More playful user interfaces: an introduction

In this chapter we embed recent research advances in creating playful user interfaces in a historical context. We have observations on spending leisure time, in particular predictions from previous decades and views expressed in Science Fiction novels. We confront these views and predictions with what has really happened since the advent of computers, the Internet, Worldwide Web and sensors and actuators that are increasingly becoming integrated in our environments and in devices that are with us 24/7. And, not only with us, but also connected to networks of nodes that represent people, institutions, and companies. Playful user interfaces are not only interesting for entertainment applications. Educational or behavior change supporting systems can also profit from a playful approach. The chapter concludes with a meta-level review of the chapters in this book. In this review we distinguish three views on research and application domains for playful user interfaces: (1) Designing Interactions for and by Children, (2) Designing Interactions with Nature, Animals, and Things, and (3) Designing Interactions for Arts, Performances, and Sports

Strings from Tachyons

We propose a new interpretation of the c=1 matrix model as the world-line theory of N unstable D-particles, in which the hermitian matrix is provided by the non- abelian open string tachyon. For D-particles in 1+1-d string theory, we find a direct quantitative match between the closed string emission due to a rolling tachyon and that due to a rolling eigenvalue in the matrix model. We explain the origin of the double-scaling limit, and interpret it as an extreme representative of a large equivalence class of dual theories. Finally, we define a concrete decoupling limit of unstable D-particles in IIB string theory that reduces to the c=1 matrix model, suggesting that 1+1-d string theory represents the near-horizon limit of an ultra-dense gas of IIB D-particles.Comment: 30 pages, 4 figures; v2: added references, improved discussion of Liouville boundary states, v3: small correction

Structural properties of mixed conductor Ba1−xGd1−yLax+yCo2O6−δ

BaGdLaCoO (BGLC) compositions with large compositional ranges of Ba, Gd, and La have been characterised with respect to phase compositions, structure, and thermal and chemical expansion. The results show a system with large compositional flexibility, enabling tuning of functional properties and thermal and chemical expansion. We show anisotropic chemical expansion and detailed refinements of emerging phases as La is substituted for Ba and Gd. The dominating phase is the double perovskite structure Pmmm, which is A-site ordered along the c-axes and with O vacancy ordering along the b-axis in the Ln-layer. Phases emerging when substituting La for Ba are orthorhombic Ba-deficient Pbnm and cubic LaCoO-based R3̄c. When La is almost completely substituted for Gd, the material can be stabilised in Pmmm, or cubic Pm3̄m, depending on thermal and atmospheric history. We list thermal expansion coefficients for x = 0-0.3, y = 0.2.The research has been supported by the National Science Centre Poland (2016/22/Z/ST5/00691), the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (PCIN-2017-125, RTI2018-102161 and IJCI-2017-34110), and the Research Council of Norway (Grant no. 272797 “GoPHy MiCO”) through the M-ERA.NET Joint Call 2016. The authors acknowledge the skilful assistance from the staff of the Swiss–Norwegian Beamline (SNBL) at the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF), Grenoble, France. Dr. Cheng Li at POWGEN, SNS, Oak Ridge, US and Dr. Chiu C. Tang at beamline I11 at Diamond, Didcot, UK are gratefully acknowledged for PND and SR-PXD measurements, respectively

Shanghaied into the future: the Asianization of the future Metropolis in post-Blade Runner cinema

The clichéd 1930–1950 Western cinematic images of Shanghai as a fascinating den of iniquity, and, in contrast, as a beacon of modernity, were merged in Fritz Lang’s Metropolis. As a result, a new standard emerged in science ction lms for the representation of future urban conglomerates: the Asianized metropolis. e standard set by this lm, of a dark dystopian city, populated by creatures of all races and genetic codes, will be adopted in most of the representations of future cities in non-Asian cinema. is article traces the representation of Shanghai in Western cinema from its earliest days (1932– Shanghai Express) through Blade Runner (1982) to the present (2013– Her). Shanghai, already in the early 1930s, sported extremely daring examples of modern architecture and, at the same time, in non-Asian cinema, was represented as a city of sin and depravity. is dualistic representation became the standard image of the future Asianized city, where its debauchery was o en complemented by modernity; therefore, it is all the more seedy. Moreover, it is Asianized, the “Yellow Peril” incarnated in a new, much more subtle, much more dangerous way. As such, it is deserving of destruction, like Sodom and Gomorrah