A critical analysis of the game Heavy Rain as a successful representation of the contemporary cyberdrama

M.A.--University of the Witwatersrand, Faculty of Humanities, School of Arts, 2012Traditional narrative as it is known, is linear such as with books and film. Over the last two or three decades narrative has changed to become something different. Stories are no longer linear and no longer presented as a passive activity. With the invention of digital narrative they have become interactive and allow for participation on the part of the viewer. The Cyberdrama is something more than this concept of interactive narrative. It is a contemplative participation that is reliant on the relationships that exist between the author, viewer and the medium through which it is represented. This paper is a look into Janet Murray's original theory of the Cyberdrama and its emergence in contemporary digital games. This will be done through a critical analysis of the game Heavy Rain (2010) in order to show how it exemplifies Murray's theory

Assessment of Unsteady Propagation Characteristics and Corrections in Aeroacoustic Wind Tunnels Using an Acoustic Pulse

Two types of aeroacoustic wind tunnel test section configurations have been tested in the NASA Langley Quiet Flow Facility. The first is a more traditional open-jet configuration, where test section flow passes unbounded through the facility anechoic chamber. The second is the more recent Kevlar wall configuration, where a tensioned Kevlar sheet bounds the test section flow from the facility anechoic chamber. For both configurations, acoustic instrumentation is in the surrounding quiescent space. Both configurations are evaluated with a laser-based pulsed acoustic source, which provides unique capability for assessing the facility unsteady acoustic propagation characteristics. Metrics based on the wander and spread of the pulses are evaluated and show that measurements using Kevlar walls experience dramatically reduced unsteady effects when compared to the open-jet configuration. This leads to a corresponding improvement in coherence between microphones with the Kevlar configuration. Corrections for magnitude and phase for propagation through Kevlar as compared to open-jet propagation are calculated. While limitations in the experimental setup make quantitative analysis difficult, qualitative analysis shows Kevlar magnitude corrections similar to those determined in previous literature. Directivity effects beyond those already present for open-jet configurations are minimal. Phase corrections relative to open-jet configurations are indeterminate within the limitations of the experiment, though data suggest such corrections are not extreme. The background noise produced by the Kevlar is found to be its one drawback when compared with the open-jet configuration, showing significantly greater levels at high frequencies

Participatory citizens and hybrid cities:imagining green spaces in Manchester's Northern Quarter

This paper presents an innovative community project through the notion of research through design. With Manchester as our hybrid city backdrop, we look specifically at community greening groups in the Northern Quarter (NQ). Thirty-four participants attended 12 conversations that asked: how do you respond to a greening challenge with the digital communication and technology you carry with you? Through the use of IDEO and D:School’s Empathy Map we reveal conversational themes that will inform a design challenge

Bio-conversion of methane to liquid transportation fuel using methanotrophic bacteria

Methane is the second largest contributor to climate radiative warming with a global warming potential of ~34 times greater than that of carbon dioxide. Capturable methane from anthropogenic sources includes mainly natural gas and bio-gas and represents a flux of around 162 Mt yr-1. Methane is often flared or vented due to difficulties with storage and transportation. Conversion technologies have poor scalability so are not viable at small or geographically isolated methane sources. It is envisaged that microbial bio-conversion of methane using methane oxidising bacteria (methanotrophs) can be used to biologically upgrade methane to liquid transportation. The present study set out to develop and explore a scalable bioconversion technology for conversion of methane to liquid transportation fuel. To do this an end-to-end approach was taken than included isolation of environmental methanotrophs, characterisation of isolates and metabolic engineering of isobutanol biosynthesis. Using bacterial isolation techniques such as extinction dilution plating and miniaturised extinction dilution methanotrophs were isolated from a variety of methane rich environmental samples such as freshwater sediment, soil and manure. These methanotrophic isolates were characterised and identified within established genera/species of which some are suspected to be novel species. Type I isolates included: Isolate 01; Methylocystis sp., isolate 03; Methylocystis sp., isolate 3*; Methylocystis nov sp. and isolate 6; Methylocystis SB2. Novel characteristics of the Methylocystis genus such as fimbriae were viewed using TEM in isolate 3*. Type I isolates included, isolate 14 Methylococcus capsulatus (isolated from the same sampling site as the type strain Methylococcus capsulatus (Bath)) and isolate 10 Methylocaldum nov sp. of which isolate 10 exhibited novel characteristics for the genus. Isolate 14 and 6 had their genome sequenced using a PacBio method and genomes were compared to closely related established strains genomes including Methylocystis rosea and Methylococcus capsulatus (Bath). Isolate 14 and isolate 6 were chosen for engineering and A molecular toolbox was developed including expression vectors, promoters and selection markers to facilitate the metabolic engineering of isolates and established strains. In addition to this an attempt was made to knockout carbon storage production within the isolates via allelic exchange. Metabolic engineering of an isobutanol biosynthetic pathway was employed by diverting flux from native valine biosynthesis to isobutanol. To do this a selection of heterologous keto-acid decarboxylases and alcohol dehydrogenases were overexpressed which, along with 2-ketoisovalerate feeding, yielded an isobutanol titre of 0.53 mM in M. parvus, 0.117 mM in M. capsulatus (Bath) and 0.27 mM in isolate 6 (Methylocystis SB2)

Experimental Study of Noise Shielding by a NACA 0012 Airfoil

The effects of sound source location, Mach number and angle of attack on the shielding of a laser-induced sound source by a NACA 0012 airfoil are examined. The sound source is a small plasma generated by a high energy, laser beam focused to a point. In-flow microphone measurements are acquired in the midspan plane of the airfoil over a broad range of streamwise stations, and shielding levels are calculated over different frequency ranges from the measurements acquired with and without the airfoil installed. Shielding levels are shown to increase as the source is positioned closer to the mid-chord of the airfoil, and to significantly decrease with increasing flow Mach number, except when the source is positioned near the leading edge of the airfoil. Both with and without flow, changes in angle of attack are associated with a corresponding shift of the shadow region. Finally, the effects of multipath signals, observer distance and signal scatter on the measured shielding levels are discussed

Acoustic Data Processing and Transient Signal Analysis for the Hybrid Wing Body 14- by 22-Foot Subsonic Wind Tunnel Test

An advanced vehicle concept, the HWB N2A-EXTE aircraft design, was tested in NASA Langley's 14- by 22-Foot Subsonic Wind Tunnel to study its acoustic characteristics for var- ious propulsion system installation and airframe con gurations. A signi cant upgrade to existing data processing systems was implemented, with a focus on portability and a re- duction in turnaround time. These requirements were met by updating codes originally written for a cluster environment and transferring them to a local workstation while en- abling GPU computing. Post-test, additional processing of the time series was required to remove transient hydrodynamic gusts from some of the microphone time series. A novel automated procedure was developed to analyze and reject contaminated blocks of data, under the assumption that the desired acoustic signal of interest was a band-limited sta- tionary random process, and of lower variance than the hydrodynamic contamination. The procedure is shown to successfully identify and remove contaminated blocks of data and retain the desired acoustic signal. Additional corrections to the data, mainly background subtraction, shear layer refraction calculations, atmospheric attenuation and microphone directivity corrections, were all necessary for initial analysis and noise assessments. These were implemented for the post-processing of spectral data, and are shown to behave as expected

High-throughput proteomic profiling of the fish liver following bacterial infection

Abstract Background High-throughput proteomics was used to determine the role of the fish liver in defense responses to bacterial infection. This was done using a rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) model following infection with Aeromonas salmonicida, the causative agent of furunculosis. The vertebrate liver has multifaceted functions in innate immunity, metabolism, and growth; we hypothesize this tissue serves a dual role in supporting host defense in parallel to metabolic adjustments that promote effective immune function. While past studies have reported mRNA responses to A. salmonicida in salmonids, the impact of bacterial infection on the liver proteome remains uncharacterized in fish. Results Rainbow trout were injected with A. salmonicida or PBS (control) and liver extracted 48 h later for analysis on a hybrid quadrupole-Orbitrap mass spectrometer. A label-free method was used for protein abundance profiling, which revealed a strong innate immune response along with evidence to support parallel rewiring of metabolic and growth systems. 3076 proteins were initially identified against all proteins (n = 71,293 RefSeq proteins) annotated in a single high-quality rainbow trout reference genome, of which 2433 were maintained for analysis post-quality filtering. Among the 2433 proteins, 109 showed significant differential abundance following A. salmonicida challenge, including many upregulated complement system and acute phase response proteins, in addition to molecules with putative functions that may support metabolic re-adjustments. We also identified novel expansions in the complement system due to gene and whole genome duplication events in salmonid evolutionary history, including eight C3 proteins showing differential changes in abundance. Conclusions This study provides the first high-throughput proteomic examination of the fish liver in response to bacterial challenge, revealing novel markers for the host defense response, and evidence of metabolic remodeling in conjunction with activation of innate immunity

COORDINATING A FACULTY RESPONSE TO COVID-19 IMPACTS: THE 6 C’S OF EDUCATION AND A COLLECTIVE LEADERSHIP APPROACH

How do you plan, coordinate, lead and support good practice in a time of evolving and rapid response? This presentation reflects upon faculty leadership, and its role in advocating and supporting Faculty of Science (FSCI) staff and students at the University of Newcastle throughout the COVID-19 context. Using the lens of the ‘6 C’s of Education’ (Fullan & Scott, 2014), we review the approaches, actions, and directions undertaken by central faculty leadership teams, including Executive, FSCI-Global Engagement, FSCI-Teaching & Learning, and the ‘COVID War Council’, and their impact on students, teaching staff and university level decision making processes. Preliminary feedback from staff and students on our COVID-19 response is included, as well as consideration of lingering influences of COVID-19 on policy, procedure and the culture of tertiary education. REFERENCE Fullan, M., & Scott, G. (2014). New pedagogies for deep learning whitepaper: Education PLUS. Collaborative Impact SPC, Seattle, Washington

Resistance to the Antimicrobial Peptide Polymyxin Requires Myristoylation of Escherichia Coli and Salmonella Typhimurium Lipid A

Attachment of positively charged, amine-containing residues such as 4-amino-4-deoxy-L-arabinose (L-Ara4N) and phosphoethanolamine (pEtN) to Escherichia coli and Salmonella typhimurium lipid A is required for resistance to the cationic antimicrobial peptide, polymyxin. In an attempt to discover additional lipid A modifications important for polymyxin resistance, we generated polymyxin-sensitive mutants of an E. coli pmrAC strain, WD101. A subset of polymyxin-sensitive mutants produced a lipid A that lacked both the 3′-acyloxyacyl-linked myristate (C14) and L-Ara4N, even though the necessary enzymatic machinery required to synthesize L-Ara4N-modified lipid A was present. Inactivation of lpxM in both E. coli and S. typhimurium resulted in the loss of L-Ara4N addition, as well as, increased sensitivity to polymyxin. However, decoration of the lipid A phosphate groups with pEtN residues was not effected in lpxM mutants. In summary, we demonstrate that attachment of L-Ara4N to the phosphate groups of lipid A and the subsequent resistance to polymyxin is dependent upon the presence of the secondary linked myristoyl group

The impact of the initial Covid-19 lockdown upon regular sports bettors in Britain:Findings from a cross-sectional online study

Background: In Britain, unprecedented restrictions on daily life associated with the Covid-19 pandemic included the suspension of professional sports events during the initial ‘lockdown’. This provides opportunities to observe changes in sports bettors’ behaviour when their primary form of activity is removed and assess the impact of Covid-19 related circumstances upon gambling. Methods: In July 2020, we conducted an online cross-sectional survey of people who bet regularly (at least monthly) on sports before Covid-19 (n=3866). Bi-variate analyses compared changes in gambling behaviours before and during the initial lockdown. Multi-variate logistic regression models explored associations between problem gambling (men) and moderate risk or problem gambling (MRPG) (women) with changes in Covid-19 related circumstances and changing gambling behaviours during Britain’s initial ‘lockdown’ (March-June 2020). Results: 29.8% of male sports bettors and 33.4% of female sports bettors stopped gambling altogether during the initial Covid-19 lockdown, though 17.3% of men and 16.5% of women started a new form of gambling during lockdown. Among men, adjusted odds ratios of problem gambling were higher among those starting a new gambling activity during lockdown (OR=2.50 [95% CI 1.38-4.53]). Among women, adjusted odds ratios of MRPG were higher among those whose frequency of gambling on any activity increased during lockdown (OR=4.21 [1.99-8.92] and among those shielding for health reasons. Poorer wellbeing was associated with problem gambling for men and MRPH for women. Conclusions: Those changing gambling behaviours during the initial Covid-19 lockdown (e.g. increasing gambling frequency or starting a new gambling activity) are potentially vulnerable to gambling harms