Gamification Analytics: Support for Monitoring and Adapting Gamification Designs

Inspired by the engaging effects in video games, gamification aims at motivating people to show desired behaviors in a variety of contexts. During the last years, gamification influenced the design of many software applications in the consumer as well as enterprise domain. In some cases, even whole businesses, such as Foursquare, owe their success to well-designed gamification mechanisms in their product. Gamification also attracted the interest of academics from fields, such as human-computer interaction, marketing, psychology, and software engineering. Scientific contributions comprise psychological theories and models to better understand the mechanisms behind successful gamification, case studies that measure the psychological and behavioral outcomes of gamification, methodologies for gamification projects, and technical concepts for platforms that support implementing gamification in an efficient manner. Given a new project, gamification experts can leverage the existing body of knowledge to reuse previous, or derive new gamification ideas. However, there is no one size fits all approach for creating engaging gamification designs. Gamification success always depends on a wide variety of factors defined by the characteristics of the audience, the gamified application, and the chosen gamification design. In contrast to researchers, gamification experts in the industry rarely have the necessary skills and resources to assess the success of their gamification design systematically. Therefore, it is essential to provide them with suitable support mechanisms, which help to assess and improve gamification designs continuously. Providing suitable and efficient gamification analytics support is the ultimate goal of this thesis. This work presents a study with gamification experts that identifies relevant requirements in the context of gamification analytics. Given the identified requirements and earlier work in the analytics domain, this thesis then derives a set of gamification analytics-related activities and uses them to extend an existing process model for gamification projects. The resulting model can be used by experts to plan and execute their gamification projects with analytics in mind. Next, this work identifies existing tools and assesses them with regards to their applicability in gamification projects. The results can help experts to make objective technology decisions. However, they also show that most tools have significant gaps towards the identified user requirements. Consequently, a technical concept for a suitable realization of gamification analytics is derived. It describes a loosely coupled analytics service that helps gamification experts to seamlessly collect and analyze gamification-related data while minimizing dependencies to IT experts. The concept is evaluated successfully via the implementation of a prototype and application in two real-world gamification projects. The results show that the presented gamification analytics concept is technically feasible, applicable to actual projects, and also valuable for the systematic monitoring of gamification success

'I am not a German Jew. I am a Jew with a German passport': German-Jewish identification among Jewish Germans and Jewish German Israelis

The aim of this study is to explore the way German-Jews negotiate their German and Jewish cultural self-identifications. Given that Jewish and German identities represent both ethnic and national identities, we conceptualize their construction and reconstruction referring to theories of national identity. To describe the outcomes of the negotiation processes observed, we recruit Berry’s acculturation theory. This theory provides a valuable framework to conceptualize the integration of two cultural self- identifications. The German-Jewish-Israeli setting is particularly interesting due to the complex relations between the three social groups emerging in the aftermath of the Holocaust. To explore the participants’ German, Jewish and Israeli selfidentifications and the role of the Holocaust in their construction and reconstruction, we conducted 18 in-depth interviews. Findings imply that the Holocaust plays a role in the construction of an integrated German-Jewish identification. Yet, the Holocaust and its consequences notwithstanding, an integrated German-Jewish self-identification is possible

An implementation of a self tuning controller

A Dissertation Submitted to the Faculty of Engineering, " University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg , for the Degree of Master of Science. Johannesburg 198

Metabolic and Homeostatic Changes in Seizures and Acquired Epilepsy-Mitochondria, Calcium Dynamics and Reactive Oxygen Species

Acquired epilepsies can arise as a consequence of brain injury and result in unprovoked seizures that emerge after a latent period of epileptogenesis. These epilepsies pose a major challenge to clinicians as they are present in the majority of patients seen in a common outpatient epilepsy clinic and are prone to pharmacoresistance, highlighting an unmet need for new treatment strategies. Metabolic and homeostatic changes are closely linked to seizures and epilepsy, although, surprisingly, no potential treatment targets to date have been translated into clinical practice. We summarize here the current knowledge about metabolic and homeostatic changes in seizures and acquired epilepsy, maintaining a particular focus on mitochondria, calcium dynamics, reactive oxygen species and key regulators of cellular metabolism such as the Nrf2 pathway. Finally, we highlight research gaps that will need to be addressed in the future which may help to translate these findings into clinical practice

Atelier "Vivre en Ville" : modes de vie en périphérie : les pratiques dans les centres commerciaux, modes d'habiter en péri-urbain

Parmi tous les phénomènes de centralité et de périphérie, sources de multiples observations depuis ces dernières décennies, nous avons choisi d'évoquer au cours de la journée d' atelier « Vivre en Ville » du mois de juillet 1999 , deux points précis qui concernent les pratiques et les modes de vie :-dans les centres commerciaux de périphérie en abordant le thème selon trois entrées :•une étude réalisée dans l'agglomération nantaise visant à appréhender les pratiques et les perceptions d'usagers de centres commerciaux,•une approche par I'ETHOLOGIE, visant à étudier les comportements des utilisateurs d'un centre commercial de région parisienne•une entrée par la SEMIOTIQUE permettant de rendre compte des types de parcours des individus dans l'espace commercial-les modes d' habiter en péri-urbain : à partir d'une étude réalisée dans le pays d'Aix qui a permis de mettre en évidence certaines valeurs, certains attributs de ces nouveaux lieux de centralité.Comment vivent les habitants du péri-urbain ? Qu'est-ce qu'ils en pensent ? Qu'est-ce qu'ils en disent ?Quelle est la place du local ? de l'agglomération ?Ce document reprend dans sa totalité les interventions de la journée sur ces thèmes

Enterprise Education Competitions: A Theoretically Flawed Intervention?

The demand for including enterprise in the education system, at all levels and for all pupils is now a global phenomenon. Within this context, the use of competitions and competitive learning activities is presented as a popular and effective vehicle for learning. The purpose of this chapter is to illustrate how a realist method of enquiry – which utilises theory as the unit of analysis – can shed new light on the assumed and unintended outcomes of enterprise education competitions. The case developed here is that there are inherent flaws in assuming that competitions will ‘work’ in the ways set out in policy and guidance. Some of the most prevalent stated outcomes – that competitions will motivate and reward young people, that they will enable the development of entrepreneurial skills, and that learners will be inspired by their peers – are challenged by theory from psychology and education. The issue at stake is that the expansion of enterprise education policy into primary and secondary education increases the likelihood that more learners will be sheep dipped in competitions, and competitive activities, without a clear recognition of the potential unintended effects. In this chapter, we employ a realist-informed approach to critically evaluate the theoretical basis that underpins the use of competitions and competitive learning activities in school-based enterprise education. We believe that our findings and subsequent recommendations will provide those who promote and practice the use of competitions with a richer, more sophisticated picture of the potential flaws within such activities.Peer reviewedFinal Published versio

Democracy, Liberty and Montesquieu: Constructing Accountable Order in African Conflict States

Without appropriate institutional checks multiparty democracy can rekindle violent conflicts rather than help to resolve them. The absolutism of ‘imperial presidents’ is at the root of many of Africa's civil wars and the restoration of this institution in post?conflict states will not help them find security for their citizens. Following Montesquieu, I argue that ‘liberty’, in the form of checks on executive power, must accompany or precede multiparty democracy in post?conflict reconstruction