1,098 research outputs found
Narrative support for young game designers’ writing
Creating narrative-based computer games is a complex and challenging task. Narrative Threads is a suite of software tools designed to aid young people (aged 11-15) in creating their own narrative-based games as a writing development activity. A participatory design process highlighted the areas where additional support was required, and informed the iterative design of Narrative Threads. The tools are implemented as a plugin to a commercial game creation toolset, and constitute character and object design tools, a branching narrative diagramming tool and an augmented story map view. In this paper, we provide an overview of the design of the tools and describe an evaluation carried out with 14 children over a four-day workshop. The study examined tool usage patterns, and compared games created with Narrative Threads to those created using the standard toolset. The results suggest a number of ways in which dynamic external representations of story elements can support writing activities in narrative-based game creation. Young designers using Narrative Threads wrote more character dialogue, made stronger links between the conversations they wrote and wider game events, and designed more complex characters, compared to those using the standard toolset. In addition to showing how Narrative Threads can support young games designers, the results have broader implications for anyone looking to support storytelling and writing through game creation activities and tools
Trajectories to Community Engagement: Understanding older people's experiences of engagement with online and local communities
Perturbation of an Eigen-Value from a Dense Point Spectrum : An Example
We study a perturbed Floquet Hamiltonian depending on a coupling
constant . The spectrum is assumed to be pure point and
dense. We pick up an eigen-value, namely , and show the
existence of a function defined on such that
for all , 0 is a point of
density for the set , and the Rayleigh-Schr\"odinger perturbation series
represents an asymptotic series for the function . All ideas
are developed and demonstrated when treating an explicit example but some of
them are expected to have an essentially wider range of application.Comment: Latex, 24 pages, 51
Nowhere to Run; Nowhere to Hide: The Reality of Being a Law Library Director in Times of Great Opportunity and Significant Challenges
This is an edited version of remarks presented at \u27Nowhere to Run, Nowhere to Hide\u27: The Reality of Being a Law Library Director in Times of Great Opportunity and Significant Challenges, January 5, 2015, at the Association of American Law Schools Annual Meeting, Washington, D.C
Inverse Scattering at a Fixed Quasi-Energy for Potentials Periodic in Time
We prove that the scattering matrix at a fixed quasi--energy determines
uniquely a time--periodic potential that decays exponentially at infinity. We
consider potentials that for each fixed time belong to in space. The
exponent 3/2 is critical for the singularities of the potential in space. For
this singular class of potentials the result is new even in the
time--independent case, where it was only known for bounded exponentially
decreasing potentials.Comment: In this revised version I give a more detailed motivation of the
class of potentials that I consider and I have corrected some typo
Visual anemometry: physics-informed inference of wind for renewable energy, urban sustainability, and environmental science
Accurate measurements of atmospheric flows at meter-scale resolution are
essential for a broad range of sustainability applications, including optimal
design of wind and solar farms, safe and efficient urban air mobility,
monitoring of environmental phenomena such as wildfires and air pollution
dispersal, and data assimilation into weather and climate models. Measurement
of the relevant microscale wind flows is inherently challenged by the optical
transparency of the wind. This review explores new ways in which physics can be
leveraged to "see" environmental flows non-intrusively, that is, without the
need to place measurement instruments directly in the flows of interest.
Specifically, while the wind itself is transparent, its effect can be visually
observed in the motion of objects embedded in the environment and subjected to
wind -- swaying trees and flapping flags are commonly encountered examples. We
describe emerging efforts to accomplish visual anemometry, the task of
quantitatively inferring local wind conditions based on the physics of observed
flow-structure interactions. Approaches based on first-principles physics as
well as data-driven, machine learning methods will be described, and remaining
obstacles to fully generalizable visual anemometry will be discussed.Comment: In revie
An Experimental Approach to a Rapid Propulsion and Aeronautics Concepts Testbed
Modern aircraft design tools have limitations for predicting complex propulsion-airframe interactions. The demand for new tools and methods addressing these limitations is high based on the many recent Distributed Electric Propulsion (DEP) Vertical Take-Off and Landing (VTOL) concepts being developed for Urban Air Mobility (UAM) markets. We propose that low cost electronics and additive manufacturing can support the conceptual design of advanced autonomy-enabled concepts, by facilitating rapid prototyping for experimentally driven design cycles. This approach has the potential to reduce complex aircraft concept development costs, minimize unique risks associated with the conceptual design, and shorten development schedule by enabling the determination of many "unknown unknowns" earlier in the design process and providing verification of the results from aircraft design tools. A modular testbed was designed and built to evaluate this rapid design-build-test approach and to support aeronautics and autonomy research targeting UAM applications utilizing a complex, transitioning-VTOL aircraft configuration. The testbed is a modular wind tunnel and flight model. The testbed airframe is approximately 80% printed, with labor required for assembly. This paper describes the design process, fabrication process, ground testing, and initial wind tunnel structural and thermal loading of a proof-of-concept aircraft, the Langley Aerodrome 8 (LA-8)
The Realities of Evaluating Educational Technology in School Settings
\ua9 2024 Copyright held by the owner/author(s).HCI researchers are increasingly interested in the evaluation of educational technologies in context, yet acknowledge that challenges remain regarding the logistical, material and methodological constraints of this approach to research [18, 53].Through the analysis of the authors\u27 contributed thematic research vignettes, the following article exposes the practical realities of evaluating educational technologies in school settings. This includes insights into the planning stages of evaluation, the relationship between the researcher and the school environment, and the impact of the school context on the data collection process.We conclude by providing an orientation for the design of HCI educational technology research undertaken in school contexts, providing guidance such as considering the role of modular research design, clarifying goals and expectations with school partners, and reporting researcher positionality
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