Video Games And Learning : A theoretical approach to the use of commercial-off-the-shelf video games in Norwegian upper secondary education

Master´s thesis in English (EN501)This thesis explores the educational potential of commercial video games. With LK20, games and gaming have become integral part of Norwegian education, especially with a specific aim in the new English subject curriculum (ENG01-04) and with the broad definition of texts as cultural expressions. Due to the uncertainties surrounding the covid-19 pandemic, no original action-research was conducted. Therefore, this thesis offers a purely theoretical approach instead. It offers a literary analysis and discussion of a wide selection of theories and research regarding games and learning, followed by a theoretical exploration of how one commercial video game, namely Detroit: Become Human (2018)can be effectively utilized in learning contexts in Norwegian upper secondary education. Thus, the following two research questions are answered:(1) What does existing theories and research suggest one can learn from games and gaming in general, what are their potential learning effects? and (2) In light of existing theories and research, what can potentially be learnt by using Detroit: Become Human (DBH) in educational contexts, and how could various learning outcomes be achieved through its use? More specifically, the thesis explores the educational potential of video games to facilitate motivating, interactive, multimodal, and safe learning environments that enable exploration of identities through immersion and identification to foster deep learning and critical thinking

Microwave-controlled generation of shaped single photons in circuit quantum electrodynamics

Large-scale quantum information processors or quantum communication networks will require reliable exchange of information between spatially separated nodes. The links connecting these nodes can be established using traveling photons that need to be absorbed at the receiving node with high efficiency. This is achievable by shaping the temporal profile of the photons and absorbing them at the receiver by time reversing the emission process. Here, we demonstrate a scheme for creating shaped microwave photons using a superconducting transmon-type three-level system coupled to a transmission line resonator. In a second-order process induced by a modulated microwave drive, we controllably transfer a single excitation from the third level of the transmon to the resonator and shape the emitted photon. We reconstruct the density matrices of the created single-photon states and show that the photons are antibunched. We also create multipeaked photons with a controlled amplitude and phase. In contrast to similar existing schemes, the one we present here is based solely on microwave drives, enabling operation with fixed frequency transmons

Preparation and reactions of arylsulfonic trifluoromethanesulfonic anhydrides

Aus Silber-trifluormethansulfonat (2) und Arylsulfonylbromiden 5 entstehen Arylsulfonsäuretrifluormethansulfonsäure-anhydride 3, die ausgezeichnete Sulfonylierungsmittel sind. Die präparative Aromatensulfonylierung mit den Anhydriden gelingt bereits bei O°C in Nitromethan in einem Eintopfverfahren, ausgehend von 2 und 5 ohne Isolierung von 3. Substrat-und Positionsselektivität von 3 sind mit denen der üblichen Sulfonylierungsagentien vergleichbar. Die katalytische Aromatensulfonylierung mit Arylsulfonylhalogeniden in Gegenwart von Trifluormethan-sulfonsäure gelingt nur unter verschärften Reaktionsbedingungen in mäßiger Ausbeute. Hierbei sind die symmetrischen Arylsulfonsäureanhydride, die aus den intermediär anzunehmenden Anhydriden 3 durch Dismutierung entstehen, als eigentliche Sulfonylierungsagentien anzunehmen

Neue reaktive Bromierungsagentien

Die Bromierung von Nitrobenzol mit elementarem Brom und Friedel-Crafts-Katalysatoren erfordert mehrstündiges Erhitzen auf ~ 150°, um gute Ausbeuten an m-Bromonitrobenzol zu erzielen. In Gegenwart von Silbersulfat in Schwefelsäure gelingt dagegen die Bromierung in vergleichbaren Ausbeuten schon bei Raumtemperatur. Als angreifendes Agens wird dabei das Brom-Kation angenommen. Hinweise auf die Möglichkeit eines Anionen-Einflusses werden nicht gemacht. Wir haben nun gefunden, daß mit einem Gemisch von Kaliumperoxodisulfat und Brom (Molverhältnis 1:1,2) in Schwefelsäure mit 5% SO3-Gehalt, Nitrobenzol bei Raumtemperatur mit 30% Ausbeute bromiert werden kann

Applications of semantic similarity measures

There has been much interest in uncovering protein-protein interactions and their underlying domain-domain interactions. Many experimental techniques have been developed, for example yeast-two-hybrid screening and tandem affinity purification. Since it is time consuming and expensive to perform exhaustive experimental screens, in silico methods are used for predicting interactions. However, all experimental and computational methods have considerable false positive and false negative rates. Therefore, it is necessary to validate experimentally determined and predicted interactions. One possibility for the validation of interactions is the comparison of the functions of the proteins or domains. Gene Ontology (GO) is widely accepted as a standard vocabulary for functional terms, and is used for annotating proteins and protein families with biological processes and their molecular functions. This annotation can be used for a functional comparison of interacting proteins or domains using semantic similarity measures. Another application of semantic similarity measures is the prioritization of disease genes. It is know that functionally similar proteins are often involved in the same or similar diseases. Therefore, functional similarity is used for predicting disease associations of proteins. In the first part of my talk, I will introduce some semantic and functional similarity measures that can be used for comparison of GO terms and proteins or protein families. Then, I will show their application for determining a confidence threshold for domain-domain interaction predictions. Additionally, I will present FunSimMat (http://www.funsimmat.de/), a comprehensive resource of functional similarity values available on the web. In the last part, I will introduce the problem of comparing diseases, and a first attempt to apply functional similarity measures based on GO to this problem

Synthesis and reactions of arylcarbonic fluorosulfonic anhydrides

In dichloromethane at 0°C, the acyl fluorides 3 insert sulfur trioxide to form the thermolabile arylcarbonic fluorosulfonic anhydrides 4 in good yield. Acylation of non-activated arenes with the anhydrides 4 is impossible since they decompose upon warming into the constituent compounds; with the SO3 thus liberated, diarylsulfones 6 are formed

Preparation and reactions of alkanesulfonic trifluoromethanesulfonic anhydrides

Aus Alkansulfonylbromiden 1 und Silber-trifluormethansulfonat (2) entstehen Alkansulfonsäure-trifluormethansulfonsäure-anhydride 3, die mit Aromaten bereits bei Raumtemperatur ohne Friedel-Crafts-Katalysatoren Alkylarylsulfone 4 bilden. Die Reaktion erfolgt über eine Dissoziation zu Sulfonylium-Ionen A. Die Isomerenverteilung der Sulfonylierungsprodukte 4 ist vergleichbar mit der für Sulfone, die bei der Friedel-Crafts-katalysierten Umsetzung von Sulfonylhalogeniden mit Aromaten erhalten werden. Dies spricht für Sulfonylium-Ionen und nicht für Sulfonyl-Halogenid-Katalysator-Komplexe als elektrophile Reaktionspartner auch bei der katalysierten Sulfonylierung. Bei der Thermolyse zeigt die Schwefeldioxid-Abspaltung bei 3 eine deutlich stärkere Abhängigkeit vom Alkylrest als bei 1, was ebenfalls auf eine heterolytische Bindungsspaltung von 3 und Carbenium-Zwischenstufen hinweist

Coherence of a dynamically decoupled quantum-dot hole spin

© 2018 American Physical Society. A heavy hole confined to an InGaAs quantum dot promises the union of a stable spin and optical coherence to form a near perfect, high-bandwidth spin-photon interface. Despite theoretical predictions and encouraging preliminary measurements, the dynamic processes determining the coherence of the hole spin are yet to be understood. Here, we establish the regimes that allow for a highly coherent hole spin in these systems, recovering a crossover from hyperfine to electrical-noise dominated decoherence with a few-Tesla external magnetic field. Dynamic decoupling allows us to reach the longest ground-state coherence time, T2, of 4.0±0.2μs, observed in this system. The improvement of coherence we measure is quantitatively supported by an independent analysis of the local electrical environment