From Fantasy to Virtual Reality: An Exploration of Modeling, Rigging and Animating Characters for Video Games

In the last few decades video games have quickly become one of the most popular forms of entertainment around the world. This can be linked to the improvement of computer systems and graphics which now allow for authentic and highly detailed computer generated characters. This project examines how these characters are modeled and developed. The examination of game characters entails a brief history of video games and their aesthetics. The foundations of character design are discussed and 3D modeling of a character is explored in detail. Finally, rigging or skeleton placement is investigated in order to animate the characters designed for this study. The result is two animated characters, which can be incorporated into several of the current and popular game engines. By the end of this paper the reader should have a fundamental understanding of how a video game character is designed, modeled, rigged, and animated

Developing live projects as part of an assessment regime within a dispersed campus model

Our newly designed MSc unit, Sustainable Business Management (SBM), is designed to engage students in the real‐life practical application of sustainability at work. The authentic assessment uses a live project approach to develop and evaluate both the practical and academic skills needed to deliver sustainability. The purpose of this paper is to discuss how the unit assessment needed to change beyond the original, intended design (March to December, 2016) and its first delivery (February to March, 2017) in order to accommodate the inclusion of a new transnational education partner delivering the unit synchronously. The use of video technology, weaved into a revised assessment design and adapted in an imaginative way, allowed for a localised delivery that retained the authenticity and creativity of the original assessment while ensuring the maintenance of academic standards

Gestational cocaine: effects on postpartum behaviors and endocrine signaling in a rodent model

Cocaine use by human mothers during pregnancy is highly correlated with child neglect, maternal anxiety and depression. Human and rodent infants exposed to cocaine in utero exhibit altered behavioral and neurological phenotypes, and appear to be less able to elicit normal care from biological and foster mothers. In rodents, specific pup-produced stimuli, including vocalizations, olfactory cues, and body temperature, have been associated with the initiation and maintenance of maternal response. Animal models indicate that chronic cocaine (CC) treatment throughout gestation disrupts postpartum maternal behavior (MB), including retrieving pups to the nest, nursing and licking behaviors, while simultaneously altering oxytocinergic signaling (receptors, levels, synthesis). It has not yet been determined if plasma levels of OT in rodents are also altered by CC treatment or if they are associated with brain region-specific changes. The current studies found that gestational cocaine exposure alters the retrieval behavior of dams in an interactive manner depending on dam treatment, pup treatment and postpartum day tested. On PPD5, CC-treated dams were found to have lower plasma OT, without differing in brain OT following a retrieval test. Group pup ultrasonic vocalizations did not differ significantly between prenatal exposure conditions, indicating these may not be the most relevant cues by which dams differentiate between litters. In addition to changes in response to pups, CC treatment resulted in disrupted stress-coping that was associated with increased hormonal stress responsiveness and changes in brain OT levels, both of which could be a mechanism of altered maternal response. Olfactory preference for pup urine declined across the postpartum period and only CC-treated dams specifically avoided CC-exposed pup urine olfactory cues. The complex nature of maternal-infant interactions during the early postpartum period was clear in this study, highlighting the need for continued studies to pinpoint the underlying mechanisms of cocaine-induced changes in dam maternal response and how early differential patterns of biological and behavioral measures in pups might further exacerbate disruptions in maternal care by any dam. Furthermore, these studies suggest that stress-responsiveness may be an important contributing factor to disruptions in cocaine-induced deficits in MB

Changes in DNA bending and flexing due to tethered cations detected by fluorescence resonance energy transfer

Local DNA deformation arises from an interplay among sequence-related base stacking, intrastrand phosphate repulsion, and counterion and water distribution, which is further complicated by the approach and binding of a protein. The role of electrostatics in this complex chemistry was investigated using tethered cationic groups that mimic proximate side chains. A DNA duplex was modified with one or two centrally located deoxyuracils substituted at the 5-position with either a flexible 3-aminopropyl group or a rigid 3-aminopropyn-1-yl group. End-to-end helical distances and duplex flexibility were obtained from measurements of the time-resolved Förster resonance energy transfer between 5′- and 3′-linked dye pairs. A novel analysis utilized the first and second moments of the G(t) function, which encompasses only the energy transfer process. Duplex flexibility is altered by the presence of even a single positive charge. In contrast, the mean 5′–3′ distance is significantly altered by the introduction of two adjacently tethered cations into the double helix but not by a single cation: two adjacent aminopropyl groups decrease the 5′–3′ distance while neighboring aminopropynyl groups lengthen the helix

Prenatal Cocaine Disrupts Serotonin Signaling-Dependent Behaviors: Implications for Sex Differences, Early Stress and Prenatal SSRI Exposure

Prenatal cocaine (PC) exposure negatively impacts the developing nervous system, including numerous changes in serotonergic signaling. Cocaine, a competitive antagonist of the serotonin transporter, similar to selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), also blocks dopamine and norepinephrine transporters, leaving the direct mechanism through which cocaine disrupts the developing serotonin system unclear. In order to understand the role of the serotonin transporter in cocaine’s effect on the serotonergic system, we compare reports concerning PC and prenatal antidepressant exposure and conclude that PC exposure affects many facets of serotonergic signaling (serotonin levels, receptors, transporters) and that these effects differ significantly from what is observed following prenatal SSRI exposure. Alterations in serotonergic signaling are dependent on timing of exposure, test regimens, and sex. Following PC exposure, behavioral disturbances are observed in attention, emotional behavior and stress response, aggression, social behavior, communication, and like changes in serotonergic signaling, these effects depend on sex, age and developmental exposure. Vulnerability to the effects of PC exposure can be mediated by several factors, including allelic variance in serotonergic signaling genes, being male (although fewer studies have investigated female offspring), and experiencing the adverse early environments that are commonly coincident with maternal drug use. Early environmental stress results in disruptions in serotonergic signaling analogous to those observed with PC exposure and these may interact to produce greater behavioral effects observed in children of drug-abusing mothers. We conclude that based on past evidence, future studies should put a greater emphasis on including females and monitoring environmental factors when studying the impact of PC exposure

Individual Values and SME Environmental Engagement

We study the values on which managers of small and medium-sized enterprises draw when constructing their personal and organizational-level engagement with environmental issues, particularly climate change. Values play an important mediating role in business environmental engagement but relatively little research has been conducted on individual values in smaller organizations. Using the Schwartz Value System (SVS) as a framework for a qualitative analysis, we identify four ‘ideal-types’ of SME managers and provide rich descriptions of the ways in which values shape their constructions of environmental engagement. In contrast to previous research, which is framed around a binary divide between self-enhancing and self-transcending values, our typology distinguishes between individuals drawing primarily on Power or on Achievement values, and indicates how a combination of Achievement and Benevolence values is particularly significant in shaping environmental engagement. This demonstrates the theoretical usefulness of focusing on a complete range of values. Implications for policy and practice are discussed

Novel DNA methylation profiles associated with key gene regulation and transcription pathways in blood and placenta of growth-restricted neonates

BB/H012494/1/ Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Counci

Report on the Texas Legislature, 85th Session: An Urban Perspective-Criminal Justice Edition

In Texas, the legislature meets every 2 years and at the end of a regular legislative session, hundreds of passed bills will have been sent to the governor for approval. The large number of bills and the wide range of topics they cover can make it difficult to gain an understanding of all the new laws that were passed. At the close of each legislative session the Earl Carl Institute publishes, for the benefit of its constituents, highlights from the session in a bi-annual legislative report. In this year’s publication entitled Report on the Texas Legislature, 85th Session: An Urban Perspective the Institute attempted to cover matters that it believes to be of concern to the urban community, however, many of the highlights cover issues of particular concern to other traditionally disenfranchised communities as well. The legislation covered in these reports generally falls under such issues as Election, Criminal Justice (Human Trafficking, Criminal Procedure, Wrongful Convictions, Domestic Violence), Juvenile Justice, Family Law, Property, Education, Healthcare, Wills, Estate and Probate, Wealth and Litigation. We are pleased to present, via The Bridge: Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Legal & Social Policy, an excerpt this year’s legislative report that highlights legislative actions in the area of criminal justice reform in the State of Texas. The full report, published in August 2017, can be accessed via the Institute’s website www.tsulaw.edu/centers/ECI/publications.html