1,354,141 research outputs found

    Driving simulation sickness and the sense of presence: Correlation and contributing factors

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    Driving simulators are useful and effective tools for conducting studies in the field of traffic safety. Simulation sickness (SS) and the sense of presence (SP) are two well-known factors that could affect the results of the driving simulator experiments. This study investigated the relationship between SP and SS in a medium-fidelity driving simulator. Additionally, the impact of the road environment (urban arterials or rural expressways) on these subscales was investigated. Data was collected by means of self-reported questionnaires, which were conducted after the participants have driven the simulation scenarios in a fixed-base medium-fidelity driving simulator. A total of 125 drivers participated in this study. Results showed that females reported significantly higher SS scores than males. An increasing trend in the SS was observed with the increase of age. Importantly, designing buildings that replicate a real-world environment could increase SP and decrease SS. Moreover, designing high quality and resolution scenarios could also increase SP, thus decreasing the severity of SS symptoms. The results of this study can help researchers using medium-fidelity driving simulators to know the influencing factors for each subscale of SP on SS. Adjustments in the driving simulator and scenario settings as well as additional training exercises for higher speed scenarios can be beneficial in reducing the severity of SS.The NPRP award [NPRP11S-1228-170143] from the Qatar National Research Fund (a member of Qatar Foundation). Open Access funding provided by the Qatar National Library

    Impact of the geometric field of view on drivers’ speed perception and lateral position in driving simulators

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    Driving simulators have become an effective tool in road safety research. In recent years, the validity of simulators raised debates concerning the extant to which driving in the simulator resembles driving in the reality. Different types of driving simulators with different characteristics have been developed to study driver behavior, however, the fidelity and reliability of such systems are questionable if no proper validation is conducted. Regarding the visual aspect, the fidelity of the simulators can be assessed based on the field of view of the simulator screens. Drivers' speed perception and lateral position were compared for two different geometric field of view (GFOV) angles (i.e., 60 and 135 degrees). Results from the ANOVA tests showed that drivers highly underestimate their driving speed while driving for the condition with 60 degrees of GFOV compared to the condition with 135 degrees of GFOV. Furthermore, drivers drove closer to the real-world situations in the condition with 135 degree of GFOV compared to the condition with 60 degree. Results of this study suggest that, using incorrect GFOV for any simulator would generate biased results in speed and lateral position. Therefore, a proper calibration criterion of the GFOV for the simulators is essential. This study recommends using a scale factor (GFOV/FOV) of 1.00 for virtual environment offered by the simulation scenarios such as GFOV of 135 degree for simulators having three screens with 135 degree of field of view (FOV). Abstract Driving simulators have become an effective tool in road safety research. In recent years, the validity of simulators raised debates concerning the extant to which driving in the simulator resembles driving in the reality. Different types of driving simulators with different characteristics have been developed to study driver behavior, however, the fidelity and reliability of such systems are questionable if no proper validation is conducted. Regarding the visual aspect, the fidelity of the simulators can be assessed based on the field of view of the simulator screens. Drivers' speed perception and lateral position were compared for two different geometric field of view (GFOV) angles (i.e., 60 and 135 degrees). Results from the ANOVA tests showed that drivers highly underestimate their driving speed while driving for the condition with 60 degrees of GFOV compared to the condition with 135 degrees of GFOV. Furthermore, drivers drove closer to the real-world situations in the condition with 135 degree of GFOV compared to the condition with 60 degree. Results of this study suggest that, using incorrect GFOV for any simulator would generate biased results in speed and lateral position. Therefore, a proper calibration criterion of the GFOV for the simulators is essential. This study recommends using a scale factor (GFOV/FOV) of 1.00 for virtual environment offered by the simulation scenarios such as GFOV of 135 degree for simulators having three screens with 135 degree of field of view (FOV).This publication was made possible by the NPRP award [NPRP 9-360-2-150] from the Qatar National Research Fund (a member of Qatar Foundation). The statements made herein are solely the responsibility of the author[s

    Youth employment in start up ventures in Jordan: an exploratory study

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    Youth in developing countries are faced with high unemployment rates, even when they possess higher education degrees. In the developing world, small business and entrepreneurial ventures constitute the main drivers of economic development and offer employment opportunities for youth. Nevertheless, when faced with a career decision after their studies, youth seem to prefer careers in established companies over start-ups. As a consequence, start-ups find it more difficult to find and hire the right employees although they are available in the market. This study aims at examining the factors behind youth career decisions to work for a start-up company and provides suggestions for both research and practice. By relying on both entrepreneurship and career decision-making literature, we developed a theoretical model that includes background factors and individual characteristics. Results from a survey on youth graduates from Jordan show that high school education fostered critical thinking, international exposure, creativity and participation to entrepreneurial events, which predicted the willingness to work for a start-up.

    Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis

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    The present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed

    Variations on the Author

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    “Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship

    Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis

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    We provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis

    Dispelling the Myths Behind First-author Citation Counts

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    We conducted a full-scale evaluative citation analysis study of scholars in the XML research field to explore just how different from each other author rankings resulting from different citation counting methods actually are, and to demonstrate the capability of emerging data and tools on the Web in supporting more realistic citation counting methods. Our results contest some common arguments for the continued use of first-author citation counts in the evaluation of scholars, such as high correlations between author rankings by first-author citation counts and other citation counting methods, and high costs of using more realistic citation counting methods that are not well-supported by the ISI databases. It is argued that increasingly available digital full text research papers make it possible for citation analysis studies to go beyond what the ISI databases have directly supported and to employ more sophisticated methods

    Author, publisher and bookseller : a tripartite synergy in Nigerian book industry

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    This work is about the roles of Author, Publisher and Bookseller in Book development in Nigeria. The paper started by delving into the history of Book Publishing in Nigeria after which it proceeded by defining who an author, a publisher, and a bookseller is and expatiated on the indispensable roles of these key actors in Nigerian Book Industry and in the emerging Information Society. Furthermore, the various constraints to book development were identified while the paper advised on how the Book Industry can be further promoted in Nigeria. However, the paper concluded and made recommendations on how the Book sector can help in enhancing scholarship in the country

    The Thursday Murder Club: Launching a megabrand author - a publishing case study

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    In 2020, the Christmas book charts in the UK made headlines: Barack Obama’s eagerly awaited autobiography, The Promised Land, was beaten to the top spot by The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman, a debut cosy crime novel set in a retirement village. Not only did Osman’s book beat the former US president’s expected bestseller, it also broke records, becoming the fastest-selling debut crime novel of all time. Although Osman has a certain level of fame in the UK from his TV appearances on shows such as Pointless, his celebrity status does not entirely explain the novel’s huge sales. This article tracks the acquisition, publication, and promotion journey of The Thursday Murder Club in order to understand the industry and cultural context of its success and to interrogate the role of celebrity in the creation of author brands. The findings suggest that the unexpected scale of the success of the book owed to a number of factors, including in-depth editing by the novel’s agent, editor, and author to tighten up the plot, an extensive and strategic promotional campaign, the pandemic (which drove interest in the book’s genre and themes), and the quality of the writing. We find that the book’s success was accentuated by Osman’s celebrity status rather than being entirely reliant on it. This research adds to the growing scholarship on celebrity authorship by means of an in-depth case study and provides insight into the processes behind publishing a ‘celebrity’ book and launching a megabrand author

    Empirical evaluation of drivers’ start-up behavior at signalized intersection using driving simulator

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    Start-up behavior at signalized intersection mainly depends on perception reaction time of drivers to the green phase. This study investigated the start-up behavior at signalized intersections by considering reaction time, acceleration and jerk (the rate of change of acceleration) of drivers in the state of Qatar. Distributions for reaction time, acceleration and jerk were plotted and the mean and 50th percentile values were presented. Three demographic factors (i.e., gender, ethnicity and age) were analyzed using two-tailed/unpaired t-tests. The relationships between acceleration and reaction time, and jerk and reaction time were investigated by linear regression analyses. Descriptive analysis showed that drivers had a mean reaction time of 2.91 s. Furthermore, Arab drivers had significantly lower reaction time than non-Arab drivers. Regarding the jerk maneuvers, young drivers (below 30 years) displayed significantly higher jerk than drivers of 30 years or above. Results from linear regressions showed significant negative correlations in both models (i.e., reaction time on acceleration, reaction time on jerk). As this study targeted multi-cultural drivers’ population, the results of reaction time and jerk distributions could be used as inputs in simulation models which are developed for evaluating driver behavior and safety at signalized intersections in regions with multi-cultural driving population
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