SimDialog: A visual game dialog editor

SimDialog is a visual editor for dialog in computer games. This paper presents the design of SimDialog, illustrating how script writers and non-programmers can easily create dialog for video games with complex branching structures and dynamic response characteristics. The system creates dialog as a directed graph. This allows for play using the dialog with a state-based cause and effect system that controls selection of non-player character responses and can provide a basic scoring mechanism for games

Variations in Melosira islandica valve morphology in Lake Ontario sediments related to eutrophication and silica depletion

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/109796/1/lno19853020414.pd

Anthropogenic impact on amorphous silica pools in temperate soils

Human land use changes perturb biogeochemical silica (Si) cycling in terrestrial ecosystems. This directly affects Si mobilisation and Si storage and influences Si export from the continents, although the magnitude of the impact is unknown. A major reason for our lack of understanding is that very little information exists on how land use affects amorphous silica (ASi) storage in soils. We have quantified and compared total alkali-extracted (PSi<sub>a</sub>) and easily soluble (PSi<sub>e</sub>) Si pools at four sites along a gradient of anthropogenic disturbance in southern Sweden. Land use clearly affects ASi pools and their distribution. Total PSi</sub>a</sub> and PSi<sub>e</sub> for a continuous forested site at Siggaboda Nature Reserve (66 900 ± 22 800 kg SiO<sub>2</sub> ha<sup>−1</sup> and 952 ± 16 kg SiO<sub>2</sub> ha<sup>−1</sup>) are significantly higher than disturbed land use types from the Råshult Culture Reserve including arable land (28 800 ± 7200 kg SiO<sub>2</sub> ha<sup>−1</sup> and 239 ± 91 kg SiO<sub>2</sub> ha<sup>−1</sup>), pasture sites (27 300 ± 5980 kg SiO<sub>2</sub> ha<sup>−1</sup> and 370 ± 129 kg SiO<sub>2</sub> ha<sup>−1</sup>) and grazed forest (23 600 ± 6370 kg SiO<sub>2</sub> ha<sup>−1</sup> and 346 ± 123 kg SiO<sub>2</sub> ha<sup>−1</sup>). Vertical PSi<sub>a</sub> and PSi<sub>e</sub> profiles show significant (<i>p</i> < 0.05) variation among the sites. These differences in size and distribution are interpreted as the long-term effect of reduced ASi replenishment, as well as changes in ecosystem specific pedogenic processes and increased mobilisation of the PSi<sub>a</sub> in disturbed soils. We have also made a first, though rough, estimate of the magnitude of change in temperate continental ASi pools due to human disturbance. Assuming that our data are representative, we estimate that total ASi storage in soils has declined by ca. 10 % since the onset of agricultural development (3000 BCE). Recent agricultural expansion (after 1700 CE) may have resulted in an average additional export of 1.1 ± 0.8 Tmol Si yr<sup>−1</sup> from the soil reservoir to aquatic ecosystems. This is ca. 20 % to the global land-ocean Si flux carried by rivers. It is necessary to update this estimate in future studies, incorporating differences in pedology, geology and climatology over temperate regions, but data are currently not sufficient. Yet, our results emphasize the importance of human activities for Si cycling in soils and for the land-ocean Si flux

Seven exercises planned to stimulate the flow of ideas in creative composition

Thesis (Ed.M.)--Boston Universit

Constraining Type Ia Supernovae progenitors from three years of SNLS data

While it is generally accepted that Type Ia supernovae are the result of the explosion of a carbon-oxygen White Dwarf accreting mass in a binary system, the details of their genesis still elude us, and the nature of the binary companion is uncertain. Kasen (2010) points out that the presence of a non-degenerate companion in the progenitor system could leave an observable trace: a flux excess in the early rise portion of the lightcurve caused by the ejecta impact with the companion itself. This excess would be observable only under favorable viewing angles, and its intensity depends on the nature of the companion. We searched for the signature of a non-degenerate companion in three years of Supernova Legacy Survey data by generating synthetic lightcurves accounting for the effects of shocking and comparing true and synthetic time series with Kolmogorov-Smirnov tests. Our most constraining result comes from noting that the shocking effect is more prominent in rest-frame B than V band: we rule out a contribution from white dwarf-red giant binary systems to Type Ia supernova explosions greater than 10% at 2 sigma, and than 20% at 3 sigma level.Comment: 14 pages, 15 figures, resubmitted to ApJ, figure 15 modifie

Internal photoemission spectroscopy determination of barrier heights between Ta-based amorphous metals and atomic layer deposited insulators

The energy barrier heights between two recently reported Ta-based amorphous metals (TaWSi and TaNiSi), TaN, and atomic layer deposited Al2O3 and HfO2 insulators are measured in metal/insulator/metal (MIM) structures with Au top electrodes using internal photoemission (IPE) spectroscopy. For Al2O3, the Ta-based metal barrier heights, phi(Bn), increase with increasing metal work function, Phi(M), for TaN, TaWSi, and TaNiSi, respectively. For HfO2, however, the barrier heights are relatively constant for all three metals phi(Bn),(TaNiSi) approximate to phi(Bn.TaWSi) approximate to phi(Bn.TaN). The difference between HfO2 and Al2O3 is attributed to enhanced Fermi-level pinning due to a larger dielectric constant. The slope parameter, S, was found to be roughly 0.89 and 0.44-0.69 for Al2O3 and HfO2, respectively. For devices with a TaWSi bottom electrode, a comparison was also made between Al and Au top electrodes. Significantly, smaller barrier heights were obtained with an Au top electrode than with an Al top electrode, 0.6 eV and 0.8 eV lower for HfO2 and Al2O3, respectively. IPE energy barriers are found consistent with current-voltage asymmetry of MIM diodes, whereas Schottky model predictions of barrier heights were inconsistent

HerMES: Current Cosmic Infrared Background Estimates Can be Explained by Known Galaxies and their Faint Companions at z < 4

We report contributions to cosmic infrared background (CIB) intensities originating from known galaxies and their faint companions at submillimeter wavelengths. Using the publicly-available UltraVISTA catalog, and maps at 250, 350, and 500 {\mu}m from the \emph{Herschel} Multi-tiered Extragalactic Survey (HerMES), we perform a novel measurement that exploits the fact that uncatalogued sources may bias stacked flux densities --- particularly if the resolution of the image is poor --- and intentionally smooth the images before stacking and summing intensities. By smoothing the maps we are capturing the contribution of faint (undetected in K_S ~ 23.4) sources that are physically associated, or correlated, with the detected sources. We find that the cumulative CIB increases with increased smoothing, reaching 9.82 +- 0.78, 5.77 +- 0.43, and 2.32 +- 0.19$\, \rm nW m^{-2} sr^{-1}$ at 250, 350, and 500 {\mu}m at 300 arcsec FWHM. This corresponds to a fraction of the fiducial CIB of 0.94 +- 0.23, 1.07 +- 0.31, and 0.97 +- 0.26 at 250, 350, and 500 {\mu}m, where the uncertainties are dominated by those of the absolute CIB. We then propose, with a simple model combining parametric descriptions for stacked flux densities and stellar mass functions, that emission from galaxies with log(M/Msun) > 8.5 can account for the most of the measured total intensities, and argue against contributions from extended, diffuse emission. Finally, we discuss prospects for future survey instruments to improve the estimates of the absolute CIB levels, and observe any potentially remaining emission at z > 4.Comment: Accepted to ApJL. 6 Pages, 3 figure

Herschel Multitiered Extragalactic Survey: clusters of dusty galaxies uncovered by Herschel and Planck

The potential for Planck to detect clusters of dusty, star-forming galaxies at z > 1 is tested by examining the Herschel-SPIRE images of Planck Early Release Compact Source Catalog sources lying in fields observed by the Herschel Multitiered Extragalactic Survey. Of the 16 Planck sources that lie in the ∼90 sq. deg. examined, we find that 12 are associated with single bright Herschel sources. The remaining four are associated with overdensities of Herschel sources, making them candidate clusters of dusty, star-forming galaxies. We use complementary optical/near-IR data for these ‘clumps’ to test this idea, and find evidence for the presence of galaxy clusters in all four cases. We use photometric redshifts and red sequence galaxies to estimate the redshifts of these clusters, finding that they range from 0.8 to 2.3. These redshifts imply that the Herschel sources in these clusters, which contribute to the detected Planck flux, are forming stars very rapidly, with typical total cluster star formation rates >1000M ? yr −1 . The high-redshift clusters discovered in these observations are used to constrain the epoch of cluster galaxy formation, finding that the galaxies in our clusters are 1–1.5 Gyr old at z ∼ 1–2. Prospects for the discovery of further clusters of dusty galaxies are discussed, using not only all sky Planck surveys, but also deeper, smaller area, Herschel surveys