Rechtliche Beurteilung von Mikrotransaktionen und Lootboxen

The purchase of additional items in videogames, also called ‘Microtransactions’, has recently grown to become one of the dominating methods of monetization in the games industry. However, many versions of these monetization schemes face severe backlash because it appears that the ways to monetize games are increasingly influencing the contents of the medium and that those games are purposefully designed to bring vulnerable players to spend more money than they meant to. In this thesis, those points of criticism were taken into consideration and as a starting point to explore the legality of these kinds of monetization schemes from a legal standpoint. This was done with regards to the Unfair Competition Law, Youth Protection regulation and general civil law. Also, the chance-based variant of microtransactions, the so called ‘Lootboxes’, have been examined with regard to their legality under gambling regulations

Rechtliche Beurteilung von Mikrotransaktionen und Lootboxen

The purchase of additional items in videogames, also called ‘Microtransactions’, has recently grown to become one of the dominating methods of monetization in the games industry. However, many versions of these monetization schemes face severe backlash because it appears that the ways to monetize games are increasingly influencing the contents of the medium and that those games are purposefully designed to bring vulnerable players to spend more money than they meant to. In this thesis, those points of criticism were taken into consideration and as a starting point to explore the legality of these kinds of monetization schemes from a legal standpoint. This was done with regards to the Unfair Competition Law, Youth Protection regulation and general civil law. Also, the chance-based variant of microtransactions, the so called ‘Lootboxes’, have been examined with regard to their legality under gambling regulations

Increasing divergent thinking capabilities with music-feedback exercise

Divergent thinking is an essential aspect of creativity and has been shown to be affected both by music and physical exercise. While it has been shown that making music and physical exercise can be beneficial for Divergent Thinking in isolation, it is unclear whether the effects can be combined. The present experiment investigated the relation of physical exertion and being in control of music on Divergent Thinking and the possibility of an interaction effect. Seventy-seven predominantly young, German participants were tested with measurements of Divergent Thinking collected after either (1) physical exercise with music listening, (2) making music with a knob setup without physical effort (music control only), or (3) making physical exercise with musical feedback (Jymmin (TM)). Results showed greater increases in Divergent Thinking scores following music-feedback exercise compared to conditions of physical exercise with music listening and music control only. The data thus demonstrate that making music part of a physical exercise routine more strongly leads to the benefit of increased creative capacities, which we argue will be beneficial for athletes to prepare for certain types of competition/performance and as part of regeneration training

Binary Addressable Optical Multiplexing Waveguides via Electrochromic Switching

Photonic circuits attract much attention as promising candidates to overcome the drawbacks of their electronic counterparts. By utilizing the broad bandwidth and low energy consumption of optical communication, hybrid circuits can provide a comprehensive platform for the era beyond Moore's law. In particular, parallel matrix operations, the heavy lifting behind neural networks, remain challenging for traditional electronics due to high heat dissipation. To enable these parallel computations optically, (de-)multiplexing is crucial to address the different channels. Previously this has been accomplished with complex spectral or time encodings in wave division or time division methods. However, herein, a simple method to address parallel optical channels exclusively with 2-bit signals is presented. By using PEDOT:PSS as electrochromic material for intensity modulation, light transmission or absorption is controlled by oxidation and reduction with an electrolyte. Y-branch structures are used to design the multiplexing layout and to assign the 2-bit states to the channels. This binary addressable optical multiplexer, therefore, combines optical communication with electronic signals into a hybrid circuit.Peer Reviewe

Fluctuations of inspired concentrations of nitric oxide and nitrogen dioxide during mechanical ventilation

BACKGROUND: Nitric oxide (NO) is a very reactive agent with potentially toxic oxidation products such as nitrogen dioxide (NO(2)). Therefore, during NO inhalation a constant inspired concentration and accurate measurement of NO and NO(2) concentrations are essential. The objective of this study was to test the NO concentrations at various positions along the inspiratory limb of the breathing circuit using a recently developed system to administer NO in phase with inspiratory flow during mechanical ventilation (Servo 300 NO-A, Siemens, Sweden). Furthermore, we tested whether an active heating system would interfere with inspired NO concentrations. RESULTS: A sharp decline in the NO concentration was found between the respirator's inspiratory outlet and more distal points along the inspiratory limb of the circuit. This finding was most evident when an active heating system was mounted between those points. CONCLUSIONS: The concentrations of NO and NO(2) should be measured as near to the patient as possible, as significant fluctuations of these concentrations might be found along the inspiratory limb of the respiratory circuit especially when an active heating system is used

A small series of pole sport injuries

Pole sport is a relatively new athletic sport that is gaining increasing popularity and for which national and international championships are held. It evolved from pole dance and harbours the risk of falls from heights of up to three metres. Currently, no studies on pole sport injuries are available. This is the first description of a small series of five pole sport injuries. A retrospective review of the case histories and radiological findings was performed, and in addition, a follow-up interview was carried out. All the patients were female and had a mean age of 27.2 years. Most injuries were located in the head, neck or spine. The use of proper training equipment like landing mats and grip aids could probably reduce accidents

Image segmentation with traveling waves in an exactly solvable recurrent neural network

We study image segmentation using spatiotemporal dynamics in a recurrent neural network where the state of each unit is given by a complex number. We show that this network generates sophisticated spatiotemporal dynamics that can effectively divide an image into groups according to a scene's structural characteristics. Using an exact solution of the recurrent network's dynamics, we present a precise description of the mechanism underlying object segmentation in this network, providing a clear mathematical interpretation of how the network performs this task. We then demonstrate a simple algorithm for object segmentation that generalizes across inputs ranging from simple geometric objects in grayscale images to natural images. Object segmentation across all images is accomplished with one recurrent neural network that has a single, fixed set of weights. This demonstrates the expressive potential of recurrent neural networks when constructed using a mathematical approach that brings together their structure, dynamics, and computation

In the dedicated pursuit of dedicated capital: restoring an indigenous investment ethic to British capitalism

Tony Blair’s landslide electoral victory on May 1 (New Labour Day?) presents the party in power with a rare, perhaps even unprecedented, opportunity to revitalise and modernise Britain’s ailing and antiquated manufacturing economy.* If it is to do so, it must remain true to its long-standing (indeed, historic) commitment to restore an indigenous investment ethic to British capitalism. In this paper we argue that this in turn requires that the party reject the very neo-liberal orthodoxies which it offered to the electorate as evidence of its competence, moderation and ‘modernisation’, which is has internalised, and which it apparently now views as circumscribing the parameters of the politically and economically possible

Web 2.0-Anwendungen in den Kommunen des Landes Sachsen-Anhalt

Der vorliegende Bericht ist das Ergebnis eines einjährigen Studienprojekts am Fachbereich Verwaltungswissenschaften der Hochschule Harz, in dem der derzeitige Einsatz und die potenziellen Einsatzmöglichkeiten von Web 2.0-Anwendungen in den Kommunen des Landes Sachsen-Anhalts untersucht wurden. Im Rahmen des Projekts wurden alle 134 Kommunen des Landes in einem Online-Survey befragt, darüber hinaus wurden in drei Kommunen vertie-fende Interviews durchgeführt und einzelne Aspekte der Web 2.0-Nutzung in einem Online-Forum mit Verwaltungsbeschäftigten und weiteren Expertinnen und Experten diskutiert. Insgesamt ist festzustellen, dass bislang nur ein Bruchteil der Kommunen in Sachsen-Anhalt - wir gehen von maximal 25% aus - Web 2.0-Anwendungen nutzt. Am Stärksten werden bis-lang offene, privatwirtschaftlich betriebene soziale Netzwerke, wie zum Beispiel Facebook, eingesetzt. Auf Basis der vorliegenden Ergebnisse muss bezweifelt werden, dass Kommunen von der Nutzung konventioneller sozialer Netzwerke grundsätzlich in einem Maß profitieren können, das den notwendigen Aufwand rechtfertigen würde. Kommunen, die entsprechende Anwen-dungen nutzen, sehen zwar zumindest teilweise einen Mehrwert. Die Argumente sind aber überwiegend sehr subjektiv. Die Nutzung konventioneller sozialer Netzwerke, wie zum Beispiel Facebook, kann daher nicht pauschal empfohlen werden. Dagegen liegt mit sogenannten Anliegenmanagementsystemen ein Beispiel für eine spezifisch von Kommunen nutzbare Web 2.0-Anwendung vor, aus dem auch Konsequenzen für weiter-führende Nutzungsformen und Neuentwicklungen gezogen werden können. Spezifisch für kommunale Verwaltungen entwickelte, kooperativ implementiert und genutzte Anwendungen, die eine elektronische Kollaboration zwischen Verwaltungen und Stakeholdern in Kernprozes-sen der Kommunalverwaltung ermöglichen, scheinen eine durchaus erfolgsversprechende Option. Neben einer thematischen Erweiterung auf allgemeine und alltägliche Themen der Interaktion von Bürgerinnen und Bürgern mit der kommunalen Verwaltung müssen auch die kooperativen Strukturen zur Entwicklung und zum Betrieb entsprechender Lösungen noch weiter entwickelt werden