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.

View More On Wikipedia.org
Recent contents Top users
  1. R

    Homotopy and orientation preserving

    This is actually a problem from Lee's Introduction to smooth manifolds 14-21: Let M and N be compact, connected, oriented, smooth manifolds. and suppose F, G:M->N are diffeomorphisms. If F and G are homotopic, show that they are either both orientation-preserving or both...
  2. C

    Orientation preserving reparameterization

    This is from O'Neil's differential geometry. I'm having trouble parsing through the problem/hint. Given any curve a that does not pass through the origin has an orientation-preserving reparameterization in the polar form: a(t) = (r(t)*Cos(V(t)),r(r)*Sin(V(t))) where r(t)= ||a(t)||...
  3. S

    Calculating sphere orientation

    Hi everyone. I have been around a problem that I cannot figure out a solution (if there is one) which is related with sphere orientations and rotations. I already searched in many places, including here in this forum but without success. Let me introduce my problem. Given a black sphere...
  4. A

    How Is the Distance to the CMB Measured and How Does It Relate to Its Structure?

    Hello, I'm new here and have joined to ask the following two questions: 1 - The distance to the CMB has been measured at approximately 14 billion light years. How was this achieved, what is the error and is it the same in all directions? 2 - WMAP data clearly shows that the CMB has a plane...
  5. M

    Can Spin Angular Momentum Keep Satellites Oriented Towards Earth?

    How are artificitial satellites made to point to the surface of the Earth as they orbit? Is it due their spin angular momentum?
  6. T

    Orientation of lines?

    Hi everyone, I have a question that seems simple, but I cannot come up with the right answer. Suppose you have a square with sides 2 (xrange[-1:1], yrange[-1:1]) Further suppose that there are equal number of vertical, horizontal and diagonal (exactly 45 degrees) lines of various...
  7. S

    Extended Kalman Filter based SLAM for orientation

    Dear all, I'm trying to implement an Extended Kalman Filter based SLAM for orientation and angular rates. To ease up things I discarded the estimation of position and linear velocities. I'm using a quaternion based approach with translation vectors of 3D-points/landmarks as measurements...
  8. J

    Determinants and Standard Orientation

    How do we show that, given a matrix $A$, the sign of the determinant is positive or negative depending on the orientation of the rows of A, with respect to the standard orientation of $R^n$?
  9. K

    Isomorphism of orientation preserving rigid motions

    Find an isomorphism from the subgroup of GL2(C) of the form \begin{pmatrix} a & b\\ 0 & 1 \end{pmatrix} ,\left | a \right |=1 to the group of orientation preserving rigid motions. *The problem is from Artin's Algebra Chapter5
  10. T

    Spin orientation by optical technique

    Could you teach me about spin orientation by optical technique. Thanks a lot!
  11. A

    Orientation of coil in electric generator: Important?

    Hi, I'm working with my granddad on a project to build a (simple!) electricity generating windmill. We're not trying to make the most efficient design possible, just a reasonably efficient design given the simple tools and materials we're using. It's mostly just a project for fun! :) So, we...
  12. C

    What is the Type and Orientation of Conics in Problems a and b?

    Homework Statement There are 2 problems a and b. I've solved for both already. I just need to know how to describe them by type and orientation. In other words, what does what I got tell me in regards to type and orientation and how do I know this for future problems? (e.g. hyperbola or...
  13. S

    Forward euler calculations for position and orientation

    Hi, I'm trying to compute the equations of motion for a car as shown in the attached image. α = steering angle θ = orientation of the car relative to the world coordinate system Say you're given the linear velocity v and the steering angle α. How do you compute the position and angle...
  14. W

    Induced Orientation on Mfld. Boundary.

    O.K, please let me see if I got it right: Let M be an orientable m-manifold with non-empty boundary B. Let p be a point in B , and let {del/delX^1,...,del/delX^(m-1) }_p be a basis for T_pB for every p in a boundary component . Let N be a unit normal field on B . Now, this is the...
  15. T

    With respect to what does a spinning object maintain its orientation?

    A spinning object such as a gyroscope is known to maintain its orientation. I am wondering *what* it maintains its orientation with respect *to*. One answer is itself. Something else I have read is "with respect to the distant stars". If it is not with itself but with "distant stars", one can...
  16. N

    Does this have to do with the orientation?

    Homework Statement The final answer should be \begin{equation} + g^{2} \int_{-\infty}^{\infty} d \Delta'\; {\cal \rho}(\Delta')\, \frac{1}{s+\gamma+i\Delta'} = + g^{2} \frac{1}{s+\gamma+\gamma_{n}} \end{equation} but I get a - in front of g \begin{subequations} \begin{eqnarray}...
  17. Y

    Strain of material w. (111) orientation is asymmetric about center point? Why?

    strain of material w. (111) orientation is asymmetric about center point? Why?? My calculation shows an asymmetric strain distribution in InAs/GaAs(111) heterostructure while it is symmetric in InAs/GaAs(001). Someone could give explanation on it??
  18. A

    Laue method for determining orientation

    I have just seen a photograph known as a Laue photograph. I am reading about the Laue method of X-ray Diffraction. This method is supposed to be useful for determining the orientation of a crystal, according to Ashcroft. My question is how? Orientation with regards to what? It seems to me...
  19. R

    Determining Pole Orientation in Inductrac Trains

    Hello again everyone, I'm in the process of winding/sourcing out coils to produce induced flux of one or the other pole orientation. I understand that when a coil is induced by a permanent magnet the resulting force will be opposite and equal to the force that caused it. So if one induces...
  20. C

    Why Does Rotating a Magnet Below a Horizontal Coil Not Produce Voltage?

    Hello every, I have a question I've never found a good explanation for. Referring to the picture, imagine a coil that is horizontally situated. A magnet is placed below it with the poles perpendicular to the center of the coil. The magnet can be rotated as shown. Now my question is, why does...
  21. I

    Orientation of 8-Pin IC Without Notch: Help Needed

    Hello! I have an 8-pin IC that does NOT have a notch in it, and I'm a bit confused on the orientation. The schematic I'm using specifies the orientation using a notch, as does the datasheet from the manufacturer. So, as you can see, I'm in a bit of a pickle. The chip does have a dot on the...
  22. G

    Reverse orientation of eliptically polarised light

    Hello, How can you reverse the orientation (handedness) of elliptically polarised light? Thanks! Graham.
  23. D

    Electromagnetic Motor/ Magnet Orientation

    I've been building an electromagnetic wheel (a bike wheel which rotates by electromagnetic interaction between electromagnets on the hub and permanent magnets on the rim) and I've come across an interesting problem. Currently, I've got the electromagnets mounted on the hub with the coils pointed...
  24. G

    Understanding the Orientation of Light Waves: Electro vs. Magnetic Aspects"

    Electromagnetic radiation has a magnetic aspect at 90 degrees to the electro aspect of the radiation. We see light, experience heat, use radio, x-rays, microwaves, etc. Can someone please help me with this question about the above: - Which way is the magnetic aspect orientated to the...
  25. M

    What is material property orientation in orthotropic materials?

    i have got 3 questions... What is material property orientation in orthotropic materials...in what way it differs from material distribution with respect to two or three planes?..and how does it affect the material behaviour?
  26. Helios

    History Uncovering Ancient Heathen Burials: Why the SW-NE Orientation?

    When a burial grounds of Germanic and/or Nordic/Germanic people is discovered, archaeologist seem to know that it is heathen or pre-christian by the south-west to north-east orientation of the graves. I can not determine which way the head points though. Does anyone know or have a guess why this...
  27. P

    Orientation of an object after collision with ground

    Hi All, i am a new bee. if an object is release from certain height with some initial orientation. how do i know, what will be its orientation after collision with the ground. Thanks and Regards, K.Prabhakar
  28. WolfOfTheSteps

    Orientation Q: Plane Wave Propagation in Air

    Homework Statement A 150MHz sinusoidal plane wave propagates in air at 30 degrees with respect to the +x-axis in the x-y plane. The E-Field is polarized parallel to the plane of incidence and has a magnitude of 2 V/m.The Attempt at a Solution My only question is about the orientation. I...
  29. MathematicalPhysicist

    Understanding Angular Velocity and Orientation in Kleppner's Textbook

    in kleppner's textbook he expalins quite well why we can't have angular orientation vector (because then we wouldn't have commutavity of vectors), but we can have angular velcoity as a vector, my question is how does this work when we integrate from an angular velocity vector to get an angular...
  30. W

    Effect of orientation on friction power of an I.C.E.

    hello all... A part of my final year project involves the determination of frictional power of an I.C.Engine(for this we used a 4cyl isuzu si engine) using a typical motoring test(using a 3ph ind motor and the engine was stripped of all its accessories liek alternator water pump), and finding...
  31. G

    Pinning a gyroscope will resist change in orientation

    I know when spinning a gyroscope will resist change in orientation so that the rotor is still pointing in the same direction. But, is that direction with respect to Earth's center of gravity or is it an "absolute direction". So, if I point a gyroscope upwards and spin the rotor and I go...
  32. D

    Quaternions and relative orientation

    Hi , I am currently using quaternions in my dynamics simulation library for the orientation of rigid bodies . The bodies are very simple spacecraft orbiting around Earth and what I need is the relative yaw pitch and roll of one spacecraft against an other one (let's call them chaser...
  33. J

    Paradox regarding energy of dipole orientation

    "paradox" regarding energy of dipole orientation I've ran into a "paradox" concerning deriving the energy of a dipole's orientation in an external field. For example, the energy of a magnetic dipole m in an external field B is known to be: U= - \mathbf{m} \cdot \mathbf{B} In Griffiths...
  34. J

    Energy of dipole orientation

    The energy of a magnetic dipole in an external magnetic field is U = - \mathbf{m} \cdot \mathbf{B} Yet if I try to show this by calculating the energy in the fields, I get the wrong answer. I believe the problem is that I am making some arguements which neglect strange behavior at r=0, and...
  35. D

    Find an isomorphism between the group of orientation

    I need to find an isomorphism between the group of orientation preserving rigid motions of the plane (translations, rotations) and complex valued matrices of the form a b 0 1 where |a|=1. I defined an isomorphism where the rotation part goes to e^it with angle t and the translation...
  36. A

    Parallel orientation lower in energy than antiparallel orientation

    Why is the parallel orientation slightly lower in energy than the anitiparallel orientiation?
  37. CarlB

    Orientation and Hilbert space bra / ket factoring.

    I've been thinking about the probability interpretation of quantum states. In the density matrix formalism, or in measurement algebra like Schwinger's measurement algebra, one makes the assumption that pure states can be factored into bras and kets, and that bras and kets can be multiplied...
  38. D

    If someone ask about optimum orientation

    if someone ask about optimum orientation of a molecule what exactly are they asking for?
  39. D

    Chemistry Optimum orientation of molecule

    what exactly is that?
  40. P

    Gravity Probe B: Gyroscope Orientation and Precession

    I was looking at some web sites about the Gravity Probe B. Some show the spin axes of the gyroscopes oriented perpendicular to the Earth or else in the direction of movement of the satelite. Wouldn't these orientations cause lots of precession? I'd expect the gyroscopes' axes of rotation to...
  41. J

    Orientation preserving and determinants

    Can someone help me prove two theorems? I know they both are true, but can't come up with proofs. 1) Prove that a 3x3 matrix A is orientation preserving iff det(A)>0. 2) Prove that for A, B (both 3x3 matrices) that det(AB)=detA*detB. (A, B may or may not be invertible). THANK YOU!
  42. M

    Integrating a 3x3 orientation matrix

    Hi there, (I hope this post is in the right forum) I'm trying to integrate a 3x3 orientation matrix using a vector representing rotational velocity (in 3d) This is the formula I'm using: newOrientation = orientation + (dt)(~w)(orientation) where w is the vector rotational velocity...
  43. C

    Orientation of Orbiting Planets

    1. Is it true that when the orbital plane of planets about a star is perpendicular to our line of sight, that we will not detect the star wobble they may cause? 2. How many degrees from perpendicular is star wobble is detectible? For this question, I will accept an answer based on currently...
  44. hitssquad

    Navigation abilities/skills of humans by sex and sexual orientation

    From New Scientist: More of the article is here: http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn7069
  45. H

    Theoretical/speculative orientation of Alevel boards in Physicsd

    The three UK A level examination boards do not appear to examine to the same level of theoretical and speculative physics. Reading through the syllabi I suspect that OCR Syllabus A requires more theory than most, and less disgorging of learned information. I'd be grateful for advice on this...
  46. turbo

    Orientation of virtual particle pairs in local fields?

    Can the presence of gravitational, or electro-magnetic fields cause virtual particles to arise with a preferential physical orientation? Logically, the virtual particles should not emerge in a preferred orientation if they arise spontaneously, and can't be acted upon by local fields until...
Back
Top