64,231 research outputs found
Conceptual models for describing virtual worlds
A conceptual model of a virtual world is a high-level representation of how the objects behave and how they are
related to each other. The conceptual models identify the most essential elements of the reality to be simulated. This
is the first and a very important step in the process of designing a virtual world. Afterwards, specific and complex
models can be implemented and inserted into these conceptual models. This paper provides an overview of existing
conceptual models used to design virtual worlds. A number of existing frameworks and architecture for describing
virtual worlds are classified into six kinds of conceptual models: unstructured, graphic-oriented, network-oriented,
object-oriented, environment-oriented and relational graph-oriented representations. The advantages and issues
regarding virtual world design, management, reusability and interoperability are discussed
Alternative Archaeological Representations within Virtual Worlds
Traditional VR methods allow the user to tour and view the virtual world from different perspectives. Increasingly, more interactive and adaptive worlds are being generated, potentially allowing the user to interact with and affect objects in the virtual world. We describe and compare four models of operation that allow the publisher to generate views, with the client manipulating and affecting specific objects in the world. We demonstrate these approaches through a problem in archaeological visualization
String Theory - From Physics to Metaphysics
Currently, string theory represents the only advanced approach to a
unification of all interactions, including gravity. In spite of the more than
thirty years of its existence it did not make any empirically testable
predictions. And it is completely unknown which physically interpretable
principles could form the basis of string theory. At the moment, "string
theory" is no theory at all, but rather a labyrinthic structure of mathematical
procedures and intuitions which get their justification from the fact that
they, at least formally, reproduce general relativity and the standard model of
elementary particle physics as low energy approximations. However, there are
now strong indications that string theory does not only reproduce the dynamics
and symmetries of our standard model, but a plethora of different scenarios
with different low energy nomologies and symmetries. String theory seems to
describe not only our world, but an immense landscape of possible worlds. So
far, all attempts to find a selection principle which could be motivated
intratheoretically remained without success. So, recently the idea that the low
energy nomology of our world, and therefore also the observable phenomenology,
could be the result of an anthropic selection from a vast arena of
nomologically different scenarios entered string theory. Although multiverse
scenarios and anthropic selection are not only motivated by string theory, but
lead also to a possible explanation for the fine tuning of the universe, they
are concepts which transcend the framework defined by the epistemological and
methodological rules which conventionally form the basis of physics as an
empirical science.Comment: 30 pages, submitted to "Physics and Philosophy" (Online-Journal
Project:Filter - using applied games to engage secondary schoolchildren with public policy
Applied games present a twenty-first-century method of consuming information for a specific purpose beyond pure entertainment. Objectives such as awareness and engagement are often used as intended outcomes of applied games in alignment with strategic, organizational, or commercial purposes. Applied games were highlighted as an engagement-based outcome to explore noPILLS, a pan-European policy research project which presented policy pointers and suggested methods of interventions for reducing micropollution within the wastewater treatment process. This paper provides an assessment of a video game which was developed for the purpose of public engagement with policy-based research. The video game, Project:Filter, was developed as a means of communicating noPILLS to secondary school children in Scotland as part of a classroom-based activity. Knowledge development and engagement were identified using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis to evidence topical awareness, depth of understanding, and suggested methods of intervention. Analysis of observations also provided insights into challenges surrounding logistics, pedagogy, social interactions, learning, and gender as contributing factors to the schoolchildrenâs experiences of Project:Filter. The intention of this paper is two-fold: firstly, to provide an example of developing video games from policy-based research; and secondly, to suggest methods of phenomenological assessment for identifying play-based engagement
A conceptual model for the development of CSCW systems
Models and theories concerning cooperation have long been recognised as an important aid in the development of Computer Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW) systems. However, there is no consensus regarding the set of concepts and abstractions that should underlie such models and theories. Furthermore, common patterns are hard to discern in different models and theories. This paper analyses a number of existing models and theories, and proposes a generic conceptual framework based on the strengths and commonalities of these models. We analyse five different developments, viz., Coordination Theory, Activity Theory, Task Manager model, Action/Interaction Theory and Object-Oriented Activity Support model, to propose a generic model based on four key concepts common to these developments, viz. activity, actor, information and service
The Inhuman Overhang: On Differential Heterogenesis and Multi-Scalar Modeling
As a philosophical paradigm, differential heterogenesis offers us a novel descriptive vantage with which to inscribe Deleuzeâs virtuality within the terrain of âdifferential becoming,â conjugating âpure saliencesâ so as to parse economies, microhistories, insurgencies, and epistemological evolutionary processes that can be conceived of independently from their representational form. Unlike Gestalt theoryâs oppositional constructions, the advantage of this aperture is that it posits a dynamic context to both media and its analysis, rendering them functionally tractable and set in relation to other objects, rather than as sedentary identities. Surveying the genealogy of differential heterogenesis with particular interest in the legacy of Lautmanâs dialectic, I make the case for a reading of the Deleuzean virtual that departs from an event-oriented approach, galvanizing Sarti and Cittiâs dynamic a priori vis-Ă -vis Deleuzeâs philosophy of difference. Specifically, I posit differential heterogenesis as frame with which to examine our contemporaneous epistemic shift as it relates to multi-scalar computational modeling while paying particular attention to neuro-inferential modes of inductive learning and homologous cognitive architecture. Carving a bricolage between Mark Wilsonâs work on the âgreediness of scalesâ and Deleuzeâs âscales of realityâ, this project threads between static ecologies and active externalism vis-Ă -vis endocentric frames of reference and syntactical scaffolding
Reflections on the use of Project Wonderland as a mixed-reality environment for teaching and learning
This paper reflects on the lessons learnt from MiRTLE?a collaborative research project to create a ?mixed reality teaching and learning environment? that enables teachers and students participating in real-time mixed and online classes to interact with avatar representations of each other. The key hypothesis of the project is that avatar representations of teachers and students can help create a sense of shared presence, engendering a greater sense of community and improving student engagement in online lessons. This paper explores the technology that underpins such environments by presenting work on the use of a massively multi-user game server, based on Sun?s Project Darkstar and Project Wonderland tools, to create a shared teaching environment, illustrating the process by describing the creation of a virtual classroom. It is planned that the MiRTLE platform will be used in several trial applications ? which are described in the paper. These example applications are then used to explore some of the research issues arising from the use of virtual environments within an education environment. The research discussion initially focuses on the plans to assess this within the MiRTLE project. This includes some of the issues of designing virtual environments for teaching and learning, and how supporting pedagogical and social theories can inform this process
Workflow resource pattern modelling and visualization
Workflow patterns have been recognized as the theoretical basis to modeling recurring problems in workflow systems. A form of workflow patterns, known as the resource patterns, characterise the behaviour of resources in workflow systems. Despite the fact that many resource patterns have been discovered, people still preclude them from many workflow system implementations. One of reasons could be obscurityin the behaviour of and interaction between resources and a workflow management system. Thus, we provide a modelling and visualization approach for the resource patterns, enabling a resource behaviour modeller to intuitively see the specific resource patterns involved in the lifecycle of a workitem. We believe this research can be extended to benefit not only workflow modelling, but also other applications, such as model validation, human resource behaviour modelling, and workflow model visualization
Where are all the climate change games? Locating digital games' response to climate change
The burgeoning genre of climate fiction, or âcli-fiâ, in literature and the arts has begun to attract both scholarly and popular attention. It hasbeen described as âpotentially [having] crucial contributions to make toward full understanding of the multiple, accelerating environmental challenges facing the world today.â (Buell, 2014) Implicitly, these works confront the current orthodoxy about where exactly the issue of climate change sits in domains of knowledge. As Jordan (2014) notes: âclimate change as ânatureâ not culture is still largely perceived as a problem for the sciences alongside planning, policy, and geography.â In this paper we ask where is, or alternatively what does or could climate fiction within the field of digital games look like? Even a passing familiarity with the cultural output of the mainstream game industry reveals the startling omission of the subjectâwith scant few games telling stories that engage with climate change and the unfolding ecological crisis. (Abraham, 2015) Finding a relative dearth of explicit engagement, this paper offers an alternative engagement with climate change in games by focussing on the underlying ideas, conceptions and narratives of human-environment relationships that have been a part of games since their earliest incarnations. We argue that it is possible to read games for particular conceptualisations of human relationships to nature, and offer a description of four highly prevalent âmodesâ of human-environment engagement. We describe and analyse these relationships for their participation in or challenge to the same issues and problems that undergird the current ecological crisis, such as enlightenment narratives of human mastery and dominion over the earth
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