What is Orientation: Definition and 196 Discussions

Sexual orientation is an enduring pattern of romantic or sexual attraction (or a combination of these) to persons of the opposite sex or gender, the same sex or gender, or to both sexes or more than one gender. These attractions are generally subsumed under heterosexuality, homosexuality, and bisexuality, while asexuality (the lack of sexual attraction to others) is sometimes identified as the fourth category.These categories are aspects of the more nuanced nature of sexual identity and terminology. For example, people may use other labels, such as pansexual or polysexual, or none at all. According to the American Psychological Association, sexual orientation "also refers to a person's sense of identity based on those attractions, related behaviors, and membership in a community of others who share those attractions". Androphilia and gynephilia are terms used in behavioral science to describe sexual orientation as an alternative to a gender binary conceptualization. Androphilia describes sexual attraction to masculinity; gynephilia describes the sexual attraction to femininity. The term sexual preference largely overlaps with sexual orientation, but is generally distinguished in psychological research. A person who identifies as bisexual, for example, may sexually prefer one sex over the other. Sexual preference may also suggest a degree of voluntary choice, whereas the scientific consensus is that sexual orientation is not a choice.Scientists do not know the exact cause of sexual orientation, but they theorize that it is caused by a complex interplay of genetic, hormonal, and environmental influences. Although no single theory on the cause of sexual orientation has yet gained widespread support, scientists favor biologically based theories. There is considerably more evidence supporting nonsocial, biological causes of sexual orientation than social ones, especially for males. There is no substantive evidence which suggests parenting or early childhood experiences play a role with regard to sexual orientation. Across cultures, most people are heterosexual, with a minority of people having a homosexual or bisexual orientation. A person's sexual orientation can be anywhere on a continuum, from exclusive attraction to the opposite sex to exclusive attraction to the same sex.Sexual orientation is studied primarily within biology, neuroscience, and psychology (including sexology), but it is also a subject area in sociology, history (including social constructionist perspectives), and law.

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  1. M

    Finding positive orientation for a surface

    If I parameterized a surface by the vector function r(a,b) I would then proceed to find the normal to the surface by crossing ra and rb. But how would I determine which normal raXrb or rbXra has the positive orientation? Im assuming you would first need to know if the concave side of the...
  2. K

    Dielectric Slab Stack Configuration for Plane Wave Incidence

    Given the following statement: "A plane wave is incident (from the free space) upon a semi-infinite medium made of N=100 different lossless dielectric slabs." Visually/spatially, what does this look like? I can see two possibilities 1) the slabs are stacked on top of each other...
  3. W

    Using Forms to Define Orientation of Curves.

    Hi, All: There is a standard method to construct a nowhere-zero form to show embedded (in R^n ) manifolds are orientable ( well, actually, we know they're orientable and we then construct the form). Say M is embedded in R^n, with codimension -1. Then we can construct a nowhere-...
  4. L

    Conservation of energy using orientation

    Homework Statement a hockey player of mass 80 kg was skating at a velocity of 7.5 m/s [E 20 S] when he accidentally hit a linesman who was just standing on the ice. The mass of the linesman is 90 kg and his velocity after the collision was 3 m/s [ N 30 E]. Find the velocity of the hockey...
  5. E

    Ellipsometry goniometer orientation

    Hi Folks, I'm building an ellipsometer-like system similar to the one shown in attached picture, but with much longer and thinner rotation bars carrying viewing optics assembly (VOA) and incident optics assembly (IOA), respectively; the system would require that the sample holder plane can...
  6. W

    Orientation Forms in Different Codimension.

    Hi, Everyone: A way of defining an orientation form when given a codimension-1 , orientable n-manifold N embedded in R^{n+1} , in which the gradient ( of the parametrized image ) is non-zero (I think n(x) being nonzero is equivalent to N being orientable), is to consider the nowhere-zero...
  7. J

    Crazy orientation of solid oblong

    I got these people trying to say that you can orientate a solid oblong so that it looks half the length and width with the only residule effect that it looks like it is slanted sideways a bit. Does anyone know what it is or are they crazy. I think they might be crazy. How do you explain this to...
  8. C

    How a local diffeomorphism preserves orientation

    Hi, I'm currently reading Manfredo do Carmo's "Differential Geometry of curves and surfaces" and I'm stocked with problem 2 of section 2-6 which is "Let S_2 be an orientable regular surface and \varphi:S_1 \rightarrow S_2 be a differentiable map which is a local diffeomorphism at every p \in...
  9. S

    Si conductivity depenence on crystal orientation?

    As I know, electrical conductivity is a second rank tensor. So in a cubic structure, there is no orientation dependence of electrical conductivity (isotropic). But how come Si has higher electron conducitivity along [001] and hole conductivity along [110]?
  10. tomwilliam2

    Orientation of Hertzian dipole and Plane wave approximation - when is it valid?

    Homework Statement I have a long EM question in which there is a Hertzian dipole at a point (0,0,-100), (unknown orientation) and I am told the equation of the physical magnetic field detected 100m away at the origin of Cartesian coordinates. $$(B_0 \sin (2 \pi f t)\mathbf{e}_x$$, and $$B_0 =...
  11. T

    Coil design and magnet orientation in a unique generator

    First, I am not an electrical engineer - I am a hobbyist building a prototype linear-stlye generator based on an idea I had which, for various reasons, cannot be built with magnets that pass completely inside of coil(s) like most of the ones I have seen described for wave energy capture and...
  12. K

    Orientation of magnet relative to coil and it's effect on inductance

    Say I have a coil that is stationary and I have magnets that move past it in a fashion similar to the example in this video: . What is the optimum orientation of the magnet and coil to induce the most current? I know I will want to optimize the rate of change of magnetic flux through the coil as...
  13. B

    LaTeX LaTeX alignment and orientation

    LaTeX Help! Currently I writing my Thesis report using LaTeX. I have been noticing the following problem. I need the figures and text to be aligned in a page in the following orientation text figure text figure However, what I obtain is figure text text figure At times, this gets...
  14. J

    Orientation of Magnetic Field and Coil

    Homework Statement Not technically a homework problem, has arisen as a point on my A-Level specification and I'm a little unsure as to how they are seeing this situation. "Relate qualitatively the instantaneous e.m.f. induced in a coil rotating at right angles to a magnetic field to the...
  15. K

    Question about orientation and surface integrals

    Homework Statement I'm a bit confused as to how to determine which component must be positive or negative if the question gives you a surface and says the normal vector is pointing outward or inward. Some surfaces have it so that the z component is positive if n is pointing outward and...
  16. I

    Can glare be vertically polarized in a natural environment?

    Hi, sorry if this is a bad question - I'm not very good at physics. We polarize sunglasses vertically because of glare reflecting off of a horizontal surface orients the waves in a horizontal pattern. Is it possible to experience vertical glare in a natural environment? Like off of a glass...
  17. L

    Surface Integral, flux. Boundary and orientation

    In solving a flux integral over a flat surface, inclined above the xy-plane, does the boundary of the surface influence the flux only through the integral limits? (and not through its normal vector) Let's say that there is an elliptic surface inclined above the xy-plane. The orientation is...
  18. M

    Orientation of Receiver Antennas given orientation of transmitter

    Homework Statement An electric dipole antenna used to transmit radio waves is oriented vertically. At a point due north of the transmitter, how should a second electric dipole antenna be oriented to serve as a reciever? Homework Equations Im not sure if my answer below makes sense, is...
  19. S

    Graph orientation- combinatorics?

    Homework Statement I have a graph, with 4 vertices and 4 edges, i.e. a square. I need to find all non-isomorphic orientations of this graph. Homework Equations "Orientation of a graph arises by replacing each edge {x,y} by one of the arcs (x,y) or (y,x)." The Attempt at a Solution...
  20. E

    Calculating Velocity Change to Change Satellite Orientation

    Homework Statement Plane shange a satellite's orientation from an inclination of 28.5 degrees to 0 degree Magnitude velocity is in both orbits is 7.726 km/sec Determine magnitude and direction needed for velocity change Homework Equations The Attempt at a Solution
  21. E

    Orienting Space: 3D Travel from Earth, Center of Universe

    I am wondering about the following issue; on a 3 dimensional scale, how is space oriented? For example, if I took a spaceship and traveled straight down from Earth (down referring straight down from the south pole), what would I see? Furthermore, if the center of the universe if defined as one...
  22. E

    How to calculate the size and orientation of a tidal bulge

    How would one go about calculating the size of a tidal bulge created by the moon? I know how to calculate the gravity between two points and to calculate the attractive force of matter to the center of the Earth in the bulge you would subtract its opposite direction attraction to the matter...
  23. C

    Orientation of Surface and edge of surface

    Consider a function Q, from some set D in R2 to some set in R3. Suppose Q parametrizes a surface S. Orientation of the edge of the surface must be compatible with orientation of the surface. I read that if the parametrization of the Boundary of the domain D give it anticlockwise direction...
  24. S

    Orientation consistency of a group

    Hello, I apologise if this has been asked before. I did a search, but quite frankly, I'm not even sure what to search for. My gut feeling is that this problem has already been well defined and solved, so if someone could point me in the proper direction, that would be great. Consider...
  25. C

    Hertzian Dipole and finding its orientation

    Hi, If I have a magnetic field orientated in the x-direction, a dipole positioned on the z-axis how do I find which direction the dipole is orientated? Is it just as simple as using the right hand grip rule? In which case the dipole is orientated along the y-axis? Or is it more complicated...
  26. Y

    What determines the orientation of a vector space?

    A non-zero alternating tensor w splits the bases of V into two disjoint groups, those with \omega(v_1,\cdots,v_n)>0 and those for which \omega(v_1,\cdots,v_n)<0. So when we speak of the orientation of a vector space, we need to say the orientation with respect to a certain tensor, correct?
  27. L

    Determining the orientation of ellipsoids after 2 rotations

    I am writing some code in which I am working with ellipsoids. The ellipsoids can be rotated in its body frame with three angles (First rotation is about the z-axis in the body frame, second is about the y-axis in the body frame, and finally another rotation about the z-axis in the body frame)...
  28. F

    Reciprocal basis and orientation

    How to prove that two reciprocal basis are either both right ended or both left-handed? If (e_1,e_2,e_3) and (e^1,e^2,e^3) are two such basis, since the scalar triple products depend on orientation, it would be enough to show that VV'=1 (where V and V' are the volumes, taken with their sign, of...
  29. P

    What conventions are used to determine the orientation of principal axes?

    Hi, having trouble determining the convention for determining the orientation of the principal axes. (Please refer to the attached file for a diagram of my question) So in Q1, theta = -19 degrees and the principal axes is rotated one of the following the conventions (from what I can tell)...
  30. F

    Satellite's Tidal Force & Orientation: Can It Affect Interlock?

    some telecomunication satellites in orbits are made to be kept oriented in a certain way where their reception and broadcasting antenna or whatever is called should awalys face the Earth so while orbiting the satellite has to be interlocked with the surface of the earth. My question is: can the...
  31. D

    Calculating Solar Array Orientation: A Guide for Scientists

    Hello! I was hoping someone on this board might be able to point me in the right direction to solve my problem. I am trying to determine how the tilt angle (from the horizontal) and azimuth of a solar array changes as the array rotates around a fixed axis running from north to south. The...
  32. D

    Orientation Effect on Puncture Test

    Hello All, Quick question regarding a testing procedure. I am currently tasked with determining if a test can be performed in a vertical orientation. This is in opposition to the current horizontal set up of the test. Currently, we test needle sharpness horizontally by attaching a device...
  33. J

    Orientability of 1-Dimensional Manifolds: A Closer Look

    I have the result that any 1 dim topological manifold is either R or S1. And I have the fact that every 1-dim topological manifold is orientable in the sense of orientation on simplices. i want to get that any 1-dim manifold (smooth) is orientable, where orientability is given by the...
  34. N

    What orientation will give the minimum mutual inductance?

    Homework Statement Suppose a fixed distance separates the centers of two circular loops. What relative orientation of the loops will give the maximum mutual inductance? What orientation will give the minimum mutual inductance? Homework Equations none The Attempt at a Solution...
  35. W

    Calculating magnitude and orientation of a resutanr force?

    calculating magnitude and orientation of a resutanr force? • A mass of 10 kg has 3 forces exerted against it, as shown in the diagram below. Given the information below, calculate the magnitude and orientation of the resultant force. F1 has a magnitude of 10.5 N, with θ = 15° to the horizontal...
  36. P

    Job prospect,s for a PhD in the US, career orientation, and life in general.

    Hello everybody. I am currently in a French engineering school, one of the best. The hard part was getting into it; now I am pretty assured to graduate and I just have to follow some very basic courses. I could be perfectly happy, except...I'm not really sure I want to be an engineer...
  37. liometopum

    Right-Handed and Left-Handed Spin: Just Orientation?

    I keep reading about right-handed and left-handed spin. But if the spinning object is featureless, then there should only be one spin. It is just a matter of orientation of the spinning object. For example, if we look on the Earth from above the north pole, it spins counter-clockwise. But if...
  38. G

    Drawing Mhor's Circles: Orientation Angles on One Axes

    Dear all, i want to draw the Mhor's circles for various orientation agles on a same axes
  39. B

    Right handed frames and Orientation

    My text says, "Note that in an arbitrary n-dimensional vector space, there is no well-defined notion of "right-handed", although there is a well defined notion of orientation." I don't see why. An n frame (a1,a2,...,an) is called right handed in R^n if det[a1 a2 ... an] > 0, but I guess we'd...
  40. D

    Confusion on orientation of manifolds

    my book defines an orientation preserving parametrization of a manifold as one such that: Ω(D1γ(u), ..., Dkγ(u)) = +1 for all u in the domain of γ, where D1,...Dk are the derivatives of the parametrization γ. my book also defines the orientation of a surface in R^3 by Ω(v1,v2) = sgn...
  41. Demon117

    Different orientation on this triangle

    I am trying to get a different orientation on this triangle; specifically I want this output: ********** ********* ******** ******* ****** ***** **** *** ** * Here is the code that I have #include <iostream> using namespace std; int main () { int lines=10; int start =...
  42. C

    Orientability of Submanifolds: A Proof and Strategy

    Hello, here is my exercise: Let M be a orientable manifold of dimension m and let N be a submanifold of M of codimension 1. Show that N is orientable <=> it exists a X \in \tau_1 (M), s.t. span<X(p)> \oplus T_p N= T_p M \; \forall p\in N The X is a vector field, i.e. X(p) is an...
  43. jegues

    Maximum x component force on a particle given orientation

    Homework Statement A particle with charge Q is located on the Y axis a distance a from the origin. A second particle with a charge q is played on the X axis a distance d from the origin. The value of d for which the x component of the force on the second particle is the greatest is: a)0...
  44. G

    Converting LA to CI System: Exploring Right Ascension and Declination

    Homework Statement I was given a question to transform the LA system to the CI system. (Local astronomic and Conventional Inertial) Homework Equations r^LA=P1*R2(90-Ф)*R3(Λ)*R2(-xp)*R1(-yp)*R3(GAST)*N*P*r^CL The Attempt at a Solution I attempted this on MATLAB but I used the...
  45. quasar987

    Canonical orientation on level set submanifolds?

    There's a problem here from past years qualifiers exam that says "Show that if M is an oriented manifold,F:M-->N is smooth, and c is a regular values of F, then S:=F-1(c) is an orientable submanifold of M." I know that in the case where N=R, then there is a canonical transverse vector...
  46. quasar987

    Homology cross product and orientation

    An orientation of a real n dimensional vector space V is an equivalence class of an ordered basis. Equivalently, this corresponds to a choice of a generator of H_n(V,V-0)=Z. The correspondence between the two is this: given an ordered basis (v_1,...,v_n) of V, the convex hull of...
  47. apeiron

    News Political orientation correlates with brain differences

    Very amusing. Left wingers have thicker anterior cingulate while right wingers have more pronounced right amygdalas. The mischievous could argue this is about brains tuned for handling task complexity and brains sensitised to fearful threat. http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/today/tomfielden/
  48. T

    What specialization in electrical engineering should I choose for my career?

    Hello, i need help to chose my specialization in electrical engineering. My options are: energetics, automatics, electronics and IT engineering. Can you please tell me more specs about any option. Till now, my favorite is energetic engineering, but I'm ready to listen any comment. I still...
  49. N

    Stokes theorem and downward orientation problem

    Homework Statement From Calculus:Concepts and Contexts 4th Edition by James Stewart. Pg.965 #13 Verify that Stokes' Theorem is true for the given vector field F and surface S F(x,y,z)= -yi+xj-2k S is the cone z^2= x^2+y^2, o<=z<=4, oriented downwards Homework Equations The Attempt at a...
  50. R

    Is every orientation form on a compact smooth manifold closed?

    Is every orientation form w on a compact smooth manifold closed?(i.e. dw=0)
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