Using Out-of-Character Reasoning to Combine Storytelling and Education in a Serious Game

To reconcile storytelling and educational meta-goals in the context of a serious game, we propose to make use of out-of-character reasoning in virtual agents. We will implement these agents in a serious game of our design, which will focus on social interaction in conflict scenarios with the meta-goal of improving social awareness of users. The agents will use out-of-character reasoning to manage conflicts by assuming different in-character personalities or by planning to take specific actions based on interaction with the users. In-character reasoning is responsible for the storytelling concerns of character believability and consistency. These are not endangered by out-of-character reasoning, as it takes in-character information into account when making decisions

Aantekeningen bij L'ARGENT

Bij het zien van l'ARGENT waren het de exaktheid, de strengheid van de beelden en geluiden en het ontbreken van enige vorm van psychologie, van enige vorm van verklaring van de gebeurtenissen die mij het meest gefascineerd hebben ..... 02 01 89 93

Geography of diabetes complications and quality of diabetes care in Mexico, a cross-sectional analysis of the Health and Nutrition Survey ENSANUT 2012

Der größer werdende Anteil mikrovaskulärer Diabeteskomplikationen ist ein zunehmendes Problem in der mexikanischen Bevölkerung. Dabei sind Menschen in einkommensschwachen- und strukturell benachteiligten Regionen einem höheren Risiko ausgesetzt, früher an Diabeteskomplikationen zu erkranken. Um die Rate neu aufgetretener Diabeteskomplikationen effektiv zu reduzieren, ist eine frühzeitige Diagnosestellung und medizinische Betreuung notwendig. Jedoch konnte eine umfassende Diabetesversorgung in einkommensschwachen und abgelegenen Regionen Mexiko’s bisher nicht umgesetzt werden. Das Ziel dieser Studie ist, herauszufinden, inwiefern soziale- und geopolitische Faktoren die Inanspruchnahme präventiver Maßnahmen und damit die Entwicklung diabetischer Komplikationen beeinflussen. Zu diesem Zwecke werden im Folgenden die Punkte i-iii untersucht: i) Sozioökonomische Unterschiede zwischen Diabetikern mit und ohne Diabeteskomplikationen. ii) Einflussfaktoren auf das Vorhandensein von Diabeteskomplikationen auf regionaler- und Bundeslandebene. iii) Einfluss ländlicher Herkunft auf die Inanspruchnahme präventiver Maßnahmen und das Vorhandensein von Diabeteskomplikationen. Dafür benutzten wir Querschnittsdaten der mexikanischen Gesundheits- und Ernährungsumfrage (ENSANUT) 2012. Mittels einer systematischen Literaturrecherche wurde die Verfügbarkeit epidemiologischer Studien in Bezug auf mikrovaskuläre Diabeteskomplikationen untersucht und die Ergebnisse der ENSANUT 2012 mit Ergebnissen vorhergehender Studien aus Mexiko verglichen. Für die weitere Datenanalyse wurden 4,261 befragte Studienteilnehmer im Alter von 20 Jahren und älter mit bekannter Diabetesdiagnose eingeschlossen. Univariate Analyse, Datenvisualisierung und multiple logistische Regressionsmodelle kamen zur Anwendung um Zusammenhänge zwischen sozioökonomischer Determinanten, Inanspruchnahme von Präventivmaßnahmen und Vorhandensein von Diabeteskomplikationen im ländlichen-und städtischen Raum, sowie zwischen den 32 Staaten Mexiko’s zu untersuchen. Aus den Ergebnissen geht hervor, dass selbst-berichtete Daten in Bezug auf die Prävalenz mikrovaskulärer Diabeteskomplikationen von 44.7% bis zu 77.1% variieren. Höchste Prävalenzen traten gruppiert im Zentrum der West und Ostküste und entlang des Golfs von Mexiko auf. Sozioökonomische Faktoren (niedriger soziökonomischer Status und Bildungsstandard, Marginalisierung und fehlende Krankenversicherung) waren positiv mit dem Auftreten von Diabeteskomplikationen assoziiert. Jedoch konnte bei der visuellen Inspektion der Prävalenzdaten, kein Zusammenhang zwischen geographischer Häufung von Diabeteskomplikationen und sozioökonomischer Entwicklung der zugehörigen Region gefunden werden. Die weitere Analyse ergab, dass ländlicher Wohnsitz signifikant mit dem Auftreten von Diabeteskomplikationen assoziiert war (OR = 1.31; 95%CI = 1.02 – 1.69). Ebenso gaben 71% der befragten Studienteilnehmer aus ländlichen Regionen an, in den letzten 12 Monaten an keiner Diabetesvorsorge teilgenommen zu haben, im Vergleich zu 60% der Studienteilnehmer aus urbanen Regionen (p < 0.001). Daraus ergibt sich, dass weitere Interventionen auf gesundheitspolitischer Ebene notwendig sind, um die Inanspruchnahme und Compliance von Präventivmaßnahmen unter Diabetikern zu fördern und damit die Krankheitslast im ländlichen Mexiko zu senken. Es besteht weiterhin Unklarheit, ob eine kausale Beziehung zwischen sozioökonomischem Status und geographischer Gruppierung von Diabeteskomplikationen zwischen Mexiko’s Staaten besteht

Fluorescently labelled monoclonal antibodies for real-time molecular imaging:pharmaceutical development of near-infrared tracers and their application in clinical settings

Fluorescent molecular imaging is a novel technique that utilizes light rather than radiation for imaging specific cells and tissues based on their molecular properties. The high resolution of the images and the immediately visible feedback of the fluorescent signal make this form of imaging ideal for use in surgical or endoscopic procedures. To apply this technique in the clinic, tracers developed and produced according to "Good Manufacturing Practice" are required. This thesis provides an overview of the path from the initial laboratory experiments to clinical-grade manufacturing and application in humans. Multiple tracers were developed, produced for human use, and used in clinical trials for cancer. The final part of the thesis investigates new branches of tracer research within immunotherapy and gastro-enterology

RSV bronchiolitis in the pediatric intensive care unit:Searching for a new flow

Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) bronchiolitis is a major cause of disease in infants worldwide. In severe cases, RSV bronchiolitis can lead to respiratory failure, necessitating admission to a pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) for respiratory support. PICU admissions are associated with a high patient and societal burden. The first part of this thesis studies the (inter)national admission burden of RSV bronchiolitis in the PICU and relates the increase of this burden with the introduction of High-Flow Nasal Cannula (HFNC) to the pediatric intensive care unit and general ward. The second part of this thesis studies airway mucus obstruction in invasively ventilated children, with an emphasis on mucus obstruction in children with severe RSV bronchiolitis. The pathophysiology of RSV bronchiolitis is characterized by airway epithelial injury and inflammation, increased mucus production, impaired mucociliary clearance and neutrophilic influx. This neutrophilic influx, and especially the formation of neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs), is associated with the emergence of mucus plugs obstructing the lower. We studied NETs in the context of mucus viscoelasticity as well as airway epithelial injury. Last, mucus retention in the lower airways is a frequently encountered problem in children who are invasively ventilated for various kinds of illnesses. Aiming to ultimately improve our care for invasively ventilated children, we performed a pilot study for the use of bedside mucus rheology as a tool to identify patients at risk for mucus obstruction or to monitor treatment effect in the PICU

Stadiums Redefined: Connecting Stadiums to their Communities

Stadiums are currently overspecialized structures that have limited uses during offseason of the sports they are built for. Additionally, stadiums tend to be extremely enclosed, cutting off its surroundings and greatly limiting any interaction it could have with the surrounding community it is set into. The aim of this thesis is to create a new typology for stadiums by looking at how a stadium can become something that provides more to the surrounding community and transcend its current design limitations. Often placed in urban areas, stadiums are often surrounded by communities that could have used the space taken by the stadium for various amenities to better suit the community. Instead of being a relatively empty husk on most days of the year, stadiums have the innate potential to provide more to surrounding communities in part to the shear amount of space it has available to itself. Through the activation of these spaces, new and varied programs can be added in to provide new amenities while also not impeding on the base function of the stadium during game days or the occasional concert that might be held there. One such stadium here in Georgia would be that of old Turner Field in Atlanta. As of now, GSU has now bought it for use as a football field and they are starting to create new campus amenities for students around the stadium. This presents the golden opportunity for this stadium to be more, as it can be equipped with the capability to provide to the numerous students of GSU who would be living and going to classes directly next to the stadium

CLIC e+e- Linear Collider Studies - Input to the Snowmass process 2013

This paper addresses the issues in question for Energy Frontier Lepton and Gamma Colliders by the Frontier Capabilities group of the Snowmass 2013 process and is structured accordingly. It will be accompanied by a paper describing the Detector and Physics studies for the CLIC project currently in preparation for submission to the Energy Frontier group.Comment: Submitted to the Snowmass process 2013. arXiv admin note: substantial text overlap with arXiv:1208.140

A Discussion of Interactive Storytelling Techniques for Use in a Serious Game

This report addresses a collection of interactive storytelling systems to provide an overview of state-of-the-art methods of narrative management and of enabling social interaction between users and virtual agents. This is done to inform the construction of a social cues and training demonstrator (a serious game) that enables its users to improve their social behaviour. In this report, a distinction is made between strong story and strong autonomy approaches to narrative management. The former rely on central management of the narrative through drama managers, not giving their agents much freedom. Inversely, the latter focus on the autonomy of agents, without explicit top-down control over the narrative. The autonomy of such agents allows an unscripted narrative to emerge from the user's interaction with the system. The trade-off between a strict storyline and freedom of action in these approaches is called the narrative paradox. It is concluded that a strong autonomy approach can feature social behaviour of agents more easily than a strong story one, because it is inherent with this approach that its agents have more complex models. For the demonstrator, some control over the narrative is required to let its users reach given goals in the created scenarios. Therefore, our future work will focus on creating a hybrid approach that enables agents to direct the story autonomously