23,447 research outputs found
On Making Good Games - Using Player Virtue Ethics and Gameplay Design Patterns to Identify Generally Desirable Gameplay Features
This paper uses a framework of player virtues to perform a
theoretical exploration of what is required to make a game
good. The choice of player virtues is based upon the view
that games can be seen as implements, and that these are
good if they support an intended use, and the intended use
of games is to support people to be good players. A collection of gameplay design patterns, identified through
their relation to the virtues, is presented to provide specific starting points for considering design options for this type of good games. 24 patterns are identified supporting the virtues, including RISK/REWARD, DYNAMIC ALLIANCES, GAME MASTERS, and PLAYER DECIDED RESULTS, as are 7 countering three or more virtues, including ANALYSIS
PARALYSIS, EARLY ELIMINATION, and GRINDING. The paper concludes by identifying limitations of the approach as well as by showing how it can be applied using other views of what are preferable features in games
Towards a practical approach for self-consistent large amplitude collective motion
We investigate the use of an operatorial basis in a self-consistent theory of
large amplitude collective motion. For the example of the
pairing-plus-quadrupole model, which has been studied previously at
equilibrium, we show that a small set of carefully chosen state-dependent basis
operators is sufficient to approximate the exact solution of the problem
accuratly. This approximation is used to study the interplay of quadrupole and
pairing degrees of freedom along the collective path for realistic examples of
nuclei. We show how this leads to a viable calculational scheme for studying
nuclear structure, and discuss the surprising role of pairing collapse.Comment: 19 pages, 8 figures Revised version To be published in Phys. Rev.
The nature of close companions of the BL Lac Objects 1ES 0502+675 and 1ES 1440+122
We report on deep radio images and optical spectroscopy of two BL Lac objects
that have very close compact companions. The two targets, 1ES 0502+675 and 1ES
1440+122, were selected from the HST imaging survey of 110 BL Lacs as
candidates for possible gravitational lensing. The new observations clearly
demonstrate that the companion objects are not secondary images of the active
nuclei but, in spite of the relatively low chance projection probability,
foreground Galactic stars. Gravitational lensing appears to be unimportant to
the BL Lac phenomenon. We discuss the radio properties of the BL Lac objects in
the context of standard beaming models, and show they are as expected for
beamed FRI radio galaxies.Comment: 13 pages, 5 figures, ApJ in pres
Novel self-assembled morphologies from isotropic interactions
We present results from particle simulations with isotropic medium range
interactions in two dimensions. At low temperature novel types of aggregated
structures appear. We show that these structures can be explained by
spontaneous symmetry breaking in analytic solutions to an adaptation of the
spherical spin model. We predict the critical particle number where the
symmetry breaking occurs and show that the resulting phase diagram agrees well
with results from particle simulations.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure
Electronic structure of GaAs1-xNx alloy by soft-X-ray absorption and emission: Origin of the reduced optical efficiency
The local electronic structure of N atoms in a diluted GaAs1-xNx (x=3%)
alloy, in view of applications in optoelectronics, is determined for the first
time using soft-X-ray absorption (SXA) and emission (SXE). Deviations from
crystalline GaN, in particular in the conduction band, are dramatic. Employing
the orbital character and elemental specificity of the SXE/SXA spectroscopies,
we identify a charge transfer from the N atoms at the valence band maximum,
reducing the overlap with the wavefunction in conduction band minimum, as the
main factor limiting the optical efficiency of GaAs1-xNx alloys. Moreover, a
k-conserving process of resonant inelastic x-ray scattering involving the L1
derived valence and conduction states is discovered.Comment: 3 pages, physica status solidi (Rapid Research Notes), in pres
Scalable designs for quantum computing with rare-earth-ion-doped crystals
Due to inhomogeneous broadening, the absorption lines of rare-earth-ion
dopands in crystals are many order of magnitudes wider than the homogeneous
linewidths. Several ways have been proposed to use ions with different
inhomogeneous shifts as qubit registers, and to perform gate operations between
such registers by means of the static dipole coupling between the ions.
In this paper we show that in order to implement high-fidelity quantum gate
operations by means of the static dipole interaction, we require the
participating ions to be strongly coupled, and that the density of such
strongly coupled registers in general scales poorly with register size.
Although this is critical to previous proposals which rely on a high density of
functional registers, we describe architectures and preparation strategies that
will allow scalable quantum computers based on rare-earth-ion doped crystals.Comment: Submitted to Phys. Rev.
Kinetic modelling of runaway electron avalanches in tokamak plasmas
Runaway electrons (REs) can be generated in tokamak plasmas if the
accelerating force from the toroidal electric field exceeds the collisional
drag force due to Coulomb collisions with the background plasma. In ITER,
disruptions are expected to generate REs mainly through knock-on collisions,
where enough momentum can be transferred from existing runaways to slow
electrons to transport the latter beyond a critical momentum, setting off an
avalanche of REs. Since knock-on runaways are usually scattered off with a
significant perpendicular component of the momentum with respect to the local
magnetic field direction, these particles are highly magnetized. Consequently,
the momentum dynamics require a full 3-D kinetic description, since these
electrons are highly sensitive to the magnetic non-uniformity of a toroidal
configuration. A bounce-averaged knock-on source term is derived. The
generation of REs from the combined effect of Dreicer mechanism and knock-on
collision process is studied with the code LUKE, a solver of the 3-D linearized
bounce-averaged relativistic electron Fokker-Planck equation, through the
calculation of the response of the electron distribution function to a constant
parallel electric field. This work shows that the avalanche effect can be
important even in non-disruptive scenarios. RE formation through knock-on
collisions is found to be strongly reduced when taking place off the magnetic
axis, since trapped electrons cannot contribute to the RE population. The
relative importance of the avalanche mechanism is investigated as a function of
the key parameters for RE formation; the plasma temperature and the electric
field strength. In agreement with theoretical predictions, the simulations show
that in low temperature and E-field knock-on collisions are the dominant source
of REs and can play a significant role for RE generation, including in
non-disruptive scenarios.Comment: 23 pages, 12 figure
Stellar properties of z ~ 1 Lyman-break galaxies from ACS slitless grism spectra
Lyman-break galaxies are now regularly found in the high redshift Universe by
searching for the break in the galaxy spectrum caused by the Lyman-limit
redshifted into the optical or even near-IR. At lower redshift, this break is
covered by the GALEX UV channels and small samples of z ~ 1 LBGs have been
presented in the literature. Here we give results from fitting the spectral
energy distributions of a small sub-set of low redshift LBGs and demonstrate
the advantage of including photometric points derived from HST ACS slitless
grism observations. The results show these galaxies to have very young, star
forming populations, while still being massive and dusty. LBGs at low and high
redshift show remarkable similarities in their properties, indicating that the
LBG selection method picks similar galaxies throughout the Universe.Comment: 7 pages, 3 figures, 2 tables, accepted in A&
Spatially self-similar spherically symmetric perfect-fluid models
Einstein's field equations for spatially self-similar spherically symmetric
perfect-fluid models are investigated. The field equations are rewritten as a
first-order system of autonomous differential equations. Dimensionless
variables are chosen in such a way that the number of equations in the coupled
system is reduced as far as possible and so that the reduced phase space
becomes compact and regular. The system is subsequently analysed qualitatively
with the theory of dynamical systems.Comment: 21 pages, 6 eps-figure
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