Kaitlyn Fox and Anthony Whitehead
In the authors' experience, the biggest issue with pose‐based exergames is the difficulty in effectively communicating a three‐dimensional pose to a user to facilitate a thorough…
Abstract
Purpose
In the authors' experience, the biggest issue with pose‐based exergames is the difficulty in effectively communicating a three‐dimensional pose to a user to facilitate a thorough understanding for accurate pose replication. The purpose of this paper is to examine options for pose presentation.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors examine three methods of presentation and feedback to determine which provides the user with the greatest improvement in performance. An on‐body sensor network system was used to measure success rates, and address the challenges and issues that arise throughout the process.
Findings
A three‐dimensional interface allows for full control of the camera, and after conducting all of the experiments, the importance of this feature became exceedingly apparent. Though other elements of feedback were able to illustrate specific problem areas, the camera rotation improved some success rates by more than double.
Research limitations/implications
Refinements of visual feedback methods during training could include determining the ideal position for the camera to view the avatar after the rotation to maximize pose comprehension. Future research could also include working towards providing the participant with more specific instructions, verbally or symbolically.
Originality/value
In a traditional setting, such as a yoga class, a physically present moderator would provide coaching to participants who struggled with pose reproduction. However, for obvious reasons, this cannot be implemented in a computer‐based training setting. This research begins to examine what is the necessary user interface for activities that are traditionally very closely monitored.
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MEN AND WOMEN about to retire are not always fortunate in having lectures on retirement available in their locality as, for example, Londoners have in the twelve‐week courses at…
Abstract
MEN AND WOMEN about to retire are not always fortunate in having lectures on retirement available in their locality as, for example, Londoners have in the twelve‐week courses at Morley College (61 Westminster Bridge Road, SE1), where the Greater London Council, the Inner London Education Authority, Shell, and other big employers allow their staff afternoons off to hear specialists speak on pension problems, taxation, health, part‐time work, psychological and other problems of retirement.
The way of thought and vision and memory is that they often come upon you unexpectedly, presenting nothing new but usually with a clarity and emphasis that it all seems new. This…
Abstract
The way of thought and vision and memory is that they often come upon you unexpectedly, presenting nothing new but usually with a clarity and emphasis that it all seems new. This will sometimes happen after a long period of indecision or when things are extremely difficult, as they have long been for the country, in most homes and among ordinary individuals. Watching one's life savings dwindle away, the nest‐egg laid down for security in an uncertain world, is a frightening process. This has happened to the nation, once the richest in the world, and ot its elderly people, most of them taught the habit of saving in early youth. We are also taught that what has been is past changing; the clock cannot be put back, and the largesse—much of it going to unprincipled spongers—distributed by a spendthrift Government as token relief is no answer, not even to present difficulties. The response can only come by a change of heart in those whose brutal selfishness have caused it all; and this may be a long time in coming. In the meantime, it is a useful exercise to consider our assets, to recognize those which must be protected at all costs and upon which, when sanity returns, the future depends.
NOT for a long time have books and libraries featured in the correspondence columns of The Times and other newspapers as regularly as they have in 1960. Earlier in the year Sir…
Abstract
NOT for a long time have books and libraries featured in the correspondence columns of The Times and other newspapers as regularly as they have in 1960. Earlier in the year Sir Alan Herbert's lending rights' scheme had a good run, and we have clearly not yet heard the last of it. Indeed, a Private Member's bill on the subject is to have its second reading in Parliament on December 9th. More recently, the Herbert proposals have had a by‐product in the shape of bound paperbacks, and a correspondence ensued which culminated in Sir Allen Lane's fifth‐of‐November firework banning hard‐covered Penguins for library use.
Daniel Briggs, Anthony Ellis, Anthony Lloyd and Luke Telford
The purpose of this paper is to consider the implications of both the Covid-19 pandemic and UK lockdown for the social, political and economic future of the UK. Drawing on primary…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to consider the implications of both the Covid-19 pandemic and UK lockdown for the social, political and economic future of the UK. Drawing on primary data obtained during the lockdown and the theoretical concepts of transcendental materialism and the “event”, the paper discusses the strength of participants' attachment to the “old normal” and their dreams of a “new normal”.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper utilises a semi-structured online survey (n = 305) with UK residents and Facebook forum debates collected during the lockdown period in the UK.
Findings
The findings in this paper suggest that while the lockdown suspended daily routines and provoked participants to reflect upon their consumption habits and the possibility of an alternative future, many of our respondents remained strongly attached to elements of pre-lockdown normality. Furthermore, the individual impetus for change was not matched by the structures and mechanisms holding up neoliberalism, as governments and commercial enterprises merely encouraged people to get back to the shops to spend.
Originality/value
The original contribution of this paper is the strength and depth of empirical data into the Covid-19 pandemic, specifically the lockdown. Additionally, the synthesis of empirical data with the novel theoretical framework of transcendental materialism presents an original and unique perspective on Covid-19.
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Fritjof Capra and Ove Daniel Jakobsen
The purpose of this paper is to refer to ecological economics using two meanings of the term “ecological”. In the strict scientific sense, ecological economics refers to an…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to refer to ecological economics using two meanings of the term “ecological”. In the strict scientific sense, ecological economics refers to an economic system that is consistent with and honors the basic principles of ecology, which, ultimately, are identical with what the authors call the systemic principles of life. In a broader sense ecological economics refers to economic theory and practice that see the economy as operating within, rather than dominating, the spheres of nature, society, and culture.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors distill four fundamental principles for ecological economics based on systems theory of life and philosophy of organism. The four principles are; nested systems, self-generating networks, open systems, and cognitive interactions. The authors discuss how these principles can be applied to design an ecological economic system that is life-enhancing on individual, social and ecological levels.
Findings
The authors argue that ecological economics should give priority to activities that maximize well-being of human and non-human beings, as well as entire ecosystems, and that its central purpose should be to serve the life processes in social and ecological systems.
Originality/value
In this paper, the authors connect ecological economics to systems theory and come up with principles relevant for developing economic theory and practice within, rather than dominating, the spheres of nature, society, and culture.
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When Trump entered the presidential race in 2015, many white evangelicals turned up their noses at his candidacy. By 2020, Trump had garnered such commitment from white…
Abstract
When Trump entered the presidential race in 2015, many white evangelicals turned up their noses at his candidacy. By 2020, Trump had garnered such commitment from white evangelicals that not only did 80% vote for him, but 60% also refused to accept the election results after his loss. How did this transformation occur, and with what lasting results for the evangelical vote and US politics more broadly? This chapter shows that in the “new culture wars” of the Trump era, race has played an even more central and explicit role in religion and politics than it did in the past. Christian nationalism and the intersection of religion and race help explain the strong bond between Trump and many white evangelicals. COVID-19 vaccine refusal and critical race theory bans provide examples of the continuing significance of that bond. These cases demonstrate the likelihood that Trumpian politics will maintain influence over white evangelicals in the near future.