‘It’s a-me, Mario!’ Exploring dynamic changes and similarities in the composition of early Nintendo video game music

As with films, a thoughtfully composed video game soundtrack has the ability to dramatically enhance and elevate the experience for the audience or player. This article explores the potential issues and difficulties of composing for video game systems by studying the sound-producing hardware and music for two popular systems from one manufacturer. By comparing two of Nintendo’s Super Mario titles, which appeared on both 8-bit and 16-bit systems, through an analysis of the technology, audio, visual (audiovisual), music, and gameplay elements, it is shown that the musical composition was affected by the limitations of processing power. The discussion shows how the composer, Koji Kondo, overcame the issues of limited computing power by using layers of repetition while applying various functions of music for film to enhance player immersion. Kondo composed theme music that has become engrained in popular culture and is synonymous with one of Nintendo’s flagship franchises (Greening, 2014). By attempting to understand the method or approach behind the composition for earlier systems, it is possible to investigate and discuss the evolution of video game music while acknowledging and contributing to the study of music for games. A musical analysis of the Castle and Underwater themes on each system allows for a direct comparison of the compositional approach, while an audiovisual analysis reveals the presence of existing cinematic tropes and identifies potential influences on the creation of effective musical soundtracks for video games. Applying audiovisual theory to games will require the use of existing literature from Lissa (1965), Gorbman (1987), Chion (1994) and Tagg (2004), along with the work of Collins (2005; 2007a; 2007b; 2008a; 2008b), which adapts and applies audiovisual analysis to video games

Quality in Measurement: Beyond the deployment barrier

Network measurement stands at an intersection in the development of the science. We explore possible futures for the area and propose some guidelines for the development of stronger measurement techniques. The paper concludes with a discussion of the work of the NLANR and WAND network measurement groups including the NLANR Network Analysis Infrastructure, AMP, PMA, analysis of Voice over IP traffic and separation of HTTP delays into queuing delay, network latency and server delay

The folly of fancy fonts

Research has indicated that the font information is presented in can be used by readers as a visual guide to the potential difficulty of the content; specifically that disfluent fonts are perceived as indicating greater task difficulty. A series of preliminary experiments was conducted in a Japanese high school in order to determine if such effects can be found in second language learners. It was found that students do indeed use the font lesson materials are presented in as a guide to the perceived difficulty or enjoyability of a task. Furthermore, these decisions are made within seconds of first seeing the material. The potential effects of disfluent fonts in boosting vocabulary retention were also investigated. However, while the results were inconclusive, it was determined that the students believed that such an effect existed. While further research is needed, these results indicate that teachers can potentially engineer small increases (or decreases) in student motivation via the font they choose when preparing lesson materials

A critical approach to global citizenship in initial teacher training in the UK

This paper compares the evidence and robustness of a critical approach to global citizenship in the English Initial Teacher Training (ITT) sector of school-based training with that of Higher Education-based training. In recent years there has been a shift in market from mainly Higher Education provision to equal allocation of provision between school-based and Higher Education-based providers. It is core to the arguments in this paper that the impact to ITT provided via a Higher Education Institution (HEI) is likely, by virtue of their global recruitment of students, to take a critical approach to global citizenship to ensure that their international reputations are not only maintained, but enhanced. It is also likely that this will reflect in the content of the university-based courses. Additional to this is that the HEI ITT awards are made at Masters level, which school-based training is unable to offer. The paper examines the contrasts between the local paradigm for school-based training and the national and international paradigm of the HEI route. The comparison will further identify underlying issues of the pathways, which may impact on preconceptions of students entering Higher Education in particular and as such assist in informing policy approaches to developing a critical approach to global citizenship both by HEIs and of students

Performance, Validation and Testing with the Network Simulation Cradle

Much current simulation of TCP makes use of simplified models of TCP, which is a large and complex protocol with many variations possible between implementations. We use direct execution of real world network stacks in the network simulator ns-2 to compare TCP performance between implementations and reproduce existing work. A project called The Network Simulation Cradle provides the real world network stacks and we show how it can be used for performance evaluation and validation. There are large differences in performance between simplified TCP models and TCP implementations in some situations. Such differences are apparent in some reproduced research, with results using the Network Simulation Cradle very different from the results produced with the ns-2 TCP models. In other cases, using the real implementations gives very similar results, validating the original research

Automatic application object migration in sensor networks

Object migration in wireless sensor networks has the potential to reduce energy consumption for a wireless sensor network mesh. Automated migration reduces the need for the programmer to perform manual static analysis to find an efficient layout solution. Instead, the system can self-optimise and adjust to changing conditions. This paper describes an automated, transparent object migration system for wireless sensor networks, implemented on a micro Java virtual machine. The migration system moves objects at runtime around the sensor mesh to reduce communication overheads. The movement of objects is transparent to the application developer. Automated transparent object migration is a core component of Hydra, a distributed operating system for wireless sensor networks that is currently under development. Performance of the system under a complex performance test scenario using a real-world dataset of seismic events is described. The results show that under both simple and complex conditions the migration technique can result in lower data traffic and consequently lower overall energy cost

Effects of green manure crops on short-term nitrogen availability in organic sweet corn systems : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Applied Science in Soil Science

In the Gisborne Region of New Zealand (NZ) many organic sweet corn growers use a range of winter green manure crops as a means of maintaining and improving soil fertility, particularly the availability of soil N. Some debate exists as to the most suitable green manure crops and their effectiveness at improving short-term N availability for subsequent sweet corn crops. Two field trials were conducted in the Gisborne Region to assess the effectiveness of four winter green manure crops using a subsequent sweet corn crop to evaluate N availability. Two sites, Site-A at Tekaraka and Site-B at Tolaga Bay, with BIO-GROW NZ organic certification were used in this study. A Latin Square trial design was used at each site consisting of 25 plots made up of five replicates of each of the following five treatments: control (bare soil), blue lupin (Lupinus angustifolus), mustard (Brassica sp.), mustard/blue lupin mix and annual ryegrass (Lolium multiflorum). Just prior to the soil incorporation of green manure treatments (early-mid September 1997), the lupin crop had the highest N concentration and N accumulation levels of 2.1% N and 156 kg N ha-1, respectively, at Site-A and 2.1% N and 173 kg N ha-1, respectively at Site-B. Soil incorporation of green manure treatments significantly influenced soil (0-150 mm) mineral N (nitrate and ammonium) levels measured at sweet corn emergence (30 November 1997) and at 51/2 weeks post emergence. At sweet corn emergence the lupin, mustard/lupin mix, mustard, control and ryegrass treatments resulted in soil mineral N values of 68, 66, 57, 51 and 29 kg.N.ha-1, respectively, at Site-A and 118, 118, 91, 81 and 54 kg.N.ha-1, respectively, at Site B. At both sites, the lupin and mustard/lupin mix treatments resulted in soil mineral N levels significantly higher than the control treatment. In contrast, the ryegrass treatment resulted in soil mineral N levels significantly lower than the control treatment. These treatment effects were related to green manure crop N concentrations just prior to soil incorporation. On average over both sites, the lupin and mustard/lupin mix treatments, which had high DM yields (7900 kg and 6500 kg.DM.ha-1 respectively), had the highest N concentrations (2.0% and 2.1% N respectively). The ryegrass treatment, which also accumulated a high average DM yield (6200 kg.DM.ha-1), contained the lowest average N concentration of only 1.1% N. Sweet corn N accumulation at harvest was also significantly influenced by green manure treatments. At both sites, ryegrass significantly reduced sweet corn N accumulation compared with all other treatments, being 44% and 36% lower than control treatment value of 117 kg.N.ha-1. At Site-A, the lupin, mustard/lupin and mustard treatment effects on sweet corn N accumulation were not different from that of the control treatment at final harvest. However, at Site-B the lupin and mustard/lupin mix treatments did produce sweet corn N accumulation levels significantly higher than the control treatment; being 21% and 18% higher than the control value of 102 kg.N.ha-1, respectively. Compared to the control treatment sweet corn yield (17.3 t ha-1 averaged over both sites), none of the four green manure treatments improved sweet corn yield even though the lupin and mustard/lupin mix treatments both increased soil N availability and sweet corn N accumulation. Soil moisture limitations probably restricted yield potentials. However, the ryegrass treatment detrimentally affected sweet corn yields at both sites. When compared to the control treatment reductions of 64% and 48% at Site-A and Site-B, respectively, were measured. Soil mineral N (0-150 mm) tested early in the sweet corn growing season gave a better relationship with sweet corn N accumulation and yield compared with the incubation tests used. Short-term soil incubation tests, conducted under aerobic and anaerobic conditions, were not useful as indicators of net N mineralisation as they did not relate well to actual soil N mineralisation or crop response. Although both the lupin and the mustard/lupin mix treatments had similar effects on soil N availability and sweet corn N accumulation, of the two the lupin treatment achieved a higher level of estimated N fixation. On average the estimated N fixation in the lupin treatment (98 kg N ha-1 averaged over both sites) was higher than N losses in harvested sweet corn ears (77 kg N ha-1 averaged over both sites). This positive N balance would help compensate for other possible N losses from the soil-plant system (ie. ammonia volatilisation or nitrate leaching). Overall, the lupin green manure treatment appears be the best crop in terms of improving short-term N availability for the subsequent sweet corn crop and for maintaining an N balance in the soil-plant system. But ultimately, the benefit of lupin as a green manure crop will also depend on environmental conditions and management practices

Experimental Constraints on the Pairing State of the Cuprate Superconductors: an Emerging Consensus

We present a critical discussion of recent experimental probes of the pairing state of the high temperature superconductors, focusing primarily, but not exclusively, on \Yba, where the best data currently exist. Penetration depth measurements near \Tc\ give no indication of an extra transition, indicating that the pairing state is a one-dimensional representation of the crystal symmetry. Penetration depth measurements at low temperatures provide strong evidence for a change in sign of the gap function over the Fermi surface. Quantum mechanical phase interference experiments generally confirm this and in addition show that the nodal positions are consistent with a \dx2y2\ pairing state. This pairing state is consistent with photoemission measurements of the gap function, Raman scattering, the effect on \Tc\ of impurities, and many other data (reviewed by two of us previously) which indicate the presence of low lying excitations in the superconducting state. We also discuss evidence that apparently does not fit in with a \dx2y2\ pairing state, and we describe possible alternative scenarios.Comment: 81 pages, macro package (modified version of uiucmac.tex) included in submission, figures NOT available (but not essential