1,721,555 research outputs found
Adolescent use of social network sites, sense of community and well-being: some empirical findings
No full textSense of community (SoC) can be considered a measure of the relation between people and their social environment. There is a growing body of research that has analysed SoC in adolescence, referring in particular to territorial communities and, to a smaller extent, to schools. Less attention was devoted to understand Sense of Virtual Community (SoVC) in adolescence, despite the growing popularity of social network sites among youth, and the impact that their use can have on their identity production. Great attention has been dedicated to the risks associated with excessive computer use (e.g. Young, 1998) and its potential interference with daily life, however there are also some evidences that Information and Communication Technology may enhance place-based community, increase sense of agency, facilitate the generation of social capital and increase well being (Ellison et al., 2007).
Aim of the present study is therefore to understand if social network sites represent an opportunity (or a threat) for positive youth outcomes. Participants were 309 high school students from 17 to 20 years olds, who completed a questionnaire that examined territorial SoC (using the short form of the Italian Sense of Community Scale for Adolescents (ISCS-A, Cicognani, Albanesi, Zani, 2006) and SoVC (using the scale proposed by Blanchard, 2007 and an adaptation of the ISCS-A), their relationship with activities/time spent on line (in particular the amount of time spent on Facebook and Msn) and off line (e.g., structured activities, spending time with friends, watching TV) and their effect on social and psychological well being. Preliminary results showed that 44% of the sample stays on line from two to five hours per day, with a 14% that stays connected more that 5 hours daily. SoVC is significantly higher compared to SoC, but the latter is significantly more associated with
social and emotional well being
Il corpo nei discorsi sul genere: adolescenti a confronto
No full textIl presente contributo si colloca nell’ambito di una ricerca dal titolo “Genere, relazioni, sessualità”,
volta a studiare le rappresentazioni sociali dell’essere maschio e femmina in adolescenza, e a
prendere in esame le caratteristiche e i comportamenti attribuiti ai due sessi. La ricerca si è posta
l’obiettivo di cogliere quanto le rappresentazioni sul femminile e sul maschile siano legate a
stereotipi riprodotti socialmente (ad esempio dai mass media e, più in generale, nella sfera
pubblica), e se gli adolescenti abbiano o meno una consapevolezza di tale processo di pressione
stereotipante. Inoltre, la ricerca ha indagato quanto tali rappresentazioni sociali orientino le pratiche
di socializzazione e di relazione tra i sessi in adolescenza. Per la realizzazione della ricerca sono
stati condotti 17 focus group con adolescenti maschi e femmine residenti in due provincie
emiliano-romagnole, reperiti attraverso le scuole superiori. Sono stati raggiunti all’incirca 150
soggetti. Le analisi preliminari di una parte del corpus testuale mostrano che quello del corpo è uno
fra i temi centrali che organizzano il discorso adolescenziale intorno al genere. Il corpo viene
subito ricondotto, dai ragazzi e dalle ragazze, ai condizionamenti dei media, riconosciuti nel loro
ruolo di “tecnologie di genere”, e non solo per i modelli di femminilità e mascolinità che
propongono. Più che un corpo vissuto, quello di cui parlano gli adolescenti del campione sembra un
corpo oggetto, sottoposto a controllo personale e sociale, vero e proprio terreno di battaglia sul
quale agiscono influenze contrastanti, forze plurali, suggestioni ambivalenti per orientare la
costruzione dell’identità di genere in direzioni socialmente definite
Rappresentazioni del corpo e stereotipi di genere nei discorsi tra adolescenti
No full textNel capitolo si è preso in esame il modo in cui il corpo emerge nei discorsi degli adolescenti per illustrare e spiegare ruoli e differenze di genere. Si è poi indagato il grado di consapevolezza di ragazze e ragazzi circa i modi di rappresentazione del corpo nella costruzione dei loro modelli di femminilità e mascolinità
Chaotic Pulse Position Modulation to Improve the Efficiency of Sonar Sensors
No full textUltrasonic devices are widely used in robotics as exteroceptive sensors for ranging measurements. Robotic applications often involve a large number of sonars operating concurrently, giving rise to the phenomenon of crosstalk. In this work, the problem of improving performance of ultrasonic devices in the presence of crosstalk and noise is addressed. In order for each device to discriminate its own echo, chaos is exploited to create unique firing sequences. In particular, the firing scheme described in this work is inspired to a modulation scheme used in chaotic communications, called chaotic pulse position modulation (CPPM). The evaluation of the time of flight is performed by a detection filter. The experimental setup consists of a Polaroid 600 electrostatic transducer driven by a continuous CPPM modulator. Experimental results confirm the suitability of the approach
A Neural System for Radiation Discrimination in Nuclear Fusion Applications
No full textThis work presents an approach to discriminate between neutrons and /spl gamma/-rays in nuclear fusion applications, based on a neural network able to analyze the shape of light pulses produced by these ionizing particles in an organic liquid scintillator. Such an approach is particularly promising especially for the possibility of classifying correctly (either as neutrons or as /spl gamma/-rays) fast superimposed events (pile-ups). Satisfactory experimental results were obtained at the Frascati Tokamak Upgrade, ENEA-Frascati, Italy
Experimental Pulse Synchronisation of Two Chaotic Circuits
No full textIn this work a novel synchronisation scheme for chaotic systems is presented. Taking inspiration from the system decomposition approach, the master and slave are connected via a switch which allows to alternate the signal fed into the slave between the master signal and the slave signal itself. The switching frequency has been taken into account as a control parameter to characterise the synchronisation properties of the system. Experimental results, performed on real Chua's circuits, confirm the validity of the approach, emphasising the fact that synchronisation is achieved for switching frequencies greater than a certain threshol
Modeling Complex Dynamics via Extended PWL-Based CNNs
No full textIn this paper a new strategy is proposed in order to extend the class of complex and chaotic dynamics which can be generated by a State-Controlled CNN (SC-CNN). It is shown that, with slight modifications to the original paradigm, it is possible to represent a wide class of nonlinearities by using only piecewise linear (PWL) nonlinearities as output functions of the CNN. The adopted circuitry is presented, together with several examples concerning the emulation of the Rossler and Lorenz chaotic systems, and the Partial Differential Equations (PDE) governing the complex phenomena of solitons (Korteweg-de Vries PDE) and the activator-inhibitor reaction for the formation of patterns in the sea shells (Meinhardt-Gierer PDE). The results achieved enforce the role of SC-CNNs as universal paradigm for the generation of nonlinear, complex dynamics
Synchronization in Networks of Mobile Agents
No full textIn this Chapter we study synchronization issues in a system of mobile agents. Agents move as random walkers and interact with neighbouring units. Each agent carries a chaotic oscillator and coupling between oscillators occurs only when agents interact. Consequently, the interaction matrix is time-varying and appropriate synchronization criteria have to be defined
- …
