in interaction studies, the feasibility of generic claims in small-scale interaction studies, and the difference between studying students' understanding of science concepts as opposed to studying the construction of meaning.

A Virtual Class Calculus

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Ernst, Erik; Ostermann, Klaus; Cook, William Randall

2006-01-01

Virtual classes are class-valued attributes of objects. Like virtual methods, virtual classes are defined in an object's class and may be redefined within subclasses. They resemble inner classes, which are also defined within a class, but virtual classes are accessed through object instances...... model for virtual classes has been a long-standing open question. This paper presents a virtual class calculus, vc, that captures the essence of virtual classes in these full-fledged programming languages. The key contributions of the paper are a formalization of the dynamic and static semantics of vc...

Russkie v Latvii: osobennosti sociokul'turnoj adaptacii i identichnosti [Russians in Latvia: Peculiarities of Socio-cultural Adaptation and Identity

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Voronov Viktor

2009-01-01

Full Text Available The author identifies trends and variations of the socio-cultural identity and integration of Russians in Latvia. According to the author, since the middle 1990s, two trends have been recognized - first, the “ingrowing” of ethnic Russians into the life of independent Latvia, and second, forming their new identity. The article presents a number of factors hampering the integration of ethnic Russians into Latvian society. Variations and options of socio-cultural identity and integration (or assimilation of the Russian population of Latvia are shown.

The Virtual Tablet: Virtual Reality as a Control System

Science.gov (United States)

Chronister, Andrew

2016-01-01

In the field of human-computer interaction, Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR) have been rapidly growing areas of interest and concerted development effort thanks to both private and public research. At NASA, a number of groups have explored the possibilities afforded by AR and VR technology, among which is the IT Advanced Concepts Lab (ITACL). Within ITACL, the AVR (Augmented/Virtual Reality) Lab focuses on VR technology specifically for its use in command and control. Previous work in the AVR lab includes the Natural User Interface (NUI) project and the Virtual Control Panel (VCP) project, which created virtual three-dimensional interfaces that users could interact with while wearing a VR headset thanks to body- and hand-tracking technology. The Virtual Tablet (VT) project attempts to improve on these previous efforts by incorporating a physical surrogate which is mirrored in the virtual environment, mitigating issues with difficulty of visually determining the interface location and lack of tactile feedback discovered in the development of previous efforts. The physical surrogate takes the form of a handheld sheet of acrylic glass with several infrared-range reflective markers and a sensor package attached. Using the sensor package to track orientation and a motion-capture system to track the marker positions, a model of the surrogate is placed in the virtual environment at a position which corresponds with the real-world location relative to the user's VR Head Mounted Display (HMD). A set of control mechanisms is then projected onto the surface of the surrogate such that to the user, immersed in VR, the control interface appears to be attached to the object they are holding. The VT project was taken from an early stage where the sensor package, motion-capture system, and physical surrogate had been constructed or tested individually but not yet combined or incorporated into the virtual environment. My contribution was to combine the pieces of

Virtual projects

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Svejvig, Per; Commisso, Trine Hald

2012-01-01

that the best practice knowledge has not permeated sufficiently to the practice. Furthermore, the appropriate application of information and communication technology (ICT) remains a big challenge, and finally project managers are not sufficiently trained in organizing and conducting virtual projects....... The overall implications for research and practice are to acknowledge virtual project management as very different to traditional project management and to address this difference.......Virtual projects are common with global competition, market development, and not least the financial crisis forcing organizations to reduce their costs drastically. Organizations therefore have to place high importance on ways to carry out virtual projects and consider appropriate practices...

The Psychological Well-Being and Sociocultural Adaptation of Short-Term International Students in Ireland

Science.gov (United States)

O'Reilly, Aileen; Ryan, Dermot; Hickey, Tina

2010-01-01

This article reports on an empirical study of the psychosocial adaptation of international students in Ireland. Using measures of social support, loneliness, stress, psychological well-being, and sociocultural adaptation, data were obtained from international students and a comparison sample of Irish students. The study found that, although…

Socio-cultural proximity, daily life and shopping tourism in the Dutch–German border region

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Szytniewski, Bianca B.; Spierings, Bas; van der Velde, Martin

2017-01-01

This paper analyses feelings of socio-cultural proximity and distance with a specific focus on the tourist experience in cross-border shopping and everyday life practices in border regions. We examined shopping practices of Dutch border crossers who visit the German town Kleve in the Dutch–German

Occupational contact urticaria and protein contact dermatitis.

Science.gov (United States)

Doutre, Marie-Sylvie

2005-01-01

Irritant dermatitis and eczema are the most prevalent occupational skin diseases. Less common are immediate contact reactions such as contact urticaria and protein contact dermatitis. Occupational contact urticaria can be subdivided into two categories, immunological and non immunological. However, some agents can induce these two types of reactions. Contact urticaria to natural rubber latex is particularly frequent among health care personnel, but contact urticaria to a wide variety of other substances occurs in many other occupations. Among those at risk are cooks, bakers, butchers, restaurant personnel, veterinarians, hairdressers, florists, gardeners, and forestry workers. Protein contact dermatitis in some of these occupations is caused principally by proteins of animal or plant origin, especially among individuals with a history of atopic dermatitis. Diagnosis requires careful interrogation, clinical examination and skin tests (open tests and prick tests with immediate lecture) to identify a particular contact allergen.

Transforming Virtual Teams

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bjørn, Pernille

2005-01-01

Investigating virtual team collaboration in industry using grounded theory this paper presents the in-dept analysis of empirical work conducted in a global organization of 100.000 employees where a global virtual team with participants from Sweden, United Kingdom, Canada, and North America were...... studied. The research question investigated is how collaboration is negotiated within virtual teams? This paper presents findings concerning how collaboration is negotiated within a virtual team and elaborate the difficulties due to invisible articulation work and managing multiple communities...... in transforming the virtual team into a community. It is argued that translucence in communication structures within the virtual team and between team and management is essential for engaging in a positive transformation process of trustworthiness supporting the team becoming a community, managing the immanent...

Sociocultural Behavior Sensemaking: State of the Art in Understanding the Operational Environment

Science.gov (United States)

2014-01-01

data are then processed and 54 | Visualization for sociocultural understanding assimilated into climate models to better visualize the dynamics of...makers to quickly identify the key policy levers that control system behavior. The C- ROADS model of global climate change (Sterman et al., 2012...data values to generate a trend forecast—the latter is called an Autoregressive Integrated Moving Average ( ARIMA ). The order of the models is

Residents' Attitude, Knowledge, and Perceived Preparedness Toward Caring for Patients from Diverse Sociocultural Backgrounds.

Science.gov (United States)

Marshall, Jessie Kimbrough; Cooper, Lisa A; Green, Alexander R; Bertram, Amanda; Wright, Letitia; Matusko, Niki; McCullough, Wayne; Sisson, Stephen D

2017-01-01

Purpose: Training residents to deliver care to increasingly diverse patients in the United States is an important strategy to help alleviate racial and ethnic disparities in health outcomes. Cross-cultural care training of residents continues to present challenges. This study sought to explore the associations among residents' cross-cultural attitudes, preparedness, and knowledge about disparities to better elucidate possible training needs. Methods: This cross-sectional study used web-based questionnaires from 2013 to 2014. Eighty-four internal medicine residency programs with 954 residents across the United States participated. The main outcome was perceived preparedness to care for sociocultural diverse patients. Key Results: Regression analysis showed attitude toward cross-cultural care (beta coefficient [β]=0.57, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.49-0.64, p attitude toward cross-cultural care and their level of exposure to patients from diverse sociocultural backgrounds. Future studies should examine the role of residents' cross-cultural care-related attitudes on their ability to care for diverse patients.

Trust and virtual worlds

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Ess, Charles; Thorseth, May

2011-01-01

We collect diverse philosophical analyses of the issues and problems clustering around trust online with specific attention to establishing trust in virtual environments. The book moves forward important discussions of how virtual worlds and virtuality are to be defined and understood; the role o...... by virtuality, such as virtual child pornography. The introduction further develops a philosophical anthropology, rooted in Kantian ethics, phenomenology, virtue ethics, and feminist perspectives, that grounds a specific approach to ethical issues in virtual environments....

Socio-Cultural Animation as Inspiration for the Life of the Society- Linking of the Social and Cultural in the Heart of the New Civilization

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dušana Findeisen

2009-12-01

Full Text Available Initially, the author discusses the formats of passing on culture and knowledge that were used in the past, the formats of the times of creation of national States, the formats belonging to the enlightenment initiatives. Dušana Findeisen goes on to emphasize that all national States had their »englighteners« involved in inspiring, bonding and educating people of various professions, from various social groups, thus rendering the society alive and dynamic. Socio-cultural animation is a French concept, not as new as it may seem, stemming from popular education. After the Second World War the adjective popular started being omitted and the term socio-cultural animation slowly replaced it. Socio-cultural animation can be found wherever people are, regardless of their educational or social background, striving to bring improvement to individuals and society. Next, the author presents and discusses several definitions of socio-cultural animation, occasionally illustrating them by presenting examples of good practice. In addition to that, she identifies the prevailing criteria used when classifying formats of socio cultural animation, drawing the reader's attention to the great variety of actors in this field. Dušana Findeisen presents various functions of this subsystem of the French national cultural policy. Owing to them, socio-cultural animation can be clearly differentiated from community education.

Virtual water: Virtuous impact? : the unsteady state of virtual water

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Roth, D.; Warner, J.F.

2008-01-01

“Virtual water,” water needed for crop production, is now being mainstreamed in the water policy world. Relying on virtual water in the form of food imports is increasingly recommended as good policy for water-scarce areas. Virtual water globalizes discussions on water scarcity, ecological

Learning as discourse change: A sociocultural mechanism

Science.gov (United States)

Wickman, Per-Olof; Östman, Leif

2002-09-01

This paper deals with a theoretical mechanism for learning and a methodological approach for analyzing meaning making in classroom talk and action. It examines the potential of the approach for illuminating learning on a discursive level, i.e., how discourses change and how individuals become participants of new practices. Our approach involves a high-resolution analysis of how meaningful relations are built in encounters between individuals and between individuals and the world. The approach is based mainly on the work of the later Wittgenstein, but also on pragmatism and sociocultural research. To demonstrate how our approach can be used, we analyze what university students learn during a practical on insects. We specifically demonstrate how the encounters with physical pinned insects contribute to the meaning students make and how these encounters interact with other experiences during laboratory work.

Evolution-based Virtual Content Insertion with Visually Virtual Interactions in Videos

Science.gov (United States)

Chang, Chia-Hu; Wu, Ja-Ling

With the development of content-based multimedia analysis, virtual content insertion has been widely used and studied for video enrichment and multimedia advertising. However, how to automatically insert a user-selected virtual content into personal videos in a less-intrusive manner, with an attractive representation, is a challenging problem. In this chapter, we present an evolution-based virtual content insertion system which can insert virtual contents into videos with evolved animations according to predefined behaviors emulating the characteristics of evolutionary biology. The videos are considered not only as carriers of message conveyed by the virtual content but also as the environment in which the lifelike virtual contents live. Thus, the inserted virtual content will be affected by the videos to trigger a series of artificial evolutions and evolve its appearances and behaviors while interacting with video contents. By inserting virtual contents into videos through the system, users can easily create entertaining storylines and turn their personal videos into visually appealing ones. In addition, it would bring a new opportunity to increase the advertising revenue for video assets of the media industry and online video-sharing websites.

Theft of Virtual Property — Towards Security Requirements for Virtual Worlds

Science.gov (United States)

Beyer, Anja

The article is focused to introduce the topic of information technology security for Virtual Worlds to a security experts’ audience. Virtual Worlds are Web 2.0 applications where the users cruise through the world with their individually shaped avatars to find either amusement, challenges or the next best business deal. People do invest a lot of time but beyond they invest in buying virtual assets like fantasy witcheries, wepaons, armour, houses, clothes,...etc with the power of real world money. Although it is called “virtual” (which is often put on the same level as “not existent”) there is a real value behind it. In November 2007 dutch police arrested a seventeen years old teenager who was suspicted to have stolen virtual items in a Virtual World called Habbo Hotel [Reuters07]. In order to successfully provide security mechanisms into Virtual Worlds it is necessarry to fully understand the domain for which the security mechansims are defined. As Virtual Worlds must be clasified into the domain of Social Software the article starts with an overview of how to understand Web 2.0 and gives a short introduction to Virtual Worlds. The article then provides a consideration of assets of Virtual Worlds participants, describes how these assets can be threatened and gives an overview of appopriate security requirements and completes with an outlook of possible countermeasures.

Interaction with virtual crowd in Immersive and semi‐Immersive Virtual Reality systems

OpenAIRE

Kyriakou, Marios; Pan, Xueni; Chrysanthou, Yiorgos

2016-01-01

This study examines attributes of virtual human behavior that may increase the plausibility of a simulated crowd and affect the user's experience in Virtual Reality. Purpose-developed experiments in both Immersive and semi-Immersive Virtual Reality systems queried the impact of collision and basic interaction between real-users and the virtual crowd and their effect on the apparent realism and ease of navigation within Virtual Reality (VR). Participants' behavior and subjective measurements i...

La investigación educativa sobre nuevas tecnologías: una aproximación sociocultural

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

María Ángeles REBOLLO CATALÁN

2009-11-01

Full Text Available RESUMEN: En este artículo presentamos algunas líneas de investigación del enfoque sociocultural en la actualidad y sus desarrollos metodológicos en el ámbito educativo. La teoría sociocultural constituye hoy un área de investigación interdisciplinar en Ciencias Sociales que integra aportaciones sugerentes para desvelar las funciones de los medios en los procesos de enseñanza-aprendizaje. Un sello característico de esta teoría es el reconocimiento del poder mediador de los signos e instrumentos para el desarrollo del pensamiento humano, destacando la noción de mediación cognitiva. La construcción de la identidad constituye uno de los temas abordados desde los planteamientos de esta teoría. En este trabajo se presentan algunos estudios sobre el papel de las tecnologías en la construcción de la identidad cultural. De forma complementaria se expone una revisión de las metodologías y enfoques de análisis del discurso que se han empleado en las investigaciones socioculturales sobre esta temática.ABSTRACT: This paper presents some of the main research outlines in the sociocultural approach at actually and its methodological developments in the educational scope. Nowadays, sociocultural theory constitutes an emergent field of interdisciplinary research in Social Sciences, which integrates interesting contributions in relation to different roles of the technologies in the educational process. A distinctive feature of its theory is to recognize the power of mediational means and cultural tools to promote new ways of thinking. In this framework, the notion of cognitive mediation is outstanding. At the present time, one of the main themes in the sociocultural research is the construction of cultural identity. In this paper, we show some studies about the roles of new technologies in the construction of cultural identity. In addition, a review of research methodologies and approaches of discourse analysis used in the sociocultural

Rural Hispanic populations at risk in developing diabetes: sociocultural and familial challenges in promoting a healthy diet.

Science.gov (United States)

Heuman, Amy N; Scholl, Juliann C; Wilkinson, Kenton

2013-01-01

Type II diabetes affects Hispanic populations disproportionately and is the fifth leading cause of death for Hispanic people in the United States ( Smith & Barnett, 2005 ). Risk of diabetes is of great concern throughout the United States and is clearly of epidemic proportions for regions such as the Southwest and Texas where the primary minority populations are Mexican American. We conducted four focus groups with a total of 49 Hispanic participants (23 adults and 26 adolescents) from rural West Texas communities to gain insights about participants' eating habits, knowledge of diabetes, and potential barriers to preventive care. From the data, we identified a three-tiered predisposition or vulnerability to diabetes-heredity; preferences for unhealthy, culturally based food; and temptations from U.S. mainstream fast food culture. These vulnerabilities added to the sociocultural concerns that participants identified-importance of parental and familial modeling; challenges to healthy eating based on a culturally based diet and mainstream fast food culture; and a lack of support from the larger sociocultural networks such as teachers, community leaders, and the media. From these data, we have a better understanding of familial and sociocultural factors that need to be addressed in the development of preventive public awareness and educational plans. We outline implications for practitioners and educators from an integrated cultural biomedical approach.

How Does a Newcomer Construct Identity? A Socio-Cultural Approach to Workplace Learning

Science.gov (United States)

Blaka, Gunnhild; Filstad, Cathrine

2007-01-01

The aim of this article is to develop the foundations of a socio-cultural approach and to determine how this shapes our perception of a newcomer's construction of identity in two different workplaces: a high-technology delivery ward with newly employed midwives and a real estate agency with newly employed real estate agents. We explore how…

Text and Image of Advertising in Nigeria: An Enterprise of Socio-Cultural Reproduction

Science.gov (United States)

Dalamu, Taofeek

2016-01-01

The role of language in the construction of socio-cultural reality is inevitable. That is why text is used as a pillar that supports the explication of the intended purpose of images applied in multifaceted ad plates. It is a phenomenal tradition that has remained strong in ad campaigns. Advertisers make images and text as discrete components that…

Influence of socio-cultural modernization on development of human capital assets in Russia

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

2014-01-01

Full Text Available The paper presents major points of research into socio-cultural conditions of human capital assets accumulation in Russia. Notion of social justice, social responsibility of business, realization of their role as “vehicle of capital” by employees, national mentality – all this essentially influences on efficiency of human capital assets accumulation in Russia.

Socio-Cultural Factors Associated with the Initiation of Opium Use in Darab, Iran

Science.gov (United States)

Jafari, Siavash; Movaghar, Afarin Rahimi; Craib, Kevin; Baharlou, Souzan; Mathias, Richard

2009-01-01

This study aimed to identify socio-cultural factors facilitating initiation of opium use among drug users in Darab, Iran. A qualitative study using in-depth interviews was conducted. The study began in June 2006 and included 76 drug users, aged 20-43, of whom 95% (72) were male, and 5% (4) were female. The five most common factors facilitating…

How soft is that pillow? The perceptual localization of the hand and the haptic assessment of contact rigidity.

Science.gov (United States)

Pressman, Assaf; Karniel, Amir; Mussa-Ivaldi, Ferdinando A

2011-04-27

A new haptic illusion is described, in which the location of the mobile object affects the perception of its rigidity. There is theoretical and experimental support for the notion that limb position sense results from the brain combining ongoing sensory information with expectations arising from prior experience. How does this probabilistic state information affect one's tactile perception of the environment mechanics? In a simple estimation process, human subjects were asked to report the relative rigidity of two simulated virtual objects. One of the objects remained fixed in space and had various coefficients of stiffness. The other virtual object had constant stiffness but moved with respect to the subjects. Earlier work suggested that the perception of an object's rigidity is consistent with a process of regression between the contact force and the perceived amount of penetration inside the object's boundary. The amount of penetration perceived by the subject was affected by varying the position of the object. This, in turn, had a predictable effect on the perceived rigidity of the contact. Subjects' reports on the relative rigidity of the object are best accounted for by a probabilistic model in which the perceived boundary of the object is estimated based on its current location and on past observations. Therefore, the perception of contact rigidity is accounted for by a stochastic process of state estimation underlying proprioceptive localization of the hand.

Socio-Cultural Theories of Cognitive Development: Implications for Teaching Theory in the Visual Arts.

Science.gov (United States)

Fielding, Rob

1989-01-01

Explicates the socio-cultural developmental theories of Vygotsky and Feuerstein which advocate teacher mediated learning in order to stimulate and accelerate development. Implications for art education include the need for the teacher to become involved in the enculturation of the child into the thinking processes and conceptual organization of…

Designing Virtual Worlds

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Gürsimsek, Remzi Ates

2014-01-01

The online social platforms known as virtual worlds present their users various affordances for avatar based co-presence, social interaction and provide tools for collaborative content creation, including objects, textures and animations. The users of these worlds navigate their avatars as personal...... the audio-visual characteristics of designing in multi-user virtual environments generate experiential, interpersonal and textual meaning potentials....... mediators in 3D virtual space to collaborate and co-design the digital content. These co-designers are also the residents of these worlds, as they socialize by building inworld friendships. This article presents a social semiotic analysis of the three-dimensional virtual places and artifacts in the virtual...

Server virtualization solutions

OpenAIRE

Jonasts, Gusts

2012-01-01

Currently in the information technology sector that is responsible for a server infrastructure is a huge development in the field of server virtualization on x86 computer architecture. As a prerequisite for such a virtualization development is growth in server productivity and underutilization of available computing power. Several companies in the market are working on two virtualization architectures – hypervizor and hosting. In this paper several of virtualization products that use host...

Virtual Trackballs Revisited

OpenAIRE

Henriksen, Knud; Sporring, Jon; Hornbæk, Kasper

2004-01-01

Udgivelsesdato: March/April Rotation of three-dimensional objects by a two-dimensional mouse is a typical task in computer-aided design, operation simulations, and desktop virtual reality. The most commonly used rotation technique is a virtual trackball surrounding the object and operated by the mouse pointer. This article reviews and provides a mathematical foundation for virtual trackballs. The first, but still popular, virtual trackball was described by Chen et al. [CHECK END OF SENTENC...

Interactive Virtual Cinematography

OpenAIRE

Burelli, Paolo

2012-01-01

A virtual camera represents the point-of-view of the player through which sheperceives the game world and gets feedback on her actions. Thus, the virtualcamera plays a vital role in 3D computer games and aects player experienceand enjoyability in games. Interactive virtual cinematography is the process ofvisualising the content of a virtual environment by positioning and animatingthe virtual camera in the context of interactive applications such as a computergame.Camera placement and animatio...

Virtual Reflexes

OpenAIRE

Jonker, Catholijn; Broekens, Joost; Plaat, Aske

2014-01-01

Virtual Reality is used successfully to treat people for regular phobias. A new challenge is to develop Virtual Reality Exposure Training for social skills. Virtual actors in such systems have to show appropriate social behavior including emotions, gaze, and keeping distance. The behavior must be realistic and real-time. Current approaches consist of four steps: 1) trainee social signal detection, 2) cognitive-affective interpretation, 3) determination of the appropriate bodily responses, and...

Virtual environment tactile system

Science.gov (United States)

Renzi, Ronald

1996-01-01

A method for providing a realistic sense of touch in virtual reality by means of programmable actuator assemblies is disclosed. Each tactile actuator assembly consists of a number of individual actuators whose movement is controlled by a computer and associated drive electronics. When an actuator is energized, the rare earth magnet and the associated contactor, incorporated within the actuator, are set in motion by the opposing electromagnetic field of a surrounding coil. The magnet pushes the contactor forward to contact the skin resulting in the sensation of touch. When the electromagnetic field is turned off, the rare earth magnet and the contactor return to their neutral positions due to the magnetic equilibrium caused by the interaction with the ferrous outer sleeve. The small size and flexible nature of the actuator assemblies permit incorporation into a glove, boot or body suit. The actuator has additional applications, such as, for example, as an accelerometer, an actuator for precisely controlled actuations or to simulate the sensation of braille letters.

Movement and Perceptual Strategies to Intercept Virtual Sound Sources.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Naeem eKomeilipoor

2015-05-01

Full Text Available To intercept a moving object, one needs to be in the right place at the right time. In order to do this, it is necessary to pick up and use perceptual information that specifies the time to arrival of an object at an interception point. In the present study, we examined the ability to intercept a laterally moving virtual sound object by controlling the displacement of a sliding handle and tested whether and how the interaural time difference (ITD could be the main source of perceptual information for successfully intercepting the virtual object. The results revealed that in order to accomplish the task, one might need to vary the duration of the movement, control the hand velocity and time to reach the peak velocity (speed coupling, while the adjustment of movement initiation did not facilitate performance. Furthermore, the overall performance was more successful when subjects employed a time-to-contact (tau coupling strategy. This result shows that prospective information is available in sound for guiding goal-directed actions.

Commitment in Age-Gap Heterosexual Romantic Relationships: A Test of Evolutionary and Socio-Cultural Predictions

Science.gov (United States)

Lehmiller, Justin J.; Agnew, Christopher R.

2008-01-01

Little research has addressed age-gap romantic relationships (romantic involvements characterized by substantial age differences between partners). Drawing on evolutionary and socio-cultural perspectives, the present study examined normative beliefs and commitment processes among heterosexual women involved in age-gap and age-concordant…

The Problems of Contemporary Education Socio-Cultural Dimension of Military Education in Modern Russia

Science.gov (United States)

Abramov, Alexsandr P.; Chuikov, Oleg E.; Gavrikov, Fedor A.; Ludwig, Sergey D.

2017-01-01

The article reveals the essence of the sociocultural approach as a universal tool which allows considering the process of modernization of cadet education in modern Russia in the complex determining its conditions and factors. The basic mechanisms of functioning of cadet education system are the processes that form the equilibrium diad…

[Virtual + 1] * Reality

Science.gov (United States)

Beckhaus, Steffi

Virtual Reality aims at creating an artificial environment that can be perceived as a substitute to a real setting. Much effort in research and development goes into the creation of virtual environments that in their majority are perceivable only by eyes and hands. The multisensory nature of our perception, however, allows and, arguably, also expects more than that. As long as we are not able to simulate and deliver a fully sensory believable virtual environment to a user, we could make use of the fully sensory, multi-modal nature of real objects to fill in for this deficiency. The idea is to purposefully integrate real artifacts into the application and interaction, instead of dismissing anything real as hindering the virtual experience. The term virtual reality - denoting the goal, not the technology - shifts from a core virtual reality to an “enriched” reality, technologically encompassing both the computer generated and the real, physical artifacts. Together, either simultaneously or in a hybrid way, real and virtual jointly provide stimuli that are perceived by users through their senses and are later formed into an experience by the user's mind.

Virtual Vision

Science.gov (United States)

Terzopoulos, Demetri; Qureshi, Faisal Z.

Computer vision and sensor networks researchers are increasingly motivated to investigate complex multi-camera sensing and control issues that arise in the automatic visual surveillance of extensive, highly populated public spaces such as airports and train stations. However, they often encounter serious impediments to deploying and experimenting with large-scale physical camera networks in such real-world environments. We propose an alternative approach called "Virtual Vision", which facilitates this type of research through the virtual reality simulation of populated urban spaces, camera sensor networks, and computer vision on commodity computers. We demonstrate the usefulness of our approach by developing two highly automated surveillance systems comprising passive and active pan/tilt/zoom cameras that are deployed in a virtual train station environment populated by autonomous, lifelike virtual pedestrians. The easily reconfigurable virtual cameras distributed in this environment generate synthetic video feeds that emulate those acquired by real surveillance cameras monitoring public spaces. The novel multi-camera control strategies that we describe enable the cameras to collaborate in persistently observing pedestrians of interest and in acquiring close-up videos of pedestrians in designated areas.

Tangible interfaces in virtual environments, case study: Instituto de Engenharia Nuclear Virtual

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Santo, Andre Cotelli do E.; Mol, Antonio Carlos A.; Pinto, Emanuele Oliveira; Melo, Joao Victor da C.; Paula, Vanessa Marcia de; Freitas, Victor Goncalves Gloria [Instituto de Engenharia Nuclear (IEN/CNEN-RJ), Rio de Janeiro, RJ (Brazil); Machado, Daniel Mol [Coordenacao dos Programas de Pos-Graduacao em Engenharia (COPPE/UFRJ), Rio de Janeiro, RJ (Brazil). Instituto Alberto Luiz Coimbra

2015-07-01

Virtual Reality (VR) techniques allow the creation of realistic representations of an individual. These technologies are being applied in several fields such as training, simulations, virtual experiments and new applications are constantly being found. This work aims to present an interactive system in virtual environments without the use of peripherals typically found in computers such as mouse and keyboard. Through the movement of head and hands it is possible to control and navigate the virtual character (avatar) in a virtual environment, an improvement in the man-machine integration. The head movements are recognized using a virtual helmet with a tracking system. An infrared camera detects the position of infrared LEDs located in the operator's head and places the vision of the virtual character in accordance with the operator's vision. The avatar control is performed by a system that detects the movement of the hands, using infrared sensors, allowing the user to move it in the virtual environment. This interaction system was implemented in the virtual model of the Instituto de Engenharia Nuclear (IEN), which is located on the Ilha do Fundao - Rio de Janeiro - Brazil. This three-dimensional environment, in which avatars can move and interact according to the user movements, gives a feeling of realism to the operator. The results show an interface that allows a higher degree of immersion of the operator in the virtual environment, promoting a more engaging and dynamic way of working. (author)

Tangible interfaces in virtual environments, case study: Instituto de Engenharia Nuclear Virtual

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Santo, Andre Cotelli do E.; Mol, Antonio Carlos A.; Pinto, Emanuele Oliveira; Melo, Joao Victor da C.; Paula, Vanessa Marcia de; Freitas, Victor Goncalves Gloria; Machado, Daniel Mol

2015-01-01

Virtual Reality (VR) techniques allow the creation of realistic representations of an individual. These technologies are being applied in several fields such as training, simulations, virtual experiments and new applications are constantly being found. This work aims to present an interactive system in virtual environments without the use of peripherals typically found in computers such as mouse and keyboard. Through the movement of head and hands it is possible to control and navigate the virtual character (avatar) in a virtual environment, an improvement in the man-machine integration. The head movements are recognized using a virtual helmet with a tracking system. An infrared camera detects the position of infrared LEDs located in the operator's head and places the vision of the virtual character in accordance with the operator's vision. The avatar control is performed by a system that detects the movement of the hands, using infrared sensors, allowing the user to move it in the virtual environment. This interaction system was implemented in the virtual model of the Instituto de Engenharia Nuclear (IEN), which is located on the Ilha do Fundao - Rio de Janeiro - Brazil. This three-dimensional environment, in which avatars can move and interact according to the user movements, gives a feeling of realism to the operator. The results show an interface that allows a higher degree of immersion of the operator in the virtual environment, promoting a more engaging and dynamic way of working. (author)

Learning English Vocabulary in a Mobile Assisted Language Learning (MALL Environment: A Sociocultural Study of Migrant Women

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kham Sila Ahmad

2015-05-01

Full Text Available This paper reports on a case study of a group of six non-native English speaking migrant women’s experiences learning English vocabulary in a mobile assisted language learning (MALL environment at a small community centre in Western Australia. A sociocultural approach to learning vocabulary was adopted in designing the MALL lessons that the women undertook. The women provided demographic information, responded to questions in a pre-MALL semi-structured interview, attended the MALL lessons, and completed a post-MALL semi-structured interview. This study explores the sociocultural factors that affect migrant women’s language learning in general, and vocabulary in particular. The women’s responses to MALL lessons and using the tablet reveal a positive effect in their vocabulary learning.

Sociocultural and educational factors for reading literacy decline in the Netherlands in the past decade

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Netten, A.R.; Voeten, M.J.M.; Droop, W.; Verhoeven, L.T.W.

2014-01-01

This study examined sociocultural and educational-factors in explaining the reading literacy achievement of fourth-grade children (about 10 years of age) in the Netherlands during the past decade. Using 2001, 2006 and 2011 PIRLS data, a multilevel modeling analysis was conducted to examine levels

Internalization of the Sociocultural Ideal: Weight-Related Attitudes and Dieting Behaviors among Young Adolescent Girls.

Science.gov (United States)

Sherwood, Nancy E.; Neumark-Sztainer, Dianne

2001-01-01

Surveyed adolescent girls regarding body dissatisfaction, dieting, and internalization of sociocultural values, media-influenced knowledge, acceptance of varied body shapes, and media exposure. Girls understood media influence on self-image and behavior and accepted varied body shapes. Significant numbers reported dissatisfaction with weight and…

Virtual volatility

Science.gov (United States)

Silva, A. Christian; Prange, Richard E.

2007-03-01

We introduce the concept of virtual volatility. This simple but new measure shows how to quantify the uncertainty in the forecast of the drift component of a random walk. The virtual volatility also is a useful tool in understanding the stochastic process for a given portfolio. In particular, and as an example, we were able to identify mean reversion effect in our portfolio. Finally, we briefly discuss the potential practical effect of the virtual volatility on an investor asset allocation strategy.

Shared Values and Socio-Cultural Norms: E-Learning Technologies from a Social Practice Perspective

Science.gov (United States)

Shih, Patti; Velan, Gary M.; Shulruf, Boaz

2017-01-01

From a perspective of social practice, learning is a socially constituted practice that is imbued with socio-culturally significant meanings and shaped by the values and norms shared within a community of learners. This focus group study examines the role of e-learning technologies in mediating the social practice of learning among coursework…

Virtual laboratories : comparability of real and virtual environments for environmental psychology

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Kort, de Y.A.W.; IJsselsteijn, W.A.; Kooijman, J.M.A.; Schuurmans, Y.

2003-01-01

Virtual environments have the potential to become important new research tools in environment behavior research. They could even become the future (virtual) laboratories, if reactions of people to virtual environments are similar to those in real environments. The present study is an exploration of

Features structuring image of Ukraine in socio-political and socio-cultural discourse

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

A. O. Pocelujko

2015-08-01

Layers of socio-political discourse under defined-State officially and historically historiographical discourses. These discourses present the image of the state in the context of national history as the source, where by means of targeted public policy is formed and implemented state identity as the language of institutional communication. Images states that officially created in-state and historically historiographic discourses as a set of ethnic myths, frames, stereotypes intended to create mechanisms of perception and interpretation of the past of the country, used in educational policy as a tool for national identity with the corresponding identity discourse. Socio-cultural discourse and the corresponding image of the state is characterized by a strong plurality, conceptuality, multyparadyhmality. In the socio-cultural discourse is conceptualization image of the state as part of the living world as opposed to social and political discourse, in which the image of the state appears more like dogmatic ideological construct, which tends to uniqueness. In the scientific discourse in constructing the image of the state is dominated intellectual and conceptual component, while in the state mediadyskurs-image formed on the basis of emotional and social representations stained. Latest distributed in makroteksts designed to create appropriate social attitudes, sensatsion, mobilizing different social groups on a variety of events and more

Virtual reality for stroke rehabilitation: an abridged version of a Cochrane review.

Science.gov (United States)

Laver, K; George, S; Thomas, S; Deutsch, J E; Crotty, M

2015-08-01

Virtual reality and interactive video gaming have emerged as new treatment approaches in stroke rehabilitation settings over the last ten years. The primary objective of this review was to determine the effectiveness of virtual reality on upper limb function and activity after stroke. The impact on secondary outcomes including gait, cognitive function and activities of daily living was also assessed. Randomized and quasi-randomized controlled trials comparing virtual reality with an alternative intervention or no intervention were eligible to be included in the review. The authors searched a number of electronic databases including: the Cochrane Stroke Group Trials Register, the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, MEDLINE, EMBASE, AMED, CINAHL, PsycINFO, clinical trial registers, reference lists, Dissertation Abstracts and contacted key researchers in the field. Search results were independently examined by two review authors to identify studies meeting the inclusion criteria. A total of 37 randomized or quasi randomized controlled trials with a total of 1019 participants were included in the review. Virtual reality was found to be significantly more effective than conventional therapy in improving upper limb function (standardized mean difference [SMD] 0.28, 95% confidence intervals [CI] 0.08 to 0.49) based on 12 studies and significantly more effective than no therapy in improving upper limber function (SMD 0.44 [95% CI 0.15 to 0.73]) based on nine studies. The use of virtual reality also significantly improved activities of daily living function when compared to more conventional therapy approaches (SMD 0.43 [95% CI 0.18 to 0.69]) based on eight studies. While there are a large number of studies assessing the efficacy of virtual reality they tend to be small and many are at risk of bias. While there is evidence to support the use of virtual reality intervention as part of upper limb training programs, more research is required to determine whether it

High availability using virtualization

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Calzolari, Federico; Arezzini, Silvia; Ciampa, Alberto; Mazzoni, Enrico; Domenici, Andrea; Vaglini, Gigliola

2010-01-01

High availability has always been one of the main problems for a data center. Till now high availability was achieved by host per host redundancy, a highly expensive method in terms of hardware and human costs. A new approach to the problem can be offered by virtualization. Using virtualization, it is possible to achieve a redundancy system for all the services running on a data center. This new approach to high availability allows the running virtual machines to be distributed over a small number of servers, by exploiting the features of the virtualization layer: start, stop and move virtual machines between physical hosts. The 3RC system is based on a finite state machine, providing the possibility to restart each virtual machine over any physical host, or reinstall it from scratch. A complete infrastructure has been developed to install operating system and middleware in a few minutes. To virtualize the main servers of a data center, a new procedure has been developed to migrate physical to virtual hosts. The whole Grid data center SNS-PISA is running at the moment in virtual environment under the high availability system.

Virtual reality in education

OpenAIRE

Minocha, Shailey; Tudor, Ana-Despina

2017-01-01

In this workshop-presentation, we described the evolution of virtual reality technologies and our research from 3D virtual worlds, 3D virtual environments built in gaming environments such as Unity 3D, 360-degree videos, and mobile virtual reality via Google Expeditions. For each of these four technologies, we discussed the affordances of the technologies and how they contribute towards learning and teaching. We outlined the significance of students being aware of the different virtual realit...

Virtual Reality: Principles and Applications

OpenAIRE

MÉRIENNE , Frédéric

2017-01-01

Virtual reality aims at immersing a user in a virtual environment. Dedicated virtual reality technologies of human–computer interaction enable to make the link between the user and a virtual environment in capturing the user’s motion, acting on his senses as well as computing the virtual experience in real-time. The immersion in virtual environment is evaluated through the user’s perception and reaction. Virtual reality is used in a large variety of application domains which need multisensory...

Virtual Organizations: Beyond Network Organization

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Liviu Gabriel CRETU

2006-01-01

Full Text Available One of the most used buzz-words in (e-business literature of the last decade is virtual organization. The term "virtual" can be identified in all sorts of combinations regarding the business world. From virtual products to virtual processes or virtual teams, everything that is “touched” by the computer’s processing power instantly becomes virtual. Moreover, most of the literature treats virtual and network organizations as being synonyms. This paper aims to draw a much more distinctive line between the two concepts. Providing a more coherent description of what virtual organization might be is also one of our intentions.

Virtual Reference Services.

Science.gov (United States)

Brewer, Sally

2003-01-01

As the need to access information increases, school librarians must create virtual libraries. Linked to reliable reference resources, the virtual library extends the physical collection and library hours and lets students learn to use Web-based resources in a protected learning environment. The growing number of virtual schools increases the need…

Game-Based Virtual Worlds as Decentralized Virtual Activity Systems

Science.gov (United States)

Scacchi, Walt

There is widespread interest in the development and use of decentralized systems and virtual world environments as possible new places for engaging in collaborative work activities. Similarly, there is widespread interest in stimulating new technological innovations that enable people to come together through social networking, file/media sharing, and networked multi-player computer game play. A decentralized virtual activity system (DVAS) is a networked computer supported work/play system whose elements and social activities can be both virtual and decentralized (Scacchi et al. 2008b). Massively multi-player online games (MMOGs) such as World of Warcraft and online virtual worlds such as Second Life are each popular examples of a DVAS. Furthermore, these systems are beginning to be used for research, deve-lopment, and education activities in different science, technology, and engineering domains (Bainbridge 2007, Bohannon et al. 2009; Rieber 2005; Scacchi and Adams 2007; Shaffer 2006), which are also of interest here. This chapter explores two case studies of DVASs developed at the University of California at Irvine that employ game-based virtual worlds to support collaborative work/play activities in different settings. The settings include those that model and simulate practical or imaginative physical worlds in different domains of science, technology, or engineering through alternative virtual worlds where players/workers engage in different kinds of quests or quest-like workflows (Jakobsson 2006).

Molecular dynamics study of contact mechanics: contact area and interfacial separation from small to full contact

OpenAIRE

Yang, C.; Persson, B. N. J.

2007-01-01

We report a molecular dynamics study of the contact between a rigid solid with a randomly rough surface and an elastic block with a flat surface. We study the contact area and the interfacial separation from small contact (low load) to full contact (high load). For small load the contact area varies linearly with the load and the interfacial separation depends logarithmically on the load. For high load the contact area approaches to the nominal contact area (i.e., complete contact), and the i...

THE CONCEPT OF LOCAL-SMART-HOUSING: TOWARDS SOCIO-CULTURAL SUSTAINABILITY OF VERNACULAR SETTLEMENTS

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AmirHosein GhaffarianHoseini

2011-07-01

Full Text Available The recent decades have witnessed the widespread manifestation of intelligent building design development around the world. Meanwhile, the concept of smart housing as one of the main issues of intelligent building design development has stimulated various architects and designers to make use of it for the sake of sustainable housing. However, this study represents a gap in smart housing design owing to the lack of a deep consideration on cultural values of users for ensuring the socio-cultural sustainability as one of the objectives of sustainable smart housing designs. Accordingly, the study puts forward the concept of local-smart-housing through utilization of appropriate vernacular architectural features and cultural values of vernacular settlements in smart housing design in order to reinforce the sociocultural sustainability. Meanwhile, this study is limited to the Malay context in order to identify the vernacular features of Malay vernacular settlement’s functional spaces for utilization in smart housing design to make them culturally responsive. Correspondingly, this study proposes the concept of local-smart-housing based on the incorporation of intelligent building design and utilization of vernacular features for enhancing the quality of life for users.

Virtualization A Manager's Guide

CERN Document Server

Kusnetzky, Dan

2011-01-01

What exactly is virtualization? As this concise book explains, virtualization is a smorgasbord of technologies that offer organizations many advantages, whether you're managing extremely large stores of rapidly changing data, scaling out an application, or harnessing huge amounts of computational power. With this guide, you get an overview of the five main types of virtualization technology, along with information on security, management, and modern use cases. Topics include: Access virtualization-Allows access to any application from any deviceApplication virtualization-Enables applications

Virtual reality - aesthetic consequences

OpenAIRE

Benda, Lubor

2014-01-01

In the present work we study aesthetic consequences of virtual reality. Exploring the fringe between fictional and virtual is one of the key goals, that will be achieved through etymologic and technologic definition of both fiction and virtual reality, fictional and virtual worlds. Both fiction and virtual reality will be then studied from aesthetic distance and aesthetic pleasure point of view. At the end, we will see the main difference as well as an common grounds between fiction and virtu...

The other side of migration in rural Nepal: sociocultural transformation and the women left behind

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Gartaula, H.N.

2011-01-01

This study examines the relationship between male labour out-migration and the process of sociocultural transformation in the places of origin. Taking an example from Nepal, it shows that male labour out-migration has increased women’s partici­pation in agriculture, more significantly so in

Optimal contact definition for reconstruction of Contact Maps

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Stehr Henning

2010-05-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Contact maps have been extensively used as a simplified representation of protein structures. They capture most important features of a protein's fold, being preferred by a number of researchers for the description and study of protein structures. Inspired by the model's simplicity many groups have dedicated a considerable amount of effort towards contact prediction as a proxy for protein structure prediction. However a contact map's biological interest is subject to the availability of reliable methods for the 3-dimensional reconstruction of the structure. Results We use an implementation of the well-known distance geometry protocol to build realistic protein 3-dimensional models from contact maps, performing an extensive exploration of many of the parameters involved in the reconstruction process. We try to address the questions: a to what accuracy does a contact map represent its corresponding 3D structure, b what is the best contact map representation with regard to reconstructability and c what is the effect of partial or inaccurate contact information on the 3D structure recovery. Our results suggest that contact maps derived from the application of a distance cutoff of 9 to 11Å around the Cβ atoms constitute the most accurate representation of the 3D structure. The reconstruction process does not provide a single solution to the problem but rather an ensemble of conformations that are within 2Å RMSD of the crystal structure and with lower values for the pairwise average ensemble RMSD. Interestingly it is still possible to recover a structure with partial contact information, although wrong contacts can lead to dramatic loss in reconstruction fidelity. Conclusions Thus contact maps represent a valid approximation to the structures with an accuracy comparable to that of experimental methods. The optimal contact definitions constitute key guidelines for methods based on contact maps such as structure prediction through

Body Image and Self-Esteem among Adolescent Girls: Testing the Influence of Sociocultural Factors

Science.gov (United States)

Clay, Daniel; Vignoles, Vivian L.; Dittmar, Helga

2005-01-01

In Western cultures, girls' self-esteem declines substantially during middle adolescence, with changes in body image proposed as a possible explanation. Body image develops in the context of sociocultural factors, such as unrealistic media images of female beauty. In a study of 136 U.K. girls aged 11-16, experimental exposure to either ultra-thin…

Sociocultural experiences, body image, and indoor tanning among young adult women.

Science.gov (United States)

Stapleton, Jerod L; Manne, Sharon L; Greene, Kathryn; Darabos, Katie; Carpenter, Amanda; Hudson, Shawna V; Coups, Elliot J

2017-10-01

The purpose of this survey study was to evaluate a model of body image influences on indoor tanning behavior. Participants were 823 young adult women recruited from a probability-based web panel in the United States. Consistent with our hypothesized model, tanning-related sociocultural experiences were indirectly associated with lifetime indoor tanning use and intentions to tan as mediated through tan surveillance and tan dissatisfaction. Findings suggest the need for targeting body image constructs as mechanisms of behavior change in indoor tanning behavioral interventions.

User-centered virtual environment design for virtual rehabilitation

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Rizzo Albert A

2010-02-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background As physical and cognitive rehabilitation protocols utilizing virtual environments transition from single applications to comprehensive rehabilitation programs there is a need for a new design cycle methodology. Current human-computer interaction designs focus on usability without benchmarking technology within a user-in-the-loop design cycle. The field of virtual rehabilitation is unique in that determining the efficacy of this genre of computer-aided therapies requires prior knowledge of technology issues that may confound patient outcome measures. Benchmarking the technology (e.g., displays or data gloves using healthy controls may provide a means of characterizing the "normal" performance range of the virtual rehabilitation system. This standard not only allows therapists to select appropriate technology for use with their patient populations, it also allows them to account for technology limitations when assessing treatment efficacy. Methods An overview of the proposed user-centered design cycle is given. Comparisons of two optical see-through head-worn displays provide an example of benchmarking techniques. Benchmarks were obtained using a novel vision test capable of measuring a user's stereoacuity while wearing different types of head-worn displays. Results from healthy participants who performed both virtual and real-world versions of the stereoacuity test are discussed with respect to virtual rehabilitation design. Results The user-centered design cycle argues for benchmarking to precede virtual environment construction, especially for therapeutic applications. Results from real-world testing illustrate the general limitations in stereoacuity attained when viewing content using a head-worn display. Further, the stereoacuity vision benchmark test highlights differences in user performance when utilizing a similar style of head-worn display. These results support the need for including benchmarks as a means of better

User-centered virtual environment design for virtual rehabilitation.

Science.gov (United States)

Fidopiastis, Cali M; Rizzo, Albert A; Rolland, Jannick P

2010-02-19

As physical and cognitive rehabilitation protocols utilizing virtual environments transition from single applications to comprehensive rehabilitation programs there is a need for a new design cycle methodology. Current human-computer interaction designs focus on usability without benchmarking technology within a user-in-the-loop design cycle. The field of virtual rehabilitation is unique in that determining the efficacy of this genre of computer-aided therapies requires prior knowledge of technology issues that may confound patient outcome measures. Benchmarking the technology (e.g., displays or data gloves) using healthy controls may provide a means of characterizing the "normal" performance range of the virtual rehabilitation system. This standard not only allows therapists to select appropriate technology for use with their patient populations, it also allows them to account for technology limitations when assessing treatment efficacy. An overview of the proposed user-centered design cycle is given. Comparisons of two optical see-through head-worn displays provide an example of benchmarking techniques. Benchmarks were obtained using a novel vision test capable of measuring a user's stereoacuity while wearing different types of head-worn displays. Results from healthy participants who performed both virtual and real-world versions of the stereoacuity test are discussed with respect to virtual rehabilitation design. The user-centered design cycle argues for benchmarking to precede virtual environment construction, especially for therapeutic applications. Results from real-world testing illustrate the general limitations in stereoacuity attained when viewing content using a head-worn display. Further, the stereoacuity vision benchmark test highlights differences in user performance when utilizing a similar style of head-worn display. These results support the need for including benchmarks as a means of better understanding user outcomes, especially for patient

Economic culture of the Tuvans within the scope of the sociocultural approach

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Yuri V. Popkov

2018-06-01

Full Text Available In this article, the authors argue that for the periods of social turmoil, understanding culture as a set of norms controlling social behavior is limited and insufficient. A more adequate approach would involve interpreting culture as a specific historical version of the society’s existence in its qualitative form. This hearkens back to the sociocultural approach which postulates the culture as an ensemble, and the sociocultural construed as the social in the cultural variety. In this context, economic culture might be seen as a set of qualitative features of a specific economic entity shaped by the local conditions of development. With all its peculiarities, an economic culture appears an element of this sociocultural diversity. Studying the economic culture of Tuvans through the lens of the sociocultural approach and the notion of this diversity allows us to outline several important aspects of this issue, rarely addressed by the existing academic discourse. A focus should be made, for instance, not only on the dominant nomadic culture, but also on subdominant economic cultures which helped shape a number of skills and techniques. While nomadism helped develop unhurried and contemplative attitude to life, hunting demanded dynamic change, and agriculture and crafts called for diligence and meticulousness. A brief glance at the economic history of Tuvans allowed the authors to conclude that economic diversity both provides stability to the economic culture of Tuvan society and expresses its variegation, its capacity to develop through numerous modifications. This polymorphism acts as an important resource which helps launch the alternate routes of ethnic development. These routes rarely appear self-evident under the dominant type of economic culture which had been shaping the traditional life of Tuvan society. Tapping into this alternative potential can prove an important reserve for future development. An overview of ethnographic data helps

Trends in Virtualized User Environments

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Diane Barrett

2008-06-01

Full Text Available Virtualized environments can make forensics investigation more difficult. Technological advances in virtualization tools essentially make removable media a PC that can be carried around in a pocket or around a neck. Running operating systems and applications this way leaves very little trace on the host system. This paper will explore all the newest methods for virtualized environments and the implications they have on the world of forensics. It will begin by describing and differentiating between software and hardware virtualization. It will then move on to explain the various methods used for server and desktop virtualization. Next, it will explain how virtualization affects the basic forensic process. Finally, it will describe the common methods to find virtualization artifacts and identify virtual activities that affect the examination process of certain virtualized user environments.

Contact angle and local wetting at contact line.

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Ri; Shan, Yanguang

2012-11-06

This theoretical study was motivated by recent experiments and theoretical work that had suggested the dependence of the static contact angle on the local wetting at the triple-phase contact line. We revisit this topic because the static contact angle as a local wetting parameter is still not widely understood and clearly known. To further clarify the relationship of the static contact angle with wetting, two approaches are applied to derive a general equation for the static contact angle of a droplet on a composite surface composed of heterogeneous components. A global approach based on the free surface energy of a thermodynamic system containing the droplet and solid surface shows the static contact angle as a function of local surface chemistry and local wetting state at the contact line. A local approach, in which only local forces acting on the contact line are considered, results in the same equation. The fact that the local approach agrees with the global approach further demonstrates the static contact angle as a local wetting parameter. Additionally, the study also suggests that the wetting described by the Wenzel and Cassie equations is also the local wetting of the contact line rather than the global wetting of the droplet.

[Sport injuries in full contact and semi-contact karate].

Science.gov (United States)

Greier, K; Riechelmann, H; Ziemska, J

2014-03-01

Karate enjoys great popularity both in professional and recreational sports and can be classified into full, half and low contact styles. The aim of this study was the analysis of sports injuries in Kyokushinkai (full contact) and traditional Karate (semi-contact). In a retrospective study design, 215 active amateur karateka (114 full contact, 101 semi-contact) were interviewed by means of a standardised questionnaire regarding typical sport injuries during the last 36 months. Injuries were categorised into severity grade I (not requiring medical treatment), grade II (single medical treatment), grade III (several outpatient medical treatments) and grade IV (requiring hospitalisation). In total, 217 injuries were reported in detail. 125 injuries (58%) occurred in full contact and 92 (42%) in semi-contact karate. The time related injury rate of full contact karateka was 1.9/1000 h compared to 1.3/1000 h of semi-contact karateka (p injuries were musculoskeletal contusions (33% full contact, 20% semi-contact), followed by articular sprains with 19% and 16%. The lower extremity was affected twice as often in full contact (40%) as in semi-contact (20%) karate. Training injuries were reported by 80% of the full contact and 77% of the semi-contact karateka. Most injuries, both in training and competition, occurred in kumite. 75% of the reported injuries of full contact and 70% of semi-contact karateka were classified as low grade (I or II). The high rate of injuries during training and kumite (sparring) points to specific prevention goals. The emphasis should be put on proprioceptive training and consistent warm-up. In the actual competition the referees play a vital role regarding prevention. © Georg Thieme Verlag KG Stuttgart · New York.

Building a Model of Employee Training through Holistic Analysis of Biological, Psychological, and Sociocultural Factors

Science.gov (United States)

Schenck, Andrew

2015-01-01

While theories of adult learning and motivation are often framed as being either biological, psychological, or sociocultural, they represent a more complex, integral process. To gain a more holistic perspective of this process, a study was designed to concurrently investigate relationships between a biological factor (age), psychological factors…

Sociocultural Theory Applied to Second Language Learning: Collaborative Learning with Reference to the Chinese Context

Science.gov (United States)

Dongyu, Zhang; Fanyu, B.; Wanyi, Du

2013-01-01

This paper discusses the sociocultural theory (SCT). In particular, three significant concepts of Vyogtsky's theory: self-regulation, the Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD), and scaffolding all of which have been discussed in numerous second language acquisition (SLA) and second language learning (SLL) research papers. These concepts lay the…

The Influence of Socio-Cultural Factors on Leadership Practices for Instructional Improvement in Indonesian Schools

Science.gov (United States)

Jawas, Umiati

2017-01-01

Empirical studies have shown that although leadership shares similar practices across East and West, some practices have inherently distinguished socio cultural characteristics. Understanding these characteristics is important in Asian contexts since socio-cultures are a major power in determining the success or failure of a change process. This…

Sociocultural Experiences of Bulimic and Non-Bulimic Adolescents in a School-Based Chinese Sample

Science.gov (United States)

Jackson, Todd; Chen, Hong

2010-01-01

From a large school-based sample (N = 3,084), 49 Mainland Chinese adolescents (31 girls, 18 boys) who endorsed all DSM-IV criteria for bulimia nervosa (BN) or sub-threshold BN and 49 matched controls (31 girls, 18 boys) completed measures of demographics and sociocultural experiences related to body image. Compared to less symptomatic peers, those…

EMG and Kinematic Responses to Unexpected Slips After Slip Training in Virtual Reality

Science.gov (United States)

Parijat, Prakriti; Lockhart, Thurmon E.

2015-01-01

The objective of the study was to design a virtual reality (VR) training to induce perturbation in older adults similar to a slip and examine the effect of the training on kinematic and muscular responses in older adults. Twenty-four older adults were involved in a laboratory study and randomly assigned to two groups (virtual reality training and control). Both groups went through three sessions including baseline slip, training, and transfer of training on slippery surface. The training group experienced twelve simulated slips using a visual perturbation induced by tilting a virtual reality scene while walking on the treadmill and the control group completed normal walking during the training session. Kinematic, kinetic, and EMG data were collected during all the sessions. Results demonstrated the proactive adjustments such as increased trunk flexion at heel contact after training. Reactive adjustments included reduced time to peak activations of knee flexors, reduced knee coactivation, reduced time to trunk flexion, and reduced trunk angular velocity after training. In conclusion, the study findings indicate that the VR training was able to generate a perturbation in older adults that evoked recovery reactions and such motor skill can be transferred to the actual slip trials. PMID:25296401

Sociocultural determinants of anticipated oral cholera vaccine acceptance in three African settings: a meta-analytic approach.

Science.gov (United States)

Sundaram, Neisha; Schaetti, Christian; Merten, Sonja; Schindler, Christian; Ali, Said M; Nyambedha, Erick O; Lapika, Bruno; Chaignat, Claire-Lise; Hutubessy, Raymond; Weiss, Mitchell G

2016-01-14

Controlling cholera remains a significant challenge in Sub-Saharan Africa. In areas where access to safe water and sanitation are limited, oral cholera vaccine (OCV) can save lives. Establishment of a global stockpile for OCV reflects increasing priority for use of cholera vaccines in endemic settings. Community acceptance of vaccines, however, is critical and sociocultural features of acceptance require attention for effective implementation. This study identifies and compares sociocultural determinants of anticipated OCV acceptance across populations in Southeastern Democratic Republic of Congo, Western Kenya and Zanzibar. Cross-sectional studies were conducted using similar but locally-adapted semistructured interviews among 1095 respondents in three African settings. Logistic regression models identified sociocultural determinants of OCV acceptance from these studies in endemic areas of Southeastern Democratic Republic of Congo (SE-DRC), Western Kenya (W-Kenya) and Zanzibar. Meta-analytic techniques highlighted common and distinctive determinants in the three settings. Anticipated OCV acceptance was high in all settings. More than 93% of community respondents overall indicated interest in a no-cost vaccine. Higher anticipated acceptance was observed in areas with less access to public health facilities. In all settings awareness of cholera prevention methods (safe food consumption and garbage disposal) and relating ingestion to cholera causation were associated with greater acceptance. Higher age, larger households, lack of education, social vulnerability and knowledge of oral rehydration solution for self-treatment were negatively associated with anticipated OCV acceptance. Setting-specific determinants of acceptance included reporting a reliable income (W-Kenya and Zanzibar, not SE-DRC). In SE-DRC, intention to purchase an OCV appeared unrelated to ability to pay. Rural residents were less likely than urban counterparts to accept an OCV in W-Kenya, but more

Effect of direct eye contact in PTSD related to interpersonal trauma: an fMRI study of activation of an innate alarm system.

Science.gov (United States)

Steuwe, Carolin; Daniels, Judith K; Frewen, Paul A; Densmore, Maria; Pannasch, Sebastian; Beblo, Thomas; Reiss, Jeffrey; Lanius, Ruth A

2014-01-01

In healthy individuals, direct eye contact initially leads to activation of a fast subcortical pathway, which then modulates a cortical route eliciting social cognitive processes. The aim of this study was to gain insight into the neurobiological effects of direct eye-to-eye contact using a virtual reality paradigm in individuals with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) related to prolonged childhood abuse. We examined 16 healthy comparison subjects and 16 patients with a primary diagnosis of PTSD using a virtual reality functional magnetic resonance imaging paradigm involving direct vs averted gaze (happy, sad, neutral) as developed by Schrammel et al. in 2009. Irrespective of the displayed emotion, controls exhibited an increased blood oxygenation level-dependent response during direct vs averted gaze within the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex, left temporoparietal junction and right temporal pole. Under the same conditions, individuals with PTSD showed increased activation within the superior colliculus (SC)/periaqueductal gray (PAG) and locus coeruleus. Our findings suggest that healthy controls react to the exposure of direct gaze with an activation of a cortical route that enhances evaluative 'top-down' processes underlying social interactions. In individuals with PTSD, however, direct gaze leads to sustained activation of a subcortical route of eye-contact processing, an innate alarm system involving the SC and the underlying circuits of the PAG.

The Influence of Global Warming Science Views and Sociocultural Factors on Willingness to Mitigate Global Warming

Science.gov (United States)

Herman, Benjamin C.

2015-01-01

The science education field readily recognizes that perceptions about science's claims and nature influence socioscientific decision making. However, sociocultural factors may overshadow these perceptions when people are forced to make personally impacting choices contextualized within actual socioscientific issues. This investigation…

Contact and Non-contact Measurements of Grinding Pins

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Magdziak Marek

2015-01-01

Full Text Available The paper presents the results of contact and non-contact measurements of external profiles of selected grinding pins. The measurements were conducted in order to choose the appropriate measuring technique in the case of the considered measurement task. In the case of contact measurements the coordinate measuring machine ACCURA II was applied. The used coordinate measuring machine was equipped with the contact scanning probe VAST XT and the Calypso inspection software. Contact coordinate measurements were performed by using of different measurement strategies. The applied strategies included different scanning velocities and distances between measured points. Non-contact measurements were conducted by means of the tool presetter produced by the Mahr company. On the basis of gained results the guidelines concerning measurements of grinding pins were formulated. The measurements of analyzed grinding pins performed by means of the non-contact measuring system are characterized by higher reproducibility than the contact measurements. The low reproducibility of contact measurements may be connected with the inaccuracy of the selected coordinate measuring machine and the measuring probe, the measurement parameters and environmental conditions in the laboratory where the coordinate measuring machine is located. Moreover, the paper presents the possible application of results of conducted investigations. The results of non-contact measurements can be used in the simulation studies of grinding processes. The simulations may reduce the costs of machining processes.

Virtual Workshop

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Buus, Lillian; Bygholm, Ann

In relation to the Tutor course in the Mediterranean Virtual University (MVU) project, a virtual workshop “Getting experiences with different synchronous communication media, collaboration, and group work” was held with all partner institutions in January 2006. More than 25 key-tutors within MVU...

Creating Virtual-hand and Virtual-face Illusions to Investigate Self-representation.

Science.gov (United States)

Ma, Ke; Lippelt, Dominique P; Hommel, Bernhard

2017-03-01

Studies investigating how people represent themselves and their own body often use variants of "ownership illusions", such as the traditional rubber-hand illusion or the more recently discovered enfacement illusion. However, these examples require rather artificial experimental setups, in which the artificial effector needs to be stroked in synchrony with the participants' real hand or face-a situation in which participants have no control over the stroking or the movements of their real or artificial effector. Here, we describe a technique to establish ownership illusions in a setup that is more realistic, more intuitive, and of presumably higher ecological validity. It allows creating the virtual-hand illusion by having participants control the movements of a virtual hand presented on a screen or in virtual space in front of them. If the virtual hand moves in synchrony with the participants' own real hand, they tend to perceive the virtual hand as part of their own body. The technique also creates the virtual-face illusion by having participants control the movements of a virtual face in front of them, again with the effect that they tend to perceive the face as their own if it moves in synchrony with their real face. Studying the circumstances that illusions of this sort can be created, increased, or reduced provides important information about how people create and maintain representations of themselves.

Virtual data in CMS production

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Arbree, A. et al.

2004-01-01

Initial applications of the GriPhyN Chimera Virtual Data System have been performed within the context of CMS Production of Monte Carlo Simulated Data. The GriPhyN Chimera system consists of four primary components: (1) a Virtual Data Language, which is used to describe virtual data products, (2) a Virtual Data Catalog, which is used to store virtual data entries, (3) an Abstract Planner, which resolves all dependencies of a particular virtual data product and forms a location and existence independent plan, (4) a Concrete Planner, which maps an abstract, logical plan onto concrete, physical grid resources accounting for staging in/out files and publishing results to a replica location service. A CMS Workflow Planner, MCRunJob, is used to generate virtual data products using the Virtual Data Language. Subsequently, a prototype workflow manager, known as WorkRunner, is used to schedule the instantiation of virtual data products across a grid

Virtual Data in CMS Production

CERN Document Server

Arbree, A; Bourilkov, D; Cavanaugh, R J; Graham, G; Katageri, S; Rodríguez, J; Voeckler, J; Wilde, M

2003-01-01

Initial applications of the GriPhyN Chimera Virtual Data System have been performed within the context of CMS Production of Monte Carlo Simulated Data. The GriPhyN Chimera system consists of four primary components: 1) a Virtual Data Language, which is used to describe virtual data products, 2) a Virtual Data Catalog, which is used to store virtual data entries, 3) an Abstract Planner, which resolves all dependencies of a particular virtual data product and forms a location and existence independent plan, 4) a Concrete Planner, which maps an abstract, logical plan onto concrete, physical grid resources accounting for staging in/out files and publishing results to a replica location service. A CMS Workflow Planner, MCRunJob, is used to generate virtual data products using the Virtual Data Language. Subsequently, a prototype workflow manager, known as WorkRunner, is used to schedule the instantiation of virtual data products across a grid.

Da educação: do jogo sociocultural e a inter-relação envolvendo modus vivendi e modus essendi = Education: of the sociocultural game and the inter-relationship involving modus vivendi and modus essendi.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Luiz Carlos Mariano da Rosa

2011-07-01

Full Text Available O artigo em questão se detém na análise da educação por meio da mensagem do filme Coach Carter - Treino para a Vida (2005, que acena com o paradoxo da democratização do ensino e converge para as fronteiras que assinalam a função da escola e o papel do educador, sublinhando o jogo sociocultural e a inter-relação envolvendo modus vivendi e modus essendi que perfazem o referido processo.The article in question focuses on the analysis of education through the message of the movie Coach Carter - Training for Life (2005, which features the paradox of the democratization of education and converges to the boundaries that mark the function of the school and the role of the educator, stressing the sociocultural game and the inter-relationship involving modus vivendi and modus essendi that make up that process.

Virtual reality exposure therapy

OpenAIRE

Rothbaum, BO; Hodges, L; Kooper, R

1997-01-01

It has been proposed that virtual reality (VR) exposure may be an alternative to standard in vivo exposure. Virtual reality integrates real-time computer graphics, body tracking devices, visual displays, and other sensory input devices to immerse a participant in a computer- generated virtual environment. Virtual reality exposure is potentially an efficient and cost-effective treatment of anxiety disorders. VR exposure therapy reduced the fear of heights in the first control...

CORTESÍA SOCIOCULTURAL EN LAS SOCIEDADES MEDELLINENSE Y JAPONESA: UNA INTRODUCCIÓN

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ji Son Jang

2011-08-01

Full Text Available En este artículo se presenta un análisis intercultural de la sociedad medellinense y la japonesa, teniendo en cuenta la variabilidad de la cortesía sociocultural de una cultura a otra, con el fin de que sirva de apoyo para los aprendices de una segunda lengua o lengua extranjera. Como punto de partida, se acude a nociones como pragmática en interlengua, transferencia pragmática y el modelo de la cortesía verbal de Brown y Levinson (1987, junto con las nociones de face flattering acts (FFAs, cortesía mitigadora, cortesía valorizante, imagen de autonomía y afiliación, y los contenidos concretos de estas últimas dos categorías. El corpus del estudio se basa en algunos episodios recogidos en Medellín y en Japón. El análisis se centra en algunos actos de habla, especialmente en las relaciones interpersonales no solidarias. En este tipo de relaciones, en la sociedad medellinense se prefiere salvar la imagen positiva, y en la japonesa, la imagen negativa. Es importante señalar explícitamente la variabilidad de la cortesía sociocultural de una cultura a otra, no sólo a los aprendices avanzados de una segunda lengua o lengua extranjera, sino también a los principiantes.

Adult Learning for Social Change in Museums: An Exploration of Sociocultural Learning Approaches to Community Engagement

Science.gov (United States)

Kim, Junghwan; You, Jieun; Yeon Park, Soo

2016-01-01

This integrative literature review critically examined how scholars were articulating the work of museums to make a space for "adult learning for social change through community engagement". We applied sociocultural adult learning theories (situated learning and cultural-historical activity theory), to 25 theoretical and empirical…

Virtual data

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bjorklund, E.

1993-01-01

In the 1970's, when computers were memory limited, operating system designers created the concept of ''virtual memory'' which gave users the ability to address more memory than physically existed. In the 1990s, many large control systems have the potential for becoming data limited. We propose that many of the principles behind virtual memory systems (working sets, locality, caching, and clustering) can also be applied to data-limited systems - creating, in effect, ''virtual data systems.'' At the Los Alamos National Laboratory's Clinton P. Anderson Meson Physics Facility (LAMPF), we have applied these principles to a moderately sized (10,000 data points) data acquisition and control system. To test the principles, we measured the system's performance during tune-up, production, and maintenance periods. In this paper, we present a general discussion of the principles of a virtual data system along with some discussion of our own implementation and the results of our performance measurements

A animação sociocultural como fator de preservação das tradições populares do concelho de Chaves

OpenAIRE

Alves, Sandra Manuela Silveira

2015-01-01

Dissertação de Mestrado em Ciências da Educação, Especialização em Animação Sociocultural O presente trabalho consiste num estudo sobre a Animação Sociocultural como fator de preservação das tradições populares, elementos relevantes da cultura local, no concelho de Chaves: artesanato, agricultura tradicional, literatura popular de tradição oral, festas e romarias, gastronomia, medicina popular, jogos populares, festividades cíclicas, santos populares juninos, entre outras tradi...

Universidades virtuales: ¿aprendizaje real?

OpenAIRE

Valenzuela González, Jaime R.

2015-01-01

1. Introducción; 2. Modalidades educativas; 3. Concepto y características de las universidades virtuales; 4. Un modelo de universidad virtual; 5. Universidades virtuales ¿aprendizaje real?; 6. Tensiones de las universidades virtuales; 7. Referencias

MULTIMEDIA EDITOR OF VIRTUAL PHYSICAL LABORATORY IN DISTANCE LEARNING SYSTEM «KHERSON VIRTUAL UNIVERSITY»

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kravtsov H.

2017-12-01

Full Text Available The questions of modeling the structure of the objects of the system, the design of software modules and technologies for creating the editor of a virtual laboratory are considered. The relevance of the study is due to the lack in existing distance learning systems of support for the creation and use of virtual laboratory work on disciplines of the natural-science profile. The subject of the study is a software module for creating and using virtual laboratory work in a distance learning system. The purpose of the study is the development of a system model and a description of the software development technology of a virtual laboratory for physics for a distance learning system. The information technologies of designing the structure of the virtual laboratory and the main modes of the program module of the editor of the virtual laboratory work are described. At the heart of the structure of the software module "Virtual Laboratory" is the multimedia Web-editor of virtual laboratory works, which is created using object-oriented design technology. The program library of multimedia 3D objects created in the development environment of interactive graphic objects Unity3D. It unifies the process of creation and processing of virtual laboratory works. The basic mathematical package for supporting calculations is the mathematical processor Waterloo Maple. The application of the developed software interface will allow teachers to create laboratory works and use them in their distance courses. Students, in turn, will be able to conduct research, performing virtual laboratory work. As an example, the editor of the virtual laboratory for physics in the distance learning system "Kherson Virtual University" is considered.

Fertility and its relationship with sociocultural factors in Kuwaiti society.

Science.gov (United States)

Al-Kandari, Y Y

2007-01-01

The aim of this study was to examine the effect of some sociocultural variables on the fertility of Kuwaiti women. A questionnaire was administered to a sample of 7749 married women (aged 15-78 years) selected randomly from 10 primary health care clinics in Kuwait. The fertility rate was 3.58 live births per woman. Fertility was higher among Sunni Muslim women, those of Bedouin ethnicity, and those in a consanguineous marriage (P relationship between fertility and respondents' educational level, occupation, age at marriage, socioeconomic status and type of marriage (consanguineous or not). There was a positive relationship between fertility and the respondents' age and the family income.

Virtualized Networks and Virtualized Optical Line Terminal (vOLT)

Science.gov (United States)

Ma, Jonathan; Israel, Stephen

2017-03-01

The success of the Internet and the proliferation of the Internet of Things (IoT) devices is forcing telecommunications carriers to re-architecture a central office as a datacenter (CORD) so as to bring the datacenter economics and cloud agility to a central office (CO). The Open Network Operating System (ONOS) is the first open-source software-defined network (SDN) operating system which is capable of managing and controlling network, computing, and storage resources to support CORD infrastructure and network virtualization. The virtualized Optical Line Termination (vOLT) is one of the key components in such virtualized networks.

A study on development of virtual panel and virtual collaboration system

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yoo, H. J.; Park, S. Y.; Lee, M. S.; Hong, J. H.

2001-01-01

The Nuclear I and C group of KEPRI has been peforming research and development on the VRCATS, Virtual Reality based Computer Assisted Training System. For the past two years, we have developed the first VRCATS for Youngkwang 1 nuclear power plant. Currently, we are developing an advanced VRCATS for Uljin 3 nuclear power plant. In this paepr, we will describe virtual panel system and VR based collaborate training system (VRCATS) of the Uljin VRCATS. Since Virtual Panel provides the same environment as the real MCR, trainees can expect the same training effect with Virtual Panel as they do with full scope simulator. i.e., trainees can check key variables and operate the plants and get responses with Virtual Panel. VRCTS provides another realistic training environment for trainees. In VRCATS, for example, operators in a group can work together t handle LOCA (Loss of Coolant Accident) according to emergency operation procedures

Using virtual machine monitors to overcome the challenges of monitoring and managing virtualized cloud infrastructures

Science.gov (United States)

Bamiah, Mervat Adib; Brohi, Sarfraz Nawaz; Chuprat, Suriayati

2012-01-01

Virtualization is one of the hottest research topics nowadays. Several academic researchers and developers from IT industry are designing approaches for solving security and manageability issues of Virtual Machines (VMs) residing on virtualized cloud infrastructures. Moving the application from a physical to a virtual platform increases the efficiency, flexibility and reduces management cost as well as effort. Cloud computing is adopting the paradigm of virtualization, using this technique, memory, CPU and computational power is provided to clients' VMs by utilizing the underlying physical hardware. Beside these advantages there are few challenges faced by adopting virtualization such as management of VMs and network traffic, unexpected additional cost and resource allocation. Virtual Machine Monitor (VMM) or hypervisor is the tool used by cloud providers to manage the VMs on cloud. There are several heterogeneous hypervisors provided by various vendors that include VMware, Hyper-V, Xen and Kernel Virtual Machine (KVM). Considering the challenge of VM management, this paper describes several techniques to monitor and manage virtualized cloud infrastructures.

Organization Virtual or Networked?

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Rūta Tamošiūnaitė

2013-08-01

Full Text Available Purpose—to present distinction between “virtual organization” and “networked organization”; giving their definitions.Design/methodology/approach—review of previous researches, systemic analyses of their findings and synthesis of distinctive characteristics of ”virtual organization” and “networked organization.”Findings—the main result of the research is key diverse features separating ”virtual organization” and ”networked organization.” Definitions of “virtual organization” and “networked organization” are presented.Originality/Value—distinction between “virtual organization” and “networked organization” creates possibilities to use all advantages of those types of organizations and gives foundation for deeper researches in this field.Research type: general review.

Perception of Virtual Audiences.

Science.gov (United States)

Chollet, Mathieu; Scherer, Stefan

2017-01-01

A growing body of evidence shows that virtual audiences are a valuable tool in the treatment of social anxiety, and recent works show that it also a useful in public-speaking training programs. However, little research has focused on how such audiences are perceived and on how the behavior of virtual audiences can be manipulated to create various types of stimuli. The authors used a crowdsourcing methodology to create a virtual audience nonverbal behavior model and, with it, created a dataset of videos with virtual audiences containing varying behaviors. Using this dataset, they investigated how virtual audiences are perceived and which factors affect this perception.

Machismo, Marianismo, and Negative Cognitive-Emotional Factors: Findings From the Hispanic Community Health Study/Study of Latinos Sociocultural Ancillary Study.

Science.gov (United States)

Nuñez, Alicia; González, Patricia; Talavera, Gregory A; Sanchez-Johnsen, Lisa; Roesch, Scott C; Davis, Sonia M; Arguelles, William; Womack, Veronica Y; Ostrovsky, Natania W; Ojeda, Lizette; Penedo, Frank J; Gallo, Linda C

2016-11-01

There is limited research on the traditional Hispanic male and female gender roles of machismo and marianismo, respectively, in relation to negative cognitions and emotions. Given the vulnerability of Hispanics to negative cognitions and emotions, it is important to examine sociocultural correlates of emotional distress. Therefore, we examined associations of machismo and marianismo with negative cognitive-emotional factors (i.e., depression symptoms; cynical hostility; and trait anxiety and anger) in the Hispanic Community Health Study/Study of Latinos Sociocultural Ancillary Study, a cross-sectional cohort study of sociocultural and psychosocial correlates of cardiometabolic health. Participants were aged 18-74 years and self-identified as Hispanic of Central American, Cuban, Dominican, Mexican, Puerto Rican, South American, and other Hispanic background ( N = 4,426). Results revealed that specific components of machismo (traditional machismo) and marianismo (family and spiritual pillar dimensions) were associated with higher levels of negative cognitions and emotions after adjusting for socio-demographic factors ( p < .05); these associations remained consistent across sex, Hispanic background group, and acculturation. Findings can inform mental health interventions and contribute to our understanding of the importance of gender role socialization in the context of self-reported negative cognitive-emotional factors in Hispanics.

Design of a lightweight, cost effective thimble-like sensor for haptic applications based on contact force sensors.

Science.gov (United States)

Ferre, Manuel; Galiana, Ignacio; Aracil, Rafael

2011-01-01

This paper describes the design and calibration of a thimble that measures the forces applied by a user during manipulation of virtual and real objects. Haptic devices benefit from force measurement capabilities at their end-point. However, the heavy weight and cost of force sensors prevent their widespread incorporation in these applications. The design of a lightweight, user-adaptable, and cost-effective thimble with four contact force sensors is described in this paper. The sensors are calibrated before being placed in the thimble to provide normal and tangential forces. Normal forces are exerted directly by the fingertip and thus can be properly measured. Tangential forces are estimated by sensors strategically placed in the thimble sides. Two applications are provided in order to facilitate an evaluation of sensorized thimble performance. These applications focus on: (i) force signal edge detection, which determines task segmentation of virtual object manipulation, and (ii) the development of complex object manipulation models, wherein the mechanical features of a real object are obtained and these features are then reproduced for training by means of virtual object manipulation.

Design of a Lightweight, Cost Effective Thimble-Like Sensor for Haptic Applications Based on Contact Force Sensors

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ignacio Galiana

2011-12-01

Full Text Available This paper describes the design and calibration of a thimble that measures the forces applied by a user during manipulation of virtual and real objects. Haptic devices benefit from force measurement capabilities at their end-point. However, the heavy weight and cost of force sensors prevent their widespread incorporation in these applications. The design of a lightweight, user-adaptable, and cost-effective thimble with four contact force sensors is described in this paper. The sensors are calibrated before being placed in the thimble to provide normal and tangential forces. Normal forces are exerted directly by the fingertip and thus can be properly measured. Tangential forces are estimated by sensors strategically placed in the thimble sides. Two applications are provided in order to facilitate an evaluation of sensorized thimble performance. These applications focus on: (i force signal edge detection, which determines task segmentation of virtual object manipulation, and (ii the development of complex object manipulation models, wherein the mechanical features of a real object are obtained and these features are then reproduced for training by means of virtual object manipulation.

An idiographic and nomothetic approach to the study of Mexican-origin adolescent mothers' socio-cultural stressors and adjustment.

Science.gov (United States)

Zeiders, Katharine H; Umaña-Taylor, Adriana J; Updegraff, Kimberly A; Jahromi, Laudan B

2015-04-01

The current study examined the longitudinal relations of socio-cultural stressors (i.e., acculturative stressors, enculturative stressors, ethnic discrimination) and Mexican-origin adolescent mothers' depressive symptoms and risk-taking behaviors. Utilizing an idiographic and nomothetic approach, we conducted lagged analyses to examine how individuals' fluctuations in stressors predicted subsequent adjustment. Further, we investigated potential threshold effects by examining if the impact of fluctuations in stressors differed at varying levels of stressors. Mexican-origin adolescent females (N = 184) participated in yearly in-home assessments across 5 years and reported on their experiences of acculturative and enculturative stressors, ethnic discrimination, depressive symptoms, and risk-taking behaviors. Findings revealed that within-person fluctuations in acculturative stressors and, to a lesser extent, perceived discrimination related to youths' depressive symptoms. For risk-taking behaviors, however, only within-person fluctuations in enculturative stressors emerged as significant. Further, a threshold effect emerged in the link between enculturative stressors and risk-taking behaviors, suggesting that fluctuations in enculturative stressors predicted changes in risk-taking behaviors at high levels of enculturative stressors but not low levels. Our findings highlight the differential relations between socio-cultural stressors and adolescent females' adjustment and suggest that prevention programs aimed at reducing depressive symptoms should attend to any degree of change in socio-cultural stressors, whereas programs focused on risk-taking behaviors should be especially attuned to levels of enculturative stress.

An Idiographic and Nomothetic Approach to the Study of Mexican-Origin Adolescent Mothers’ Socio-Cultural Stressors and Adjustment

Science.gov (United States)

Zeiders, Katharine H.; Umaña-Taylor, Adriana J.; Updegraff, Kimberly A.; Jahromi, Laudan B.

2014-01-01

The current study examined the longitudinal relations of socio-cultural stressors (i.e., acculturative stressors, enculturative stressors, ethnic discrimination) and Mexican-origin adolescent mothers’ depressive symptoms and risk-taking behaviors. Utilizing an idiographic and nomothetic approach, we conducted lagged analyses to examine how individuals’ fluctuations in stressors predicted subsequent adjustment. Further, we investigated potential threshold effects by examining if the impact of fluctuations in stressors differed at varying levels of stressors. Mexican-origin adolescent females (N = 184) participated in yearly in-home assessments across 5 years and reported on their experiences of acculturative and enculturative stressors, ethnic discrimination, depressive symptoms, and risk-taking behaviors. Findings revealed that within-person fluctuations in acculturative stressors, and to a lesser extent, perceived discrimination, related to youths’ depressive symptoms. For risk-taking behaviors, however, only within-person fluctuations in enculturative stressors emerged as significant. Further, a threshold effect emerged in the link between enculturative stressors and risk-taking behaviors, suggesting that fluctuations in enculturative stressors predicted changes in risk-taking behaviors at high levels of enculturative stressors, but not low levels. Our findings highlight the differential relations between socio-cultural stressors and adolescent females’ adjustment, and suggest that prevention programs aimed at reducing depressive symptoms should attend to any degree of change in socio-cultural stressors, whereas programs focused on risk-taking behaviors should be especially attuned to levels of enculturative stress. PMID:25099084

Latin Loans In French Contemporary Advertising: Socio-Cultural, Linguistic and Psychological Aspects

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Olga Kudinova

2016-08-01

Full Text Available The article deals with the Latin language borrowings in the modern French language. The functioning of Latin borrowings in French advertising is analyzed. The attention is drown to the socio-cultural, linguistic and psychological aspects of this functioning. General trends concerning latinisms in French language are the clear proof of the importance and vitality of Latin into French society. It was shown that the Latin language has greatly influenced the French cultural memory and common European culture.

Historical, Socio-Cultural, and Conceptual Issues to Consider When Researching Mexican American Children and Families, and other Latino Subgroups

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Raymond Buriel

2012-12-01

Full Text Available In order for the field of psychology in the United States to maintain its relevance and validity, it must become more inclusive in its theory and research of Latinos, who are now the largest "minority" group in the nation. In particular, due to immigration and birth rates, Mexican Americans are the largest and fastest growing segment of the Latino population. This paper addresses some of the most significant historical and socio-cultural factors contributing to the psychological nature and wellbeing of Mexican Americans. These factors should be understood and used to guide research and theory in order to make the discipline of psychology relevant for Mexican Americans. The concept of mestizaje is used to explain the biological and cultural mixing constituting the diverse origins of the Mexican people. Immigration to the U.S. is described in terms of selective socio-cultural variables giving rise to a diverse Mexican American culture that is resistant to complete assimilation. Within a U.S. context, the constructs of generational status, acculturation, and biculturalism are used to explain the socio-cultural adaptation of Mexican Americans. The special role of children in immigrant families as language and cultural brokers are also discussed, and used to explain the adjustment of Mexican American families.

Virtual School Startups: Founder Processes in American K-12 Public Virtual Schools

Science.gov (United States)

Taylor, Brett D.; McNair, Delores E.

2018-01-01

Traditional school districts do not have a lot of experience with virtual schools and have lost students to state and charter virtual schools. To retain students and offer alternative learning opportunities, more public districts are starting their own virtual schools. This study was an examination of foundational processes at three California…

Text and Image of Advertising in Nigeria: An Enterprise of Socio-Cultural Reproduction

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Taofeek Dalamu

2016-12-01

Full Text Available The role of language in the construction of socio-cultural reality is inevitable. That is why text is used as a pillar that supports the explication of the intended purpose of images applied in multifaceted ad plates. It is a phenomenal tradition that has remained strong in ad campaigns. Advertisers make images and text as discrete components that are inseparable. Images and texts are sedimentary devices in ads, which we can consider as the social position that motivates this enquiry. After the selection of ten ads from various social strata, semiotics viewed from the stances of Saussure and Peirce has been applied along with social semiotics to analyze the ads. The study reveals that ads and advertisers are keen to the promotion of culture with the use of images with textual collaboration. Reference to antiquity has been exposed as a very useful material in ads because it fascinates the public by reproducing their about-to-be-forgotten cultural heritage. Social exercises in the ads create side attractions that lead to assorted photographic entertainment. Besides boosting the audience social knowledge, socio-cultural reproduction experienced in ads can propel the concerned agencies to repackage our cultural beauties as a means of economic growth and emancipation. Keywords: Advertising, Consumer, Language Function, Social System, Semiotics

Social-Cognitive and Socio-Cultural Predictors of Hepatitis B Virus-Screening in Turkish Migrants, the Netherlands

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Veen, V.J.J. van der; Empelen, P. van; Looman, C.W.N.; Richardus, J.H.

2013-01-01

Hepatitis B virus (HBV) is an important health problem in the Turkish Dutch. Screening is necessary for detection and prevention of HBV. We aimed to identify social-cognitive and socio-cultural determinants of HBV-screening intention among Turkish Dutch. A cross-sectional survey was carried out

Pre- and Post-Migration Determinants of Socio-Cultural Integration of African Immigrants in Italy and Spain

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Fokkema, T.; de Haas, H.

2015-01-01

Using a unique dataset (N=2,014), we examine the pre- and post-migration determinants of socio-cultural integration among first-generation immigrant groups in southern Europe: Moroccan and Senegalese migrants in Spain, and Egyptian and Ghanaian migrants in Italy. The results of the pooled and

Leader competencies in virtual organization

OpenAIRE

Bulinska-Stangrecka, Helena

2018-01-01

This paper discusses the competence required in the leadership of virtual organization. The specics of virtual organization presents a challenge to traditional managerial styles. In order to achieve success in virtual environment, a leader must develop specic abilities. This analysis examines the uniqueness of the virtual organization, including team work and management. The last part presents ndings and summaries regarding e€ective e-leadership requirement. A virtual leader ma...

Virtual Reality: An Overview.

Science.gov (United States)

Franchi, Jorge

1994-01-01

Highlights of this overview of virtual reality include optics; interface devices; virtual worlds; potential applications, including medicine and archaeology; problems, including costs; current research and development; future possibilities; and a listing of vendors and suppliers of virtual reality products. (Contains 11 references.) (LRW)

Virtual currencies- Real opportunities?

OpenAIRE

Selldahl, Sara

2013-01-01

The European Central Bank defines virtual currencies as ”unregulated, digital money, which is issued and usually controlled by its developers, and used and accepted among the members of a specific virtual community.” (European Central Bank, 2012, p. 5) The interest in virtual currencies has increased immensely over the last few years as they become increasingly prevalent in our society across many different industries. Up until now, the field of virtual currencies has been mainly uncharted ...

Social-cognitive and socio-cultural predictors of hepatitis B virus-screening in Turkish migrants, the Netherlands.

Science.gov (United States)

van der Veen, Y J J; van Empelen, P; Looman, C W N; Richardus, J H

2014-10-01

Hepatitis B virus (HBV) is an important health problem in the Turkish Dutch. Screening is necessary for detection and prevention of HBV. We aimed to identify social-cognitive and socio-cultural determinants of HBV-screening intention among Turkish Dutch. A cross-sectional survey was carried out amongst 335 Turkish Dutch, aged 16-40 years. Respondents showed favorable scores for the potential determinants of HBV-screening. Attitude, perceived behaviour control, social support and social norm, and the level of satisfaction with Dutch health care proved to be directly associated with screening intention. Relevant socio-cultural beliefs were shame, stigma, the association of screening with sexuality and family values. Persons with lower screening intentions had lower scores for attitude, perceived behaviour control, social support and subjective norms, but scored higher for feelings of shame and stigma regarding hepatitis B. This study shows how cultural values and social-cognitive factors are related to HBV-screening intention.

Agreements in Virtual Organizations

Science.gov (United States)

Pankowska, Malgorzata

This chapter is an attempt to explain the important impact that contract theory delivers with respect to the concept of virtual organization. The author believes that not enough research has been conducted in order to transfer theoretical foundations for networking to the phenomena of virtual organizations and open autonomic computing environment to ensure the controllability and management of them. The main research problem of this chapter is to explain the significance of agreements for virtual organizations governance. The first part of this chapter comprises explanations of differences among virtual machines and virtual organizations for further descriptions of the significance of the first ones to the development of the second. Next, the virtual organization development tendencies are presented and problems of IT governance in highly distributed organizational environment are discussed. The last part of this chapter covers analysis of contracts and agreements management for governance in open computing environments.

Sociocultural Factors of Survival of Males and Females in Economically Active Age: a Regional Analysis

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Evgeniya Khasanovna Tukhtarova

2018-03-01

Full Text Available The period, when a person starts and completes his or her professional carrier and labour participation, in general, coincides with the age when the self-preservation behaviour develops. It is a time when a person aims for a healthy and safe lifestyle. During this period, an individual assumes the main standards, values of the self-preservation behaviour inherent in an ethnic, social and cultural macro-environment. To research the sociocultural factors of survival, we applied econometric modelling to demographic processes using the discrete and probabilistic indicators of the mortality tables of male and female in economically active age. The econometric model included the elements of spatiotemporal characteristics of territories. These characteristics are interrelated with the indicators of survival probability and the indicator of average life expectancy in the regions of Russia. We choose the major sociocultural factors by the correlation ratio of indicators and their sensitivity. The econometric analysis has revealed a high degree of sensitivity of a territorial variation of demographic and sociocultural factors in the regions of Russia, including a gender aspect. The most significant socio-economic factors, which determine the self-preservation behaviour of males, are the following: 1 the size of Gross Regional Product per capita; 2 quality of health infrastructure; 3 fixed investments; 4 population with monetary income under the subsistence minimum (share coefficient of income differentials. The female have the same hierarchy of socio-economic factors, except for the sensitivity of variables to the regional differentiation of signs. The household poverty factor has little significance for the women and it is the main difference between male and female. The built model has shown the predictive importance in the assessment of the above-mentioned factors in short and medium-term prospects.

An elastic-plastic contact model for line contact structures

Science.gov (United States)

Zhu, Haibin; Zhao, Yingtao; He, Zhifeng; Zhang, Ruinan; Ma, Shaopeng

2018-06-01

Although numerical simulation tools are now very powerful, the development of analytical models is very important for the prediction of the mechanical behaviour of line contact structures for deeply understanding contact problems and engineering applications. For the line contact structures widely used in the engineering field, few analytical models are available for predicting the mechanical behaviour when the structures deform plastically, as the classic Hertz's theory would be invalid. Thus, the present study proposed an elastic-plastic model for line contact structures based on the understanding of the yield mechanism. A mathematical expression describing the global relationship between load history and contact width evolution of line contact structures was obtained. The proposed model was verified through an actual line contact test and a corresponding numerical simulation. The results confirmed that this model can be used to accurately predict the elastic-plastic mechanical behaviour of a line contact structure.

Likelihood to Use Employee Assistance Programs: The Effects of Sociodemographic, Social-Psychological, Sociocultural, Organizational, and Community Factors.

Science.gov (United States)

Hall, LaCheata, And Others

1991-01-01

Employees (n=62) from large telephone communications company completed questionnaires assessing relationship between likelihood to use Employee Assistance Program (EAP) services and five domains: sociodemographic, social-psychological, sociocultural, organizational, and community. Found that women and individuals in higher income and educational…

Foundations of Socio-Cultural Ecology: Consequences for Media Education and Mobile Learning in Schools

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Klaus Rummler

2014-07-01

Full Text Available This conceptual paper offers insights to the foundations of Socio-Cultural Ecology and relates this concept to traditional concepts of Ecology e.g. media ecology or Bronfenbrenner’s ecological model of child development. It will further discuss the term «ecology» as a relation between learners and their surrounding physical and structural world, e. g. an ecology of resources or the classroom as an ecological system. Thirdly more recent concepts in ecology will be considered e. g. Digital Media Ecology including media ecology (German: Medienökologie from a German perspective. This contribution tries to describe common principles of (media ecologies and will ask after their meaning and relation to media education and mobile learning. One of the main results is the realisation that cultural practices of school learning and cultural practices of media acquisition take place in different worlds or in different ecological spheres. The question is thus again of how to bridge these ecological spheres, and how «agency» developed outside school, can be nourished inside school. In other words: how can we bridge socio-cultural and technological structures within these cultural practices.

Equilibrium contact angle or the most-stable contact angle?

Science.gov (United States)

Montes Ruiz-Cabello, F J; Rodríguez-Valverde, M A; Cabrerizo-Vílchez, M A

2014-04-01

It is well-established that the equilibrium contact angle in a thermodynamic framework is an "unattainable" contact angle. Instead, the most-stable contact angle obtained from mechanical stimuli of the system is indeed experimentally accessible. Monitoring the susceptibility of a sessile drop to a mechanical stimulus enables to identify the most stable drop configuration within the practical range of contact angle hysteresis. Two different stimuli may be used with sessile drops: mechanical vibration and tilting. The most stable drop against vibration should reveal the changeless contact angle but against the gravity force, it should reveal the highest resistance to slide down. After the corresponding mechanical stimulus, once the excited drop configuration is examined, the focus will be on the contact angle of the initial drop configuration. This methodology needs to map significantly the static drop configurations with different stable contact angles. The most-stable contact angle, together with the advancing and receding contact angles, completes the description of physically realizable configurations of a solid-liquid system. Since the most-stable contact angle is energetically significant, it may be used in the Wenzel, Cassie or Cassie-Baxter equations accordingly or for the surface energy evaluation. © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Virtual Machine in Automation Projects

OpenAIRE

Xing, Xiaoyuan

2010-01-01

Virtual machine, as an engineering tool, has recently been introduced into automation projects in Tetra Pak Processing System AB. The goal of this paper is to examine how to better utilize virtual machine for the automation projects. This paper designs different project scenarios using virtual machine. It analyzes installability, performance and stability of virtual machine from the test results. Technical solutions concerning virtual machine are discussed such as the conversion with physical...

Validating agent based models through virtual worlds.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Lakkaraju, Kiran; Whetzel, Jonathan H.; Lee, Jina; Bier, Asmeret Brooke; Cardona-Rivera, Rogelio E.; Bernstein, Jeremy Ray Rhythm

2014-01-01

As the US continues its vigilance against distributed, embedded threats, understanding the political and social structure of these groups becomes paramount for predicting and dis- rupting their attacks. Agent-based models (ABMs) serve as a powerful tool to study these groups. While the popularity of social network tools (e.g., Facebook, Twitter) has provided extensive communication data, there is a lack of ne-grained behavioral data with which to inform and validate existing ABMs. Virtual worlds, in particular massively multiplayer online games (MMOG), where large numbers of people interact within a complex environ- ment for long periods of time provide an alternative source of data. These environments provide a rich social environment where players engage in a variety of activities observed between real-world groups: collaborating and/or competing with other groups, conducting battles for scarce resources, and trading in a market economy. Strategies employed by player groups surprisingly re ect those seen in present-day con icts, where players use diplomacy or espionage as their means for accomplishing their goals. In this project, we propose to address the need for ne-grained behavioral data by acquiring and analyzing game data a commercial MMOG, referred to within this report as Game X. The goals of this research were: (1) devising toolsets for analyzing virtual world data to better inform the rules that govern a social ABM and (2) exploring how virtual worlds could serve as a source of data to validate ABMs established for analogous real-world phenomena. During this research, we studied certain patterns of group behavior to compliment social modeling e orts where a signi cant lack of detailed examples of observed phenomena exists. This report outlines our work examining group behaviors that underly what we have termed the Expression-To-Action (E2A) problem: determining the changes in social contact that lead individuals/groups to engage in a particular behavior

"Child Divorce": A Break from Parental Responsibilities and Rights Due to the Traditional Socio-Cultural Practices and Beliefs of the Parents

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

M Bekink

2012-03-01

Full Text Available In a recent ground-breaking case the South African courts were for the first time requested to use their discretion to interfere in the parent-child relationship due to the traditional socio-cultural beliefs of the parents. In what has been described as "every parent's nightmare; the fancy of many teenagers", a 16 year-old schoolgirl from Milerton in the Western Cape asked to be "freed" from her parents to live semi-independently from them because of her unhappiness with the conservative manner in which her parents treated her. After considering the matter the judge assigned to the case granted her request to live semi-independently with a school friend and her family (called by the judge the host family until she reaches the age of 18 (her majority. Her parents were accorded permission to have limited contact with her. This case represents an example of the difficulties involved when balancing the rights of a teenager against those of the parents in matters of socio-cultural practice and belief. In a multi-cultural society such as South Africa the case raises numerous serious questions for other families. For instance, what standards will a court use to determine if parents are too conservative in bringing up their children and what factors will be taken into account? How much freedom and autonomy should children be given? How will courts prevent children from misusing the system just to get what their friends have, and - the ultimate question - are the rights of children superior to the traditional rights of parents in matters of socio-cultural practice, with specific reference to their upbringing? In this context it is the aim of this contribution to focus primarily on the questions asked above. Possible solutions for striking a balance between the rights of children and their parents are explored. The submission is made that the best interests principle is still the most important factor to be taken into account when balancing or weighing

The Virtuality Continuum Revisited

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Nijholt, Antinus; Traum, D.; Zhai, Sh.; Kellogg, W.

2005-01-01

We survey the themes and the aims of a workshop devoted to the state-of-the-art virtuality continuum. In this continuum, ranging from fully virtual to real physical environments, allowing for mixed, augmented and desktop virtual reality, several perspectives can be taken. Originally, the emphasis

The virtual nose: a 3-dimensional virtual reality model of the human nose.

Science.gov (United States)

Vartanian, A John; Holcomb, Joi; Ai, Zhuming; Rasmussen, Mary; Tardy, M Eugene; Thomas, J Regan

2004-01-01

The 3-dimensionally complex interplay of soft tissue, cartilaginous, and bony elements makes the mastery of nasal anatomy difficult. Conventional methods of learning nasal anatomy exist, but they often involve a steep learning curve. Computerized models and virtual reality applications have been used to facilitate teaching in a number of other complex anatomical regions, such as the human temporal bone and pelvic floor. We present a 3-dimensional (3-D) virtual reality model of the human nose. Human cadaveric axial cross-sectional (0.33-mm cuts) photographic data of the head and neck were used. With 460 digitized images, individual structures were traced and programmed to create a computerized polygonal model of the nose. Further refinements to this model were made using a number of specialized computer programs. This 3-D computer model of the nose was then programmed to operate as a virtual reality model. Anatomically correct 3-D model of the nose was produced. High-resolution images of the "virtual nose" demonstrate the nasal septum, lower lateral cartilages, middle vault, bony dorsum, and other structural details of the nose. Also, the model can be combined with a separate virtual reality model of the face and its skin cover as well as the skull. The user can manipulate the model in space, examine 3-D anatomical relationships, and fade superficial structures to reveal deeper ones. The virtual nose is a 3-D virtual reality model of the nose that is accurate and easy to use. It can be run on a personal computer or in a specialized virtual reality environment. It can serve as an effective teaching tool. As the first virtual reality model of the nose, it establishes a virtual reality platform from which future applications can be launched.

Virtual Museums as Educational Tool

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

2007-01-01

Virtual Museums as Educational Tool On this web site you will find a collection of resources on virtual museums. The web site is meant to be a knowledge base for people with interest in museums, virtuality and education, and how virtual museums may contribute to adult education and lifelong...

[Virtual reality in neurosurgery].

Science.gov (United States)

Tronnier, V M; Staubert, A; Bonsanto, M M; Wirtz, C R; Kunze, S

2000-03-01

Virtual reality enables users to immerse themselves in a virtual three-dimensional world and to interact in this world. The simulation is different from the kind in computer games, in which the viewer is active but acts in a nonrealistic world, or on the TV screen, where we are passively driven in an active world. In virtual reality elements look realistic, they change their characteristics and have almost real-world unpredictability. Virtual reality is not only implemented in gambling dens and the entertainment industry but also in manufacturing processes (cars, furniture etc.), military applications and medicine. Especially the last two areas are strongly correlated, because telemedicine or telesurgery was originated for military reasons to operate on war victims from a secure distance or to perform surgery on astronauts in an orbiting space station. In medicine and especially neurosurgery virtual-reality methods are used for education, surgical planning and simulation on a virtual patient.

Study on virtual instrument developing system based on intelligent virtual control

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tang Baoping; Cheng Fabin; Qin Shuren

2005-01-01

The paper introduces a non-programming developing system of a virtual instrument (VI), i.e., a virtual measurement instrument developing system (VMIDS) based on intelligent virtual control (IVC). The background of the IVC-based VMIDS is described briefly, and the hierarchical message bus (HMB)-based software architecture of VMIDS is discussed in detail. The three parts and functions of VMIDS are introduced, and the process of non-programming developing VI is further described

Study on virtual instrument developing system based on intelligent virtual control

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Tang Baoping; Cheng Fabin; Qin Shuren [Test Center, College of Mechanical Engineering, Chongqing University , Chongqing 400030 (China)

2005-01-01

The paper introduces a non-programming developing system of a virtual instrument (VI), i.e., a virtual measurement instrument developing system (VMIDS) based on intelligent virtual control (IVC). The background of the IVC-based VMIDS is described briefly, and the hierarchical message bus (HMB)-based software architecture of VMIDS is discussed in detail. The three parts and functions of VMIDS are introduced, and the process of non-programming developing VI is further described.

Virtual Reality Design: How Head-Mounted Displays Change Design Paradigms of Virtual Reality Worlds

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Christian Stein

2016-09-01

Full Text Available With the upcoming generation of virtual reality HMDs, new virtual worlds, scenarios, and games are created especially for them. These are no longer bound to a remote screen or a relatively static user, but to an HMD as a more immersive device. This article discusses requirements for virtual scenarios implemented in new-generation HMDs to achieve a comfortable user experience. Furthermore, the effects of positional tracking are introduced and the relation between the user’s virtual and physical body is analyzed. The observations made are exemplified by existing software prototypes. They indicate how the term “virtual reality,” with all its loaded connotations, may be reconceptualized to express the peculiarities of HMDs in the context of gaming, entertainment, and virtual experiences.

An exploration of socio-cultural and organizational factors affecting women's access to educational leadership

OpenAIRE

Korkor Owusu, Patrick

2014-01-01

Recent global reports indicate that women have made tremendous improvements in educational enrolment and labour participation but are woefully underrepresented in top leadership positions. Moreover, studies have shown that feminine leadership strategies are embraced but leadership is still perceived as a prerogative of men in many societies. This study therefore sought to explore the socio-cultural and organizational factors influencing the underrepresentation of women in educational leadersh...

Virtualization Technologies for the Business

OpenAIRE

Sabina POPESCU

2011-01-01

There is a new trend of change in today's IT industry. It's called virtualization. In datacenter virtualization can occur on several levels, but the type of virtualization has created this trend change is the operating system offered or server virtualization. OS virtualization technologies come in two forms. First, there is a software component that is used to simulate a natural machine that has total control of an operating system operating on the host equipment. The second is a hypervisor, ...

Sobre objetos y experiencias virtuales

OpenAIRE

Pacho, Julián

2009-01-01

This paper analyses basic onto-epistemological properties of the virtual reality and suggests these theses. First, the virtual reality establishes a new nature; its essential feature is to be an organic world of emancipated techno-theories. Second, the virtual reality doesn’t substitutes the traditional book; it substitutes the world. Third, the experience of the world in the virtual reality excludes the natural world experience. Fourth, the ontology of virtual reality is build without an act...

Etnografía virtual Virtual ethnography: exploring a methodological option for the research on virtual learning environments.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Álvarez Cadavid Gloria María

2009-01-01

Full Text Available Este artículo pretende esbozar algunas de las consideraciones metodológicas que hoy confluyen en el estudio de los ambientes virtuales, desde la opción etnográfica. De manera específica se quiere observar la forma en que, algunos investigadores han abordado el aspecto metodológico para estudiar los ambientes virtuales, líneas de evolución y posible contribución al conocimiento y mejoramiento de los procesos de e-learning. This article aims to outline some methodological considerations that merge together on the study of virtual learning environments, especially from the ethnographic perspective. Specifically, what we want to observe, is the way some researchers have approached the methodological aspect in order to study virtual learning environments, the evolution lines and the possible contribution they’ve made to knowledge and improvement of e-learning processes.

SOCIOCULTURAL STAFF OF LEADERS OF CHON IN OREL REGION IN 1922

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Verizhnikov Alexei Nikolaevich

2013-02-01

Full Text Available The purpose of this work is the complex sociocultural characteristics of the commanders of units of special approach on the territory of Orel province in 1922. The information about the age of commanders, their educational level, the extent of their military training, office and battle experience, family status is given. The author comes to the conclusion that men at the age between 25 and 30, family (as a rule, with primary education and military training, sufficient office and battle experience stood at the head of Orel ChON at the moment of its final organizational formation.

Stress and sleep: Results from the Hispanic Community Health Study/Study of Latinos Sociocultural Ancillary Study

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Carmela Alcántara

2017-12-01

Full Text Available Hispanics/Latinos face specific sociocultural stressors associated with their marginalized status in the United States. While stress is known to cause poor sleep, the differential effects of the specific stressors faced by Hispanics/Latinos have not been evaluated. Using cross-sectional data from the Hispanic Community Health Study/Study of Latinos Sociocultural Ancillary Study, we conducted weighted generalized linear models to evaluate the associations of acculturation stress, ethnic discrimination, and chronic moderate/severe stress with self-reported sleep outcomes (insomnia symptoms, daytime sleepiness, sleep duration in individual and aggregate models adjusted for site, socio-demographics, behavioral, and medical conditions. Participants included 5313 Hispanic/Latino adults; 43.5% ≥ age 45, 54.8% female, and 22.0% US-born. Chronic moderate/severe stress, ethnic discrimination, and acculturation stress were each positively associated with sleep. In the adjusted aggregate model, only chronic moderate/severe stress was associated with insomnia symptoms (exp(b = 1.07 for each additional stressor, 95% CI = 1.05, 1.09. Both acculturation stress (exp(b = 1.05 for each additional SD, 95% CI = 1.02, 1.10 and ethnic discrimination (exp(b = 1.05 for each additional SD, 95% CI = 1.01, 1.08 were associated with daytime sleepiness. Each SD increase in ethnic discrimination related to a 16% and 13% increased prevalence of short ( 9 h (RRR = 1.13, 95% CI = 1.00, 1.27, respectively. These associations were consistent across sex. Acculturation stress and ethnic discrimination are associated with poor sleep in Hispanics/Latinos. Future research should explore whether behavioral sleep interventions minimize the impact of sociocultural stressors on sleep.

Influencia del contexto sociocultural en la percepción del riesgo y la negociación de protección en hombres homosexuales pobres de la costa peruana Influence of socio-cultural context on risk perception and negotiation of protection among poor homosexual males on the Peruvian coast

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ximena Salazar

2006-10-01

Full Text Available Este trabajo utiliza un enfoque del riesgo concebido, no como una acción individual, sino tomando su dimensión social. Busca analizar las diferentes formas en que el contexto sociocultural, relacionado a la homofobia internalizada y a las normas de género hegemónicas, permite la construcción de barreras en la percepción del riesgo. Estas barreras impiden la negociación de protección entre hombres homosexuales que han asumido una identidad de género femenina y habitan en barrios pobres de Lima y Trujillo, Peru. El análisis de la percepción del riesgo desde el plano sociocultural, nos va a permitir explicar las razones por las cuales la capacidad de negociación en esta población se ve restringida, no obstante, posee, más que otras, un mayor conocimiento del VIH/SIDA y sus consecuencias.This paper focuses on risk, conceived not as an individual action, but considering its social dimension, analyzing the various forms in the socio-cultural context related to internalized homophobia and hegemonic gender norms that allow barriers to be constructed in risk perception. Such barriers hinder negotiation and protection among homosexual men that have adopted a female gender identity, living in low-income barrios of Lima and Trujillo, Peru. Risk perception is analyzed on the socio-cultural plane, allowing one to explain the limited negotiating capacity of this population, even though they have extensive knowledge of HIV/AIDS and its consequences.

Social maturity of the identity of seniors as condition of successful adaptation to the modern sociocultural environment

OpenAIRE

Pavlov A.K.

2017-01-01

this article describes social maturity of the identity of seniors as a condition of successful adaptation to the modern sociocultural environment, marks out some criteria of definition of socially mature personality, gives definition to the concept «social competence of the personality».

Photon virtual bound state

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Inoue, J.; Ohtaka, K.

2004-01-01

We study virtual bound states in photonics, which are a vectorial extension of electron virtual bound states. The condition for these states is derived. It is found that the Mie resonant state which satisfies the condition that the size parameter is less than the angular momentum should be interpreted as a photon virtual bound state. In order to confirm the validity of the concept, we compare the photonic density of states, the width of which represents the lifetime of the photon virtual bound states, with numerical results

[Research on the virtual water composition and virtual water trade for agriculture in Beijing].

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Hong-rui; Wang, Yan; Wang, Jun-hong; Dong, Yan-yan; Han, Zhao-xing

2007-12-01

Based on the irrigation norm of typical district and county, and revised by the isoline map of Chinese crops water demand, the change of crops program was analyzed as well as the agricultural water use and its GDP benefits. Then the virtual water was calculated for years. At last, the input-output method was used to calculate the trade of virtual water in Beijing. As the results, the virtual water for cereal crops has been decreasing in Beijing, from 1.832 x 10(9) m3 in 1990 to 4.283 x 10(8) m3 in 2004. Otherwise the virtual water for technical crops has been increasing, which is from 9.06 x 10(8) m3 in 1990 to 1.492 x 10(9) m3 in 2004. On the whole, the virtual water for crops has been decreasing in Beijing. From the angle of primary products Beijing is a virtual water importing area. Virtual water importing of annual average is 2.37 x 10(8) m3, which is about 5.93% of the total water of Beijing. Virtual water has been an important supplement of local real water of Beijing.

Family Environment and the Metabolic Syndrome: Results from the Hispanic Community Health Study/Study of Latinos (HCHS/SOL) Sociocultural Ancillary Study (SCAS).

Science.gov (United States)

Penedo, Frank J; Brintz, Carrie E; LLabre, Maria M; Arguelles, William; Isasi, Carmen R; Arredondo, Elva M; Navas-Nacher, Elena L; Perreira, Krista M; González, Hector M; Rodriguez, Carlos J; Daviglus, Martha; Schneiderman, Neil; Gallo, Linda C

2015-12-01

Metabolic syndrome (MetS) is a risk factor for cardiovascular disease. Very limited work has evaluated associations of sociocultural processes with prevalence of the MetS. The purpose of the present study was to evaluate associations between family environment (cohesion/conflict) and the MetS, in a multi-site sample of US Hispanics/Latinos. A total of 3278 participants from the Hispanic Community Health Study/Study of Latinos underwent a clinical exam and completed psychosocial measures including family environment (cohesion and conflict) as part of the Sociocultural Ancillary Study. The association between family environment and the MetS was moderated by sex. Among all women, higher family conflict was associated with MetS prevalence. Results by ancestry group showed that only among Cuban women, higher conflict was associated with the MetS, whereas only among Dominican men, greater cohesion was associated with the MetS. The family context may be a sociocultural protective or risk factor among Hispanics/Latinos in terms of MetS risk, but these associations may vary by sex and Hispanic background.

Art in virtual reality 2010

Science.gov (United States)

Chang, Ben

2010-01-01

For decades, virtual reality artwork has existed in a small but highly influential niche in the world of electronic and new media art. Since the early 1990's, virtual reality installations have come to define an extreme boundary point of both aesthetic experience and technological sophistication. Classic virtual reality artworks have an almost mythological stature - powerful, exotic, and often rarely exhibited. Today, art in virtual environments continues to evolve and mature, encompassing everything from fully immersive CAVE experiences to performance art in Second Life to the use of augmented and mixed reality in public space. Art in Virtual Reality 2010 is a public exhibition of new artwork that showcases the diverse ways that contemporary artists use virtual environments to explore new aesthetic ground and investigate the continually evolving relationship between our selves and our virtual worlds.

Analyse linguistique, normes scolaires et differenciations socio-culturelles (Linguistic Analysis, Educational Standards, and Socio-Cultural Differentiation).

Science.gov (United States)

Francois, Frederic

1980-01-01

Questions the validity of some child language studies that measure cognitive ability by the degree of complexity of the linguistic expression. Claims that these studies ignore many facets of the children's sociocultural experience as well as the influence of situational factors on their choice of linguistic codes, perpetuating socially biased…

Introducing Computers to Kindergarten Children Based on Vygotsky's Theory about Socio-Cultural Learning: The Greek Perspective.

Science.gov (United States)

Pange, Jenny; Kontozisis, Dimitrios

2001-01-01

Greek preschoolers' level of knowledge about computers was examined as they participated in a classroom project to introduce them to new technologies. The project was based on Vygotsky's theory of socio-cultural learning. Findings suggest that this approach is a successful way to introduce new technologies to young children. (JPB)

Setting up virtual private network

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Huang Hongmei; Zhang Chengjun

2003-01-01

Setting up virtual private network for business enterprise provides a low cost network foundation, increases enterprise's network function and enlarges its private scope. The text introduces virtual private network's principal, privileges and protocols that use in virtual private network. At last, this paper introduces several setting up virtual private network's technologies which based on LAN

Setting up virtual private network

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Huang Hongmei; Zhang Chengjun

2003-01-01

Setting up virtual private network for business enterprise provides a low cost network foundation, increases enterprise network function and enlarges its private scope. This text introduces virtual private network principal, privileges and protocols applied in virtual private network. At last, this paper introduces several setting up virtual private network technologies which is based on LAN

Socio-cultural context, child development and beginning reading in Peru

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Cecilia Thorne

2005-06-01

Full Text Available This article focuses on the fact that many children in Peru are not able to read fluently when they finish elementary school. To analyze this shortcoming it presents an overview of the Peruvian context, the education system, the multilingual and the socio-cultural background and identifies the difficult conditions in which Peruvian children grow and its consequences in child development and beginning reading. The paper discusses different aspectsof developmental psychology and puts the accent on Bronfenbrenner's theory and the developmental approach to education. It offers, also, a review of several studies on reading in Peru. Finally it emphasizes the advantages of incorporating the ecological theory and the developmental approach to education

Implicaciones educativas de la teoría sociocultural de Vigotsky

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ana Lupita Chaves Salas

2001-01-01

Full Text Available El propósito de este artículo es analizar la teo-ría sociocultural del Lev Vigotsky y reflexionar sobre lasimplicaciones educativas de dicha teoría en los procesosde enseñanza y aprendizaje que se organizan en la es-cuela. Con base en los postulados de Vigotsky, se invita alas docentes y los docentes a repensar su práctica peda-gógica y a promover cambios en su labor profesional conel fin de ofrecer una educación más contextualizada ysignificativa que ayude a formar personas críticas y crea-tivas que contribuyan a construir una sociedad más de-mocrática y solidaria

Virtuality and Reality in Science

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cohen-Tannoudji, G.

1995-01-01

This book compiles eight contributions devoted to the topical question about the relation between virtuality and reality. In the theoretical frame of quantum and relativistic particle physics, the concept of virtuality is used according to its strict and precise meaning. In this context, particles are generally invented before their discovery. Some famous historical experiments which led to the postulation and then the discovery of new particles are mentioned. These examples are used to illustrate and to discuss the concept of virtuality as well as the physical reality of virtual processes. But, how can the concept of virtuality in other scientific fields be applied ? In order to answer this question, the concepts of virtuality and reality are discussed in other branches of physics as well as in other fields such as geophysics, cosmology and biology. Philosophical and sociological implications of virtual realities are also considered. Moreover, in relation to virtuality and reality, the connections between modeling, simulation and experimentation, their respective roles, the advantages and risks of their use are discussed (in relation to nuclear sciences and geophysical problems) (N.T.)

Reducing contact resistance in graphene devices through contact area patterning.

Science.gov (United States)

Smith, Joshua T; Franklin, Aaron D; Farmer, Damon B; Dimitrakopoulos, Christos D

2013-04-23

Performance of graphene electronics is limited by contact resistance associated with the metal-graphene (M-G) interface, where unique transport challenges arise as carriers are injected from a 3D metal into a 2D-graphene sheet. In this work, enhanced carrier injection is experimentally achieved in graphene devices by forming cuts in the graphene within the contact regions. These cuts are oriented normal to the channel and facilitate bonding between the contact metal and carbon atoms at the graphene cut edges, reproducibly maximizing "edge-contacted" injection. Despite the reduction in M-G contact area caused by these cuts, we find that a 32% reduction in contact resistance results in Cu-contacted, two-terminal devices, while a 22% reduction is achieved for top-gated graphene transistors with Pd contacts as compared to conventionally fabricated devices. The crucial role of contact annealing to facilitate this improvement is also elucidated. This simple approach provides a reliable and reproducible means of lowering contact resistance in graphene devices to bolster performance. Importantly, this enhancement requires no additional processing steps.

Gestão Cooperativa, Ambiente Institucional e Sociocultural: o caso Brasil-Paraguai

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Marcelo Resquetti Tarifa

Full Text Available Resumo: O objetivo deste estudo foi analisar as influências do ambiente institucional e sociocultural na gestão cooperativista da C. Vale - Cooperativa Agroindustrial comparativamente às unidades brasileiras paranaenses mais representativas e as unidades sediadas no Paraguai. As análises do ambiente institucional tomaram como base a Nova Economia Institucional com ênfase na teoria de Douglass North (1990 sobre as instituições e ocorreram com entrevistas in loco a cada unidade cooperativa contemplada pela amostra. As análises do ambiente cultural pautaram-se na caracterização da cultura organizacional de cada unidade cooperativa, conforme o Competing Value Model desenvolvido por Cameron e Quinn (1998. As análises do ambiente social se embasaram no conceito teórico de capital social e nas respectivas características identificadas nas unidades, por meio da adaptação do modelo proposto pelo grupo de estudos do Banco Mundial (BM, elaborado por Grootaert et al. (2003, via análises de conteúdo e das entrevistas realizadas. Como resultado à problemática estabelecida, concluiu-se que, mesmo a C. Vale sendo uma única cooperativa, há influências do ambiente institucional e sociocultural no processo de gestão nas unidades cooperativas paranaenses e paraguaias. Por fim, conforme a proposta de agrupamento das unidades cooperativas com base nos dados coletados, foram identificados quatro clusters específicos.

Optimizing Virtual Network Functions Placement in Virtual Data Center Infrastructure Using Machine Learning

Science.gov (United States)

Bolodurina, I. P.; Parfenov, D. I.

2018-01-01

We have elaborated a neural network model of virtual network flow identification based on the statistical properties of flows circulating in the network of the data center and characteristics that describe the content of packets transmitted through network objects. This enabled us to establish the optimal set of attributes to identify virtual network functions. We have established an algorithm for optimizing the placement of virtual data functions using the data obtained in our research. Our approach uses a hybrid method of visualization using virtual machines and containers, which enables to reduce the infrastructure load and the response time in the network of the virtual data center. The algorithmic solution is based on neural networks, which enables to scale it at any number of the network function copies.

Incorporating Virtually Immersive Environments as a Collaborative Medium for Virtual Teaming

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Charles J. Lesko, Jr.

2012-08-01

Full Text Available Virtually immersive environments incorporate the use of various computer modelling and simulation techniques enabling geographically dispersed virtual project teams to interact within an artificially projected three-dimensional space online. This study focused on adoption of virtually immersive technologies as a collaborative media to support virtual teaming of both graduate and undergraduate-level project management students. The data and information from this study has implications for educators using virtually immersive environments in the classroom. In this study, we specifically evaluated two key components in this paper: 1 students’ level of trust and; 2 students’ willingness to use the technology, along with their belief about the virtual environment’s ability to extend and improve knowledge sharing in their team work environment. We learned that while students did find the environment a positive add on for working collaboratively, there were students who were neither more nor less likely to use the technology for future collaborative ventures. Most of the students who were not very positive about the environment were “fence sitters” likely indicating needs related to additional training to improve communication skills. Finally, based on the full study results we have provided basic recommendations designed to support team trust building in the system along with interpersonal trust building to facilitate knowledge transfer and better strategic us of the technology.

Lo Sociocultural en la Optica de la Producción Científica y Tecnológica Regional: Una Lectura Crítica

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Mario Samaniego

2002-05-01

Full Text Available Las reflexiones que en el presente texto se elaboran son resultado de un proceso de investigación que busca develar la interacción existente entre ciencia, tecnología y sociedad en el escenario sociocultural de la IXRegión de la Araucania, Chile. El análisis de la imagen y el tipo de relación que las producciones cientrjiicas establecen con la realidad sociocultural regional marcan los objetivos del estudio. Algunos insumos de orden cuantitativo que consideramos, ilustrativos en relación a la lógica e intencionalidad de los proyectos de investigación e innovación tecnológica ejecutados, sirven de base para indagar en tomo a cómo se configura lo sociocultural desde la racionalidad científica. El estudio se ha centrado en los proyectos FONDECYT Y FONDEF desde 1994 (existen otros "actores" que se abocan aldesarrollo científico en la región, ya que éstos representan la mayor producción y más legitima desde el discurso de la ciencia normal como ciencia oficial a nivel de desarrollo científico e innovación tecnológica. Las interpretaciones construidas tienen como referente teórico principal los Estudios Sociales de Ciencia y Tecnologia, apoyándose igualmente en consideraciones provenientes de la Filosofía de la Ciencia y el Análisis Sociocultural.

Breaking the circle: Challenging Western sociocultural norms for appearance influences young women's attention to appearance-related media

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Mischner, I.H.S.; Schie, H.T. van; Engels, R.C.M.E.

2013-01-01

Paying attention to thin media models may negatively affect women's self-evaluation. This study aimed to reduce the amount of attention that young women give to appearance-related information by challenging the sociocultural norms for appearance, and studied the moderating role of self-esteem.

Processos de significação na relação professor-alunos: uma perspectiva sociocultural construtivista Meaning processes in the relationship teacher-students: a sociocultural and constructivist point of view

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Maria Carmen Villela Rosa Tacca

2008-04-01

Full Text Available Neste artigo consideramos que o fracasso escolar é um fenômeno persistente que exige análises empíricas e teóricas acerca dos processos de significação envolvidos na dinâmica das interações professor-aluno relacionados com as relações ensino-aprendizagem. Com base na abordagem sociocultural construtivista, o estudo analisa a interação de fatores socioculturais com a participação ativa do indivíduo, destacando a unidade cognição-afeto. Os processos interativos atuam como mobilizadores da construção do conhecimento ao longo de convergências e divergências nas interações, especialmente nas negociações quanto aos objetivos e desenvolvimento de atividades pedagógicas. Duas turmas de segunda série do ensino fundamental foram investigadas, sendo destacados os resultados de análises microgenéticas das interações, que apontaram para crenças e estratégias comunicativas e metacomunicativas que podem favorecer ou dificultar o processo de ensino-aprendizagem. A conclusão aponta para o fato dos processos de significação estarem apoiados na metacomunicação e na unidade cognição-afeto, que direcionam as possibilidades de aprendizagem.School failure consists of a persistent problem in our educational system. This paper aims at contributing to understand the issue by presenting and theoretically discussing empirical data concerning the dynamics of teacher-students interactions. We draw our analysis on a constructivist sociocultural theoretical framework, which stresses the interactions between sociocultural factors and human agency, claiming for the unison, intertwined nature of affect and cognition. Interactive processes lie at the basis of knowledge construction, which takes place along convergent and divergent interaction frames, particularly during negotiations about goals and rules for educational activities. Two second-grade classrooms were investigated, the results of microgenetic analysis being especially

Virtual Teaming and Collaboration Technology: A Study of Influences on Virtual Project Outcomes

Science.gov (United States)

Broils, Gary C.

2014-01-01

The purpose of this quantitative correlational study was to explore the relationships between the independent variables, contextual factors for virtual teams and collaboration technology, and the dependent variable, virtual project outcomes. The problem leading to the need for the study is a lower success rate for virtual projects compared to…

Prioritized Contact Transport Stream

Science.gov (United States)

Hunt, Walter Lee, Jr. (Inventor)

2015-01-01

A detection process, contact recognition process, classification process, and identification process are applied to raw sensor data to produce an identified contact record set containing one or more identified contact records. A prioritization process is applied to the identified contact record set to assign a contact priority to each contact record in the identified contact record set. Data are removed from the contact records in the identified contact record set based on the contact priorities assigned to those contact records. A first contact stream is produced from the resulting contact records. The first contact stream is streamed in a contact transport stream. The contact transport stream may include and stream additional contact streams. The contact transport stream may be varied dynamically over time based on parameters such as available bandwidth, contact priority, presence/absence of contacts, system state, and configuration parameters.

Interpretations of virtual reality.

Science.gov (United States)

Voiskounsky, Alexander

2011-01-01

University students were surveyed to learn what they know about virtual realities. The two studies were administered with a half-year interval in which the students (N=90, specializing either in mathematics and science, or in social science and humanities) were asked to name particular examples of virtual realities. The second, but not the first study, was administered after the participants had the chance to see the movie "Avatar" (no investigation was held into whether they really saw it). While the students in both studies widely believed that activities such as social networking and online gaming represent virtual realities, some other examples provided by the students in the two studies differ: in the second study the participants expressed a better understanding of the items related to virtual realities. At the same time, not a single participant reported particular psychological states (either regular or altered) as examples of virtual realities. Profound popularization efforts need to be done to acquaint the public, including college students, with virtual realities and let the public adequately understand how such systems work.

Virtual Dance and Motion-Capture

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Marc Boucher

2011-01-01

Full Text Available A general view of various ways in which virtual dance can be understood is presented in the first part of this article. It then appraises the uses of the term “virtual” in previous studies of digital dance. A more in-depth view of virtual dance as it relates to motion-capture is offered, and key issues are discussed regarding computer animation, digital imaging, motion signature, virtual reality and interactivity. The paper proposes that some forms of virtual dance be defined in relation to both digital technologies and contemporary theories of virtuality.

Cadaveric organ donation in China: A crossroads for ethics and sociocultural factors.

Science.gov (United States)

Wu, Yijin; Elliott, Robert; Li, Linzi; Yang, Tongwei; Bai, Yusen; Ma, Wen

2018-03-01

In this paper, we will discuss several ethical issues concerning cadaveric organ donation from the perspective of sociocultural factors that are unique to China under the condition that China has ended the use of executed prisoner's organs for transplants. It is found that though great developments have been made in organ transplantation, the ethical issues relating to organ transplantation still face dilemmas in China. It is argued that organ donation and transplantation in China could make further progress if the ethical issues proposed in this paper can be carefully considered.

American Contact Dermatitis Society Contact Allergy Management Program: An Epidemiologic Tool to Determine Relative Prevalence of Contact Allergens.

Science.gov (United States)

Scheman, Andrew; Severson, David

2016-01-01

Data on the prevalence of contact allergy in North America are currently reported by groups of academic contact allergy specialists at select academic centers. Sampling of data from numerous centers across North America, including practices performing more limited patch testing, would provide a broader perspective of contact allergen prevalence in North America. The American Contact Dermatitis Society Contact Allergy Management Program is an ideal tool for collection of epidemiologic data regarding contact allergy prevalence in North America. The aim of the study was to identify the relative prevalence of contact allergy to common contact allergens in North America. Mapping of Contact Allergy Management Program (CAMP) data was performed to allow analysis of how frequently searches were performed for various contact allergens. The number of searches performed for specific allergens provides a measure of the relative prevalence of contact allergy to these allergens. The top 35 allergens for the period from November 18, 2012 to November 18, 2013 are reported. Although these data are useful, specific recommendations for minor alterations to CAMP are discussed, which will allow future CAMP data to be stratified and more powerful. With minor modifications, CAMP can provide a quantum leap in the reporting of contact allergy epidemiologic data in North America.

Sense of presence and anxiety during virtual social interactions between a human and virtual humans.

Science.gov (United States)

Morina, Nexhmedin; Brinkman, Willem-Paul; Hartanto, Dwi; Emmelkamp, Paul M G

2014-01-01

Virtual reality exposure therapy (VRET) has been shown to be effective in treatment of anxiety disorders. Yet, there is lack of research on the extent to which interaction between the individual and virtual humans can be successfully implanted to increase levels of anxiety for therapeutic purposes. This proof-of-concept pilot study aimed at examining levels of the sense of presence and anxiety during exposure to virtual environments involving social interaction with virtual humans and using different virtual reality displays. A non-clinical sample of 38 participants was randomly assigned to either a head-mounted display (HMD) with motion tracker and sterescopic view condition or a one-screen projection-based virtual reality display condition. Participants in both conditions engaged in free speech dialogues with virtual humans controlled by research assistants. It was hypothesized that exposure to virtual social interactions will elicit moderate levels of sense of presence and anxiety in both groups. Further it was expected that participants in the HMD condition will report higher scores of sense of presence and anxiety than participants in the one-screen projection-based display condition. Results revealed that in both conditions virtual social interactions were associated with moderate levels of sense of presence and anxiety. Additionally, participants in the HMD condition reported significantly higher levels of presence than those in the one-screen projection-based display condition (p = .001). However, contrary to the expectations neither the average level of anxiety nor the highest level of anxiety during exposure to social virtual environments differed between the groups (p = .97 and p = .75, respectively). The findings suggest that virtual social interactions can be successfully applied in VRET to enhance sense of presence and anxiety. Furthermore, our results indicate that one-screen projection-based displays can successfully activate levels of anxiety in

Sense of presence and anxiety during virtual social interactions between a human and virtual humans

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Nexhmedin Morina

2014-04-01

Full Text Available Virtual reality exposure therapy (VRET has been shown to be effective in treatment of anxiety disorders. Yet, there is lack of research on the extent to which interaction between the individual and virtual humans can be successfully implanted to increase levels of anxiety for therapeutic purposes. This proof-of-concept pilot study aimed at examining levels of the sense of presence and anxiety during exposure to virtual environments involving social interaction with virtual humans and using different virtual reality displays. A non-clinical sample of 38 participants was randomly assigned to either a head-mounted display (HMD with motion tracker and sterescopic view condition or a one-screen projection-based virtual reality display condition. Participants in both conditions engaged in free speech dialogues with virtual humans controlled by research assistants. It was hypothesized that exposure to virtual social interactions will elicit moderate levels of sense of presence and anxiety in both groups. Further it was expected that participants in the HMD condition will report higher scores of sense of presence and anxiety than participants in the one-screen projection-based display condition. Results revealed that in both conditions virtual social interactions were associated with moderate levels of sense of presence and anxiety. Additionally, participants in the HMD condition reported significantly higher levels of presence than those in the one-screen projection-based display condition (p = .001. However, contrary to the expectations neither the average level of anxiety nor the highest level of anxiety during exposure to social virtual environments differed between the groups (p = .97 and p = .75, respectively. The findings suggest that virtual social interactions can be successfully applied in VRET to enhance sense of presence and anxiety. Furthermore, our results indicate that one-screen projection-based displays can successfully activate levels

Development of a virtual probe tip with an application to high aspect ratio microscale features

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bauza, Marcin B.; Hocken, Robert J.; Smith, Stuart T.; Woody, Shane C.

2005-01-01

Nondestructive measurement of microscale features remains a challenging metrology problem. For example, to assess a high aspect ratio small hole it is currently common to cut a cross section and measure the features of interest using an atomic force microscope, scanning probe microscope, or scanning electron microscope. Typically, these metrology tools may be suitable for surface finish measurement but often lack the capability for dimensional metrology. The aim of this article is to discuss the development of a high aspect-ratio microscale probe for measurement of microscale features. A 700:1 high aspect ratio probe shank is fabricated with a 7 μm diameter, and attached at one end to an oscillator. The oscillator produces a standing wave in the oscillating probe shank as opposed to conventional probes that use a microscale sphere on the end of a comparatively rigid shank. As a result of the standing wave formed in steady state vibration, the free end of the shank generates an amplitude of oscillation greater than the probe shank diameter. Thus, the probe does not require a spherical ball to serve as the contact point and simply uses the contact diameter of the free end of the vibrating shank. This methodology is referred to as a virtual probe tip. The virtual probe tip in conjunction with a nanopositioning scanner is used to measure surface profile measurements over traverse lengths of 130 μm. In this article, results from profiles of a 500 nm step height and a ruby sphere of diameter 1 mm are presented. Experiments in this article indicate the ability to repeatedly resolve surface features of less than 5 nm while maintaining bandwidths greater than 1 kHz. Furthermore, adhesion problems often encountered with micrometer scaled probes were not observed during profile measurements with this virtual probe

Innovation and Virtual Environments: Towards Virtual Knowledge Brokers

OpenAIRE

VERONA G; PRANDELLI E.; SAWHNEY M.

2006-01-01

The authors examine the implications of virtual customer environments for supporting the innovation process. By building on the literature of knowledge brokers, they introduce the concept of virtual knowledge brokers — actors who leverage the internet to support third parties’ innovation activities. These actors enable firms to extend their reach in engaging with customers and they also allow firms to have a richer dialogue with customers because of their perceived neutrality. Consequently...

Virtual Pediatric Hospital

Science.gov (United States)

... Thoracopaedia - An Imaging Encyclopedia of Pediatric Thoracic Disease Virtual Pediatric Hospital is the Apprentice's Assistant™ Last revised ... pediatric resources: GeneralPediatrics.com | PediatricEducation.org | SearchingPediatrics.com Virtual Pediatric Hospital is curated by Donna M. D' ...

Virtual Project Teams

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bjørn, Pernille

technology in six real-life virtual teams, two in industry and four in education, applying interpretative research and action research methods. Two main lines of investigation are pursued: the first involves an examination of the organisational issues related to groupware adaptation in virtual project teams......, professional disciplines, time differences and technology. This thesis comprises a general introduction, referred to as the summary report, and seven research papers, which deal in detail with the results and findings of the empirical cases. The summary report provides a general introduction to the research......, while the second looks at the social context and practices of virtual project teams. Two of the key findings are 1) that the process of groupware adaptation by virtual project teams can be viewed as a process of expanding and aligning the technological frames of the participants, which includes mutual...

EL CARÁCTER SOCIOCULTURAL DE LA ENSEÑANZA EN LA EDUCACIÓN SUPERIOR

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Carmen Obregón Rodríguez

2009-01-01

Full Text Available Como la escuela en general, el ámbito de la educación superior también nos ofrece un escenario privilegiado para recabar evidencias del carácter sociocultural del pensamiento. Fundada en las exploraciones de Vigotzky y expandida por sus seguidores, la perspectiva sociocultural establece que nuestro pensamiento en general, y las funciones mentales superiores en particular, están por definición culturalmente mediados; y que no hay forma de no estar culturalmente situados cuando llevamos a cabo una acción, usualmente acorde con los patrones aceptados por el grupo social al que se pertenece (acción mediada. A partir de estas aseveraciones, este ensayo intenta justificar la importancia de un mayor conocimiento del contexto cultural que tiene lugar al interior de la educación superior, y una mejor comprensión de las implicaciones que las diferencias disciplinarias tienen en la enseñanza y el aprendizaje; dar cuenta de algunos hallazgos de incursiones de la investigación empírica a este respecto; y cerrar enmarcando los aportes concretos de este ejercicio dentro de una eminente preocupación por encontrar nuevas formas de articular la multiculturalidad; de integrar la diversidad que nos habita y nos estructura, y que forma parte de nuestras herencias y de nuestro presente cultural.

Katimavik Participant's Manual, Book VII, Socio-Cultural Activities = Katimavik manuel du participant, cahier VII, activites socio-culturelles.

Science.gov (United States)

OPCAN, Montreal (Quebec).

The bilingual student manual, devoted to the socio-cultural learning activity portion of Katimavik (a nine-month volunteer community service and experiential learning program for 17 to 21 year old Canadians), contains sections on learning program objectives and trimester guidelines, optional activities, resume recordkeeping, general topic…

Language Contact.

Science.gov (United States)

Nelde, Peter Hans

1995-01-01

Examines the phenomenon of language contact and recent trends in linguistic contact research, which focuses on language use, language users, and language spheres. Also discusses the role of linguistic and cultural conflicts in language contact situations. (13 references) (MDM)