2,961 research outputs found
Dynamic field theory (DFT): applications in Cognitive Science and Robotics
Review article about Dynamic Field theory and applications in cognitive science and roboticseuCognition : the European Network for Advancement of Artificial Cognitive System
Narrative patterns in FarCry3
Thesis is submitted in partial fulfilment for the degree of Master of Arts (Digital Arts) to the Faculty of Humanities, School of Arts, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2016.This paper aims to go down into the rabbit-hole, by analysing the narrative experience derived from games
and investigate how it functions in conjunction with the gameplay. This analysis will focus in detail on a case
study of Ubisoft's 2012 title Far Cry 3 (FC3). FC3 is a sequel to Far Cry (2004), the original title was developed
by Crytek, and produced by Ubisoft. The sequels have been Ubisoft Montreal creations. I have selected FarCry3 as it is commercially successful, as of February 2013 it sold over 4, 5 million copies (Phillips, T. "Far Cry sales
hit 4.5 million" 2013). It also received various nominations, including an award for its story, during the 9th
British Video Game Awards (Reynolds âBafta Game Awards 2013â 2012).
FC3 can, therefore, be viewed as being indicative of what the populist gaming community desires in a game, an indicator of present trends in narrative development in games. For this paper, I intend to use Hendry Jenkinsâ narrative model to analyse
how FC3 structured. As a result, illuminating how FC3, manages to engage with a cogent narrative, while
operating in conjunction with an engaging game mechanic. I intend to present the structures as they exist
within the case study's fictional world.
In this research report I will argue that FC3 incorporates multiple narrative structures which promote
gameplay. I will play the FC3 critically to gain an overall perspective and through the use of in play videos to
select key scenes for analysis within my case study. With the knowledge invested, I intend to apply Jenkinsâ
narrative architecture in my analysis.
[No abstract provided. Information taken from introduction].MT201
Aeronautical Engineering: A continuing bibliography with indexes (supplement 207)
This bibliography lists 484 reports, articles and other documents introduced into the NASA scientific and technical information system in November 1986
Complex Adaptive Systems & Urban Morphogenesis:
This thesis looks at how cities operate as Complex Adaptive Systems (CAS). It focuses on how certain characteristics of urban form can support an urban environment's capacity to self-organize, enabling emergent features to appear that, while unplanned, remain highly functional. The research is predicated on the notion that CAS processes operate across diverse domains: that they are âgeneralized' or âuniversal'. The goal of the dissertation is then to determine how such generalized principles might âplay out' within the urban fabric. The main thrust of the work is to unpack how elements of the urban fabric might be considered as elements of a complex system and then identify how one might design these elements in a more deliberate manner, such that they hold a greater embedded capacity to respond to changing urban forces. The research is further predicated on the notion that, while such responses are both imbricated with, and stewarded by human actors, the specificities of the material characteristics themselves matter. Some forms of material environments hold greater intrinsic physical capacities (or affordances) to enact the kinds of dynamic processes observed in complex systems than others (and can, therefore, be designed with these affordances in mind). The primary research question is thus:
What physical and morphological conditions need to be in place within an urban environment in order for Complex Adaptive Systems dynamics arise - such that the physical components (or âbuilding blocks') of the urban environment have an enhanced capacity to discover functional configurations in space and time as a response to unfolding contextual conditions?
To answer this question, the dissertation unfolds in a series of parts. It begins by attempting to distill the fundamental dynamics of a Complex Adaptive System. It does so by means of an extensive literature review that examines a variety of highly cited âdefining principles' or âkey attributes' of CAS. These are cross-referenced so as to extract common features and distilled down into six major principles that are considered as the generalized features of any complex system, regardless of domain. In addition, this section considers previous urban research that engages complexity principles in order to better position the distinctive perspective of this thesis. This rests primarily on the dissertation's focus on complex urban processes that occur by means of materially enabled in situ processes. Such processes have, it is argued, remained largely under-theorized. The opening section presents introductory examples of what might be meant by a âmaterially enabling' environment.
The core section of the research then undertakes a more detailed unpacking of how complex processes can be understood as having a morphological dimension. This section begins by discussing, in broad terms, the potential âphase space' of a physical environment and how this can be expanded or limited according to a variety of factors. Drawing insights from related inquiries in the field of Evolutionary Economic Geography, the research argues that, while emergent capacity is often explored in social, economic, or political terms, it is under-theorized in terms of the concrete physical sub-strata that can also act to âcarry' or âmoor' CAS dynamics. This theme is advanced in the next article, where a general framework for speaking about CAS within urban environments is introduced. This framework borrows from the terms for âimageability' that were popularized by Kevin Lynch: paths, edges, districts, landmarks, and nodes. These terms are typically associated with physical or âobject-like features' of the urban environment â that is to say, their image. The terminology is then co-opted such that it makes reference not simply to physical attributes, but rather to the complex processes these attributes enable. To advance this argument, the article contrasts the static and âimageable' qualities of New Urbanism projects with the âunfolding' and dynamic qualities of complex systems - critiquing NU proponents as failing to appreciate the underlying forces that generate the environments they wish to emulate. Following this, the efficacy of the re-purposed âLynchian' framework is tested using the case study of Istanbul's Grand Bazaar. Here, specific elements of the Bazaar's urban fabric are positioned as holding material agency that enables particular emergent spatial phenomena to manifest. In addition, comparisons are drawn between physical dynamics unfolding within the Bazaar's morphological setting (leading to emergent merchant districts) and parallel dynamics explored within Evolutionary Economic Geography).
The last section of the research extends this research to consider digitally augmented urban elements that hold an enhanced ability to receive and convey information. A series of speculative thought-experiments highlight how augmented urban entities could employ CAS dynamics to âsolve for' different kinds of urban optimization scenarios, leading these material entities to self-organize (with their users) and discover fit regimes. The final paper flips the perspective, considering how, not only material agency, but also human agency is being augmented by new information processing technologies (smartphones), and how this can lead to new dances of agency that in turn generate novel emergent outcomes.
The dissertation is based on a compilation of articles that have, for the most part, been published in academic journals and all the research has been presented at peer-reviewed academic conferences. An introduction, conclusion, and explanatory transitions between sections are provided in order to clarify the narrative thread between the sections and the articles. Finally, a brief âcoda' on the spatial dynamics afforded by Turkish Tea Gardens is offered
Textual Entanglements: A Performative Approach towards Digital Literature
This thesis conducts a critical investigation into digital literatureâa genre of literary expression that is integrated with, and articulated using, digital computing systems and infrastructures. Specifically, it presents a framework for evaluating the expressive capacities of this genre as it relates to particular conceptions of knowledge-making in the contemporary technocultural environment. This framework reveals how the generation of critical knowledge concerning digital literature, as crystallised through a readerâs material engagements with specific works, enacts a âperformativeâ conception of knowing and being, in which the observable world is treated as emerging in the real time of practiceâas being articulated through the entanglement of human and nonhuman agencies, rather than existing as a fixed array of passive, unchanging primitives. Digital literature is presented subsequently as a model of this greater performative visionâas a means of evaluating the structures and processes that manifest it, particularly within digital systems, and for assessing its practical and political implications for art and culture more broadly. In so doing, this thesis aims to justify the value of engaging digital literature from a standpoint that is more expressly political, contending not only that these texts are revealing of key processes shaping digital activities, artefacts, and environments, but are enacting alternative vectors of thought and practice concerning them.AHR
Learning cognitive maps: Finding useful structure in an uncertain world
In this chapter we will describe the central mechanisms that influence how people learn about large-scale space. We will focus particularly on how these mechanisms enable people to effectively cope with both the uncertainty inherent in a constantly changing world and also with the high information content of natural environments. The major lessons are that humans get by with a less is more approach to building structure, and that they are able to quickly adapt to environmental changes thanks to a range of general purpose mechanisms. By looking at abstract principles, instead of concrete implementation details, it is shown that the study of human learning can provide valuable lessons for robotics. Finally, these issues are discussed in the context of an implementation on a mobile robot. © 2007 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
Nonnormative Ethics: The dynamic of trans formation
In this thesis I propose to address trans as nonnormative ethical formation. In
the current definition (Stryker, 2008) trans is defined as a movement outside of
constraints that encapsulate normative genders. Preciado (2012) argues that
trans involves the constitution of a soma-political project, beyond identity.
As opposed to theories that describe identity formation as aspirational, the
thesis extends Aristotleâs arguments for ethical formation in terms of interactive
engagement within environments through an agentsâ dunamis â the powers of its
Soul (Lee 1992). The limits of the Aristotelian model will be overcome by use of
AnzaldĂșa (1987) and Lugones (2003). The navigation away from imposed
normative environments through agential action will be shown to lead to
nonnormative logos: a formational logic shaping perception, action, and practical
reflection culminating in practical truth. This reading enables centering
somatechnical processes (Sullivan 2009) as generative of forms of life.
Wittgenstein suggests that agential logic informs forms of life, shaping validity of
both principles and decisions. I use this insight to claim that the polis is ordered
by a single logic that informs norms. I propose nonnormative ethics to
encompass agents with differing logos. Reading eudaimonia as the demon
standing behind the agent, I will suggest that nonnormative ethics takes place
outside of the polis on the âdemonic groundsâ (McKittrick 2015, Wynter 1990).
Nonnormative ethical connections are multilogical and are bridged by collective
codes.
I will draw from Glissant (2002) to make a case for acknowledging agential
opacity away from a pathologising claim to interiority. I will argue for nonantagonistic
playfulness and loss (Lugones, 2003) as keys to the emergence of
nonnormative codes enabling shared forms of life. I propose that the distinction
with the codes of the polis is the willingness to share loss, instead of exploitation.
The thesis makes the case that bodily change is central to changing oneâs
understanding of, and relation to oneâs surroundings. Furthermore, I argue such
change is a collective process, and that emerging epistemologies are connected
to contextual ethics
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