344 research outputs found
An End, Once and for All: Mass Effect 3, Video Game Controversies, and the Fight for Player Agency
Since the success of the player-led Mass Effect 3 ending controversy, player-led video game controversies have become mainstream sites of industrial and ideological contention between developers, players, and the culture itself. This dissertation focuses on the history of the Mass Effect 3 ending controversy, the game’s specific textual qualities that encouraged player protest, and the negotiations between players and developers in online spaces that persuaded developers to alter the game’s ending based on player demands. Using the Mass Effect 3 as its primary object, this dissertation argues this controversy—as well as subsequent player-led video game controversies—was not simply the result of dissatisfaction with a single plot point or representation in the text or video game community, but the complex negotiation of creative differences between players and developers over the production and control of video game texts and culture. Video games and their controversies are rooted in the medium\u27s intrinsic qualities of interactivity, choice, labor and the need for shared production between developers and players to progress and produce a video game text, which encourages the development of a sense of agency and ownership over the text for both groups. This dissertation argues that video games are not just texts that developers create and that players play, but rather texts produced through the co-creative production practice that Axel Bruns has defined as “produsage”—texts where producers act in dual roles as users while users to also act as producers—that allow players a creative stake in the outcome of a video game text, encourages a sense of agency and ownership, and collapses traditional boundaries between developers and players. Video game controversies naturally arise when players perceive a loss of agency and control over the video game text and attempt to reclaim control over ownership of the text through controversy
Measuring the impact of COVID-19 on hospital care pathways
Care pathways in hospitals around the world reported significant disruption during the recent COVID-19 pandemic but measuring the actual impact is more problematic. Process mining can be useful for hospital management to measure the conformance of real-life care to what might be considered normal operations. In this study, we aim to demonstrate that process mining can be used to investigate process changes associated with complex disruptive events. We studied perturbations to accident and emergency (A &E) and maternity pathways in a UK public hospital during the COVID-19 pandemic. Co-incidentally the hospital had implemented a Command Centre approach for patient-flow management affording an opportunity to study both the planned improvement and the disruption due to the pandemic. Our study proposes and demonstrates a method for measuring and investigating the impact of such planned and unplanned disruptions affecting hospital care pathways. We found that during the pandemic, both A &E and maternity pathways had measurable reductions in the mean length of stay and a measurable drop in the percentage of pathways conforming to normative models. There were no distinctive patterns of monthly mean values of length of stay nor conformance throughout the phases of the installation of the hospital’s new Command Centre approach. Due to a deficit in the available A &E data, the findings for A &E pathways could not be interpreted
RURAL DEMAND RESPONSIVE TRANSPORT An overview of the Italian scenario and analysis of Antola-Tigullio inner area case study
Over time, a car-centred mobility system has contributed to the negative externalities that can be observed today in both urban and rural areas: congestion of transport infrastructures, air and noise pollution, reduced urban space for pedestrians and cyclists, lack of parks, etc. All this has led policy makers to find solutions to shift citizens from cars to public transport and other sustainable modes (walking and cycling). While in urban areas traditional public transport is often an already widespread and effective service that only needs to be transformed to build user confidence, in rural and mountainous areas, where low transport demand and long distances make it economically unviable, it needs to be integrated or completely replaced by innovative forms of mobility. One of the most valid solutions in this regard is on-demand transport technology, which allows transport providers to reduce their costs by rationalizing the supply (e.g. higher vehicles’ load factor) and population of these areas to improve their accessibility to public transport and abandon the use of the car. Over time, research has been done extensively in academic literature on the application of this technology in urban areas, but little has been undertaken in rural contexts: this PhD thesis aims to contribute to research in this field by studying the technical characteristics of these services in the Italian scenario, in order to provide decision-makers with useful information to counter the phenomena of depopulation and economic and social isolation of these territories.
First, this paper provides a comprehensive literature review aimed at understanding the strengths and weaknesses of the DRT service in general and in its application in rural areas: from the description of its historical development, the close relationship between the diffusion of this tool and the phases of technological progress emerges. The central chapters of this thesis deal with an in-depth analysis of all rural DRT cases in operation in Italy in the last decade (both temporary and permanent), carried out through a web search, an analysis of the Program Framework Agreements of the Italian regions and sector agencies’ websites, as well as with the planning of some DRT services in the inner area of Antola-Tigullio (Liguria Region): this last work, carried out after an analysis of the socio-demographic data and the travel behavior of the population, helped to identify the best routes, time slots and target user groups to experiment with the DRT service. After 5 months of experimentation, it was possible to carry out an ex-post analysis of the initial results thanks to the data provided by the local Public Transport Authority (PTA), commissioner of the study.
The results of this PhD thesis, obtained from the study of the literature and the analysis both at national level and of a single case study, are multiple and provide useful indications to policy makers and transport providers for the implementation of DRT services in hard-to-reach areas with low transport demand, capable of truly satisfying the mobility needs of the inhabitants by favoring the use of public transport and slowing down the processes of depopulation and economic marginalization affecting these contexts
Operational Research: methods and applications
This is the final version. Available on open access from Taylor & Francis via the DOI in this recordThroughout its history, Operational Research has evolved to include methods, models and algorithms that have been applied to a wide range of contexts. This encyclopedic article consists of two main sections: methods and applications. The first summarises the up-to-date knowledge and provides an overview of the state-of-the-art methods and key developments in the various subdomains of the field. The second offers a wide-ranging list of areas where Operational Research has been applied. The article is meant to be read in a nonlinear fashion and used as a point of reference by a diverse pool of readers: academics, researchers, students, and practitioners. The entries within the methods and applications sections are presented in alphabetical order. The authors dedicate this paper to the 2023 Turkey/Syria earthquake victims. We sincerely hope that advances in OR will play a role towards minimising the pain and suffering caused by this and future catastrophes
Operational research:methods and applications
Throughout its history, Operational Research has evolved to include a variety of methods, models and algorithms that have been applied to a diverse and wide range of contexts. This encyclopedic article consists of two main sections: methods and applications. The first aims to summarise the up-to-date knowledge and provide an overview of the state-of-the-art methods and key developments in the various subdomains of the field. The second offers a wide-ranging list of areas where Operational Research has been applied. The article is meant to be read in a nonlinear fashion. It should be used as a point of reference or first-port-of-call for a diverse pool of readers: academics, researchers, students, and practitioners. The entries within the methods and applications sections are presented in alphabetical order
Operational Research: Methods and Applications
Throughout its history, Operational Research has evolved to include a variety of methods, models and algorithms that have been applied to a diverse and wide range of contexts. This encyclopedic article consists of two main sections: methods and applications. The first aims to summarise the up-to-date knowledge and provide an overview of the state-of-the-art methods and key developments in the various subdomains of the field. The second offers a wide-ranging list of areas where Operational Research has been applied. The article is meant to be read in a nonlinear fashion. It should be used as a point of reference or first-port-of-call for a diverse pool of readers: academics, researchers, students, and practitioners. The entries within the methods and applications sections are presented in alphabetical order. The authors dedicate this paper to the 2023 Turkey/Syria earthquake victims. We sincerely hope that advances in OR will play a role towards minimising the pain and suffering caused by this and future catastrophes
Operational Research: Methods and Applications
Throughout its history, Operational Research has evolved to include a variety of methods, models and algorithms that have been applied to a diverse and wide range of contexts. This encyclopedic article consists of two main sections: methods and applications. The first aims to summarise the up-to-date knowledge and provide an overview of the state-of-the-art methods and key developments in the various subdomains of the field. The second offers a wide-ranging list of areas where Operational Research has been applied. The article is meant to be read in a nonlinear fashion. It should be used as a point of reference or first-port-of-call for a diverse pool of readers: academics, researchers, students, and practitioners. The entries within the methods and applications sections are presented in alphabetical order
Research Paper: Process Mining and Synthetic Health Data: Reflections and Lessons Learnt
Analysing the treatment pathways in real-world health data can provide valuable insight for clinicians and decision-makers. However, the procedures for acquiring real-world data for research can be restrictive, time-consuming and risks disclosing identifiable information. Synthetic data might enable representative analysis without direct access to sensitive data. In the first part of our paper, we propose an approach for grading synthetic data for process analysis based on its fidelity to relationships found in real-world data. In the second part, we apply our grading approach by assessing cancer patient pathways in a synthetic healthcare dataset (The Simulacrum provided by the English National Cancer Registration and Analysis Service) using process mining. Visualisations of the patient pathways within the synthetic data appear plausible, showing relationships between events confirmed in the underlying non-synthetic data. Data quality issues are also present within the synthetic data which reflect real-world problems and artefacts from the synthetic dataset’s creation. Process mining of synthetic data in healthcare is an emerging field with novel challenges. We conclude that researchers should be aware of the risks when extrapolating results produced from research on synthetic data to real-world scenarios and assess findings with analysts who are able to view the underlying data
Maine State Government Administrative Report 2010-2011
https://digitalmaine.com/me_annual_reports/1037/thumbnail.jp
Maine State Government Administrative Report 2008-2009
https://digitalmaine.com/me_annual_reports/1035/thumbnail.jp
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