10,182 research outputs found

    The Metaverse: Survey, Trends, Novel Pipeline Ecosystem & Future Directions

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    The Metaverse offers a second world beyond reality, where boundaries are non-existent, and possibilities are endless through engagement and immersive experiences using the virtual reality (VR) technology. Many disciplines can benefit from the advancement of the Metaverse when accurately developed, including the fields of technology, gaming, education, art, and culture. Nevertheless, developing the Metaverse environment to its full potential is an ambiguous task that needs proper guidance and directions. Existing surveys on the Metaverse focus only on a specific aspect and discipline of the Metaverse and lack a holistic view of the entire process. To this end, a more holistic, multi-disciplinary, in-depth, and academic and industry-oriented review is required to provide a thorough study of the Metaverse development pipeline. To address these issues, we present in this survey a novel multi-layered pipeline ecosystem composed of (1) the Metaverse computing, networking, communications and hardware infrastructure, (2) environment digitization, and (3) user interactions. For every layer, we discuss the components that detail the steps of its development. Also, for each of these components, we examine the impact of a set of enabling technologies and empowering domains (e.g., Artificial Intelligence, Security & Privacy, Blockchain, Business, Ethics, and Social) on its advancement. In addition, we explain the importance of these technologies to support decentralization, interoperability, user experiences, interactions, and monetization. Our presented study highlights the existing challenges for each component, followed by research directions and potential solutions. To the best of our knowledge, this survey is the most comprehensive and allows users, scholars, and entrepreneurs to get an in-depth understanding of the Metaverse ecosystem to find their opportunities and potentials for contribution

    Comedians without a Cause: The Politics and Aesthetics of Humour in Dutch Cabaret (1966-2020)

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    Comedians play an important role in society and public debate. While comedians have been considered important cultural critics for quite some time, comedy has acquired a new social and political significance in recent years, with humour taking centre stage in political and social debates around issues of identity, social justice, and freedom of speech. To understand the shifting meanings and political implications of humour within a Dutch context, this PhD thesis examines the political and aesthetic workings of humour in the highly popular Dutch cabaret genre, focusing on cabaret performances from the 1960s to the present. The central questions of the thesis are: how do comedians use humour to deliver social critique, and how does their humour resonate with political ideologies? These questions are answered by adopting a cultural studies approach to humour, which is used to analyse Dutch cabaret performances, and by studying related materials such as reviews and media interviews with comedians. This thesis shows that, from the 1960s onwards, Dutch comedians have been considered ā€˜progressive rebelsā€™ ā€“ politically engaged, subversive, and carrying a left-wing political agenda ā€“ but that this image is in need of correction. While we tend to look for progressive political messages in the work of comedians who present themselves as being anti-establishment rebels ā€“ such as Youp van ā€˜t Hek, Hans Teeuwen, and Theo Maassen ā€“ this thesis demonstrates that their transgressive and provocative humour tends to protect social hierarchies and relationships of power. Moreover, it shows that, paradoxically, both the deliberately moderate and nuanced humour of Wim Kan and Claudia de Breij, and the seemingly past-oriented nostalgia of Alex Klaasen, are more radical and progressive than the transgressive humour of van ā€˜t Hek, Teeuwen and Maassen. Finally, comedians who present absurdist or deconstructionist forms of humour, such as the early student cabarets, Freek de Jonge, and Micha Wertheim, tend to disassociate themselves from an explicit political engagement. By challenging the dominant image of the Dutch comedian as a ā€˜progressive rebel,ā€™ this thesis contributes to a better understanding of humour in the present cultural moment, in which humour is often either not taken seriously, or one-sidedly celebrated as being merely pleasurable, innocent, or progressively liberating. In so doing, this thesis concludes, the ā€˜darkā€™ and more conservative sides of humour tend to get obscured

    The place where curses are manufactured : four poets of the Vietnam War

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    The Vietnam War was unique among American wars. To pinpoint its uniqueness, it was necessary to look for a non-American voice that would enable me to articulate its distinctiveness and explore the American character as observed by an Asian. Takeshi Kaiko proved to be most helpful. From his novel, Into a Black Sun, I was able to establish a working pair of 'bookends' from which to approach the poetry of Walter McDonald, Bruce Weigl, Basil T. Paquet and Steve Mason. Chapter One is devoted to those seemingly mismatched 'bookends,' Walt Whitman and General William C. Westmoreland, and their respective anthropocentric and technocentric visions of progress and the peculiarly American concept of the "open road" as they manifest themselves in Vietnam. In Chapter, Two, I analyze the war poems of Walter McDonald. As a pilot, writing primarily about flying, his poetry manifests General Westmoreland's technocentric vision of the 'road' as determined by and manifest through technology. Chapter Three focuses on the poems of Bruce Weigl. The poems analyzed portray the literal and metaphorical descent from the technocentric, 'numbed' distance of aerial warfare to the world of ground warfare, and the initiation of a 'fucking new guy,' who discovers the contours of the self's interior through a set of experiences that lead from from aerial insertion into the jungle to the degradation of burning human feces. Chapter Four, devoted to the thirteen poems of Basil T. Paquet, focuses on the continuation of the descent begun in Chapter Two. In his capacity as a medic, Paquet's entire body of poems details his quotidian tasks which entail tending the maimed, the mortally wounded and the dead. The final chapter deals with Steve Mason's JohnnY's Song, and his depiction of the plight of Vietnam veterans back in "The World" who are still trapped inside the interior landscape of their individual "ghettoes" of the soul created by their war-time experiences

    Characterising the role of the Amyloid Precursor Protein and Glucagon-like peptide-1 analogues in Age-Related Macular Degeneration

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    Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is a progressive retinal neurodegenerative disorder characterised, in some forms of the disease, by the loss of photoreceptors and the underlying retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) in the macula due to the accumulation of extracellular deposits known as ā€œdrusenā€. A major component of drusen deposits is the Alzheimerā€™s disease (AD)-related amyloid beta (AĪ²)-peptide, a 4kDa peptide derived from the larger amyloid precursor protein (APP) through sequential cleavage by enzymes known as Ī²- and Ī³-secretases. Alternatively, in the ā€˜non-amyloidogenicā€™ pathway, APP can be processed by a third enzyme, Ī±-secretase, which cleaves within the AĪ² region of the protein thereby preventing the production of toxic peptides as well as producing a larger soluble fragment, sAPPĪ±, known for its neuroprotective and neurotrophic properties. The current project aims to characterise the role played by APP and its proteolytic fragments in AMD using human retinal pigment epithelial cells (ARPE-19) and UV-A light (a known AMD risk factor) as the stressor. In addition, a group of diabetes drugs known as Glucagon Like Peptide-1 (GLP-1) analogues that have previously been purported to reduce neuronal death in AD and Parkinsonā€™s Disease (PD) have been tested for their ability to protect ARPE-19 cells against stress-inducing reagents relative to AMD (UV-A light, hydrogen peroxide and AĪ²-peptides). The results of the current study demonstrate that endogenous cell-associated full-length APP expression was depleted in ARPE-19 cells following UV-A irradiation. Furthermore, Ī²-secretase but not Ī±-secretase processing of the protein was reduced. Small interfering RNA-mediated depletion of endogenous APP or Ī³-secretase (but not Ī±- or Ī²-secretase) inhibition ablated the detrimental effect of UV-A on cell viability. In contrast, Ī±-secretase and, possibly, Ī³-secretase but not Ī²-secretase activity appeared to promote the longer-term proliferation of ARPE-19 cells in the absence of UV-A irradiation. Furthermore, two of the GLP-1 analogues tested, liraglutide and lixisenatide, were able to restore cell viability after UV-A exposure. Collectively, these data indicate clear links between the expression/proteolysis of APP and the proliferation and resistance of ARPE-19 cells to UV-A irradiation. Whilst these effects are clearly differential, the data warrant further investigation of the role played by APP in AMD. Furthermore, the protective effects against UV-A shown by liraglutide and lixisenatide warrant further investigation of the molecular mechanisms involved with a view to identifying new drug targets for the prevention or treatment of retinal neurodegenerative diseases such as AMD

    Building body identities - exploring the world of female bodybuilders

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    This thesis explores how female bodybuilders seek to develop and maintain a viable sense of self despite being stigmatized by the gendered foundations of what Erving Goffman (1983) refers to as the 'interaction order'; the unavoidable presentational context in which identities are forged during the course of social life. Placed in the context of an overview of the historical treatment of women's bodies, and a concern with the development of bodybuilding as a specific form of body modification, the research draws upon a unique two year ethnographic study based in the South of England, complemented by interviews with twenty-six female bodybuilders, all of whom live in the U.K. By mapping these extraordinary women's lives, the research illuminates the pivotal spaces and essential lived experiences that make up the female bodybuilder. Whilst the women appear to be embarking on an 'empowering' radical body project for themselves, the consequences of their activity remains culturally ambivalent. This research exposes the 'Janus-faced' nature of female bodybuilding, exploring the ways in which the women negotiate, accommodate and resist pressures to engage in more orthodox and feminine activities and appearances

    Joutsen / Svanen 2016

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    How to Be a God

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    When it comes to questions concerning the nature of Reality, Philosophers and Theologians have the answers. Philosophers have the answers that canā€™t be proven right. Theologians have the answers that canā€™t be proven wrong. Todayā€™s designers of Massively-Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games create realities for a living. They canā€™t spend centuries mulling over the issues: they have to face them head-on. Their practical experiences can indicate which theoretical proposals actually work in practice. Thatā€™s todayā€™s designers. Tomorrowā€™s will have a whole new set of questions to answer. The designers of virtual worlds are the literal gods of those realities. Suppose Artificial Intelligence comes through and allows us to create non-player characters as smart as us. What are our responsibilities as gods? How should we, as gods, conduct ourselves? How should we be gods

    A Cross-cultural Comparative Study of Dark Triad and Five-Factor Personality Models in Relation to Prejudice and Aggression

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    When examining socially malevolent outcomes in the form of prejudice and aggression, previous research on the Dark Triad and five-factor personality models has failed to consider potential cross-cultural differences. A deeper understanding of cross-cultural variations is necessary because these factors represent important social problems and risks. Prior investigation has so far only established preliminary relationships between the Dark Triad and the Big Five model and these outlined associations influence prejudice and aggression. Accordingly, this thesis consisted of two phases. The first examined interrelationships between Dark Triad traits (psychopathy, narcissism, and Machiavellianism) and Big Five personality dimensions (extraversion, neuroticism, agreeableness, openness, conscientiousness) in UK and Russian samples. The second used the results from the initial phase to inform the baseline of a predictive model, which was extended. Both phases used cross-sectional designs, correlation-based methods of analysis (e.g., confirmatory factor analysis, structural equation modelling with mediation, path analysis and invariance analysis), and large samples, comprising a range of backgrounds and ages. The analysis identified the strongest and weakest relationships between personality traits and prejudice and aggression. This research made an original contribution to existing literature by identifying novel relationships
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