From individual characters to large crowds: augmenting the believability of open-world games through exploring social emotion in pedestrian groups

Crowds of non-player characters improve the game-play experiences of open-world video-games. Grouping is a common phenomenon of crowds and plays an important role in crowd behaviour. Recent crowd simulation research focuses on group modelling in pedestrian crowds and game-designers have argued that the design of non-player characters should capture and exploit the relationship between characters. The concepts of social groups and inter-character relationships are not new in social psychology, and on-going work addresses the social life of emotions and its behavioural consequences on individuals and groups alike. The aim of this paper is to provide an overview of current research in social psychology, and to use the findings as a source of inspiration to design a social network of non-player characters, with application to the problem of group modelling in simulated crowds in computer games

What is the problem to which interactive multimedia is the solution?

This is something of an unusual paper. It serves as both the reason for and the result of a small number of leading academics in the field, coming together to focus on the question that serves as the title to this paper: What is the problem to which interactive multimedia is the solution? Each of the authors addresses this question from their own viewpoint, offering informed insights into the development, implementation and evaluation of multimedia. The result of their collective work was also the focus of a Western Australian Institute of Educational Research seminar, convened at Edith Cowan University on 18 October, 1994. The question posed is deliberately rhetorical - it is asked to allow those represented here to consider what they think are the significant issues in the fast-growing field of multimedia. More directly, the question is also asked here because nobody else has considered it worth asking: for many multimedia is done because it is technically possible, not because it offers anything that is of value or provides the solution to a particular problem. The question, then, is answered in various ways by each of the authors involved and each, in their own way, consider a range of fundamental issues concerning the nature, place and use of multimedia - both in education and in society generally. By way of an introduction, the following provides a unifying context for the various contributions made here

電気自動車用スイッチトリラクタンスモータのトルクリップルと入力電流リップルの抑制技術

We present a city navigation and tourist information mobile dialogue app with integrated question-answering (QA) and geographic information system (GIS) modules that helps pedestrian users to navigate in and learn about urban environments. In contrast to existing mobile apps which treat these problems independently, our Android app addresses the problem of navigation and touristic question-answering in an integrated fashion using a shared dialogue context. We evaluated our system in comparison with Samsung S-Voice (which interfaces to Google navigation and Google search) with 17 users and found that users judged our system to be significantly more interesting to interact with and learn from. They also rated our system above Google search (with the Samsung S-Voice interface) for tourist information tasks

Exercise-induced bronchoconstriction in athletes – A qualitative assessment of symptom perception

© 2016Background A poor relationship between perceived respiratory symptoms and objective evidence of exercise-induced bronchoconstriction (EIB) in athletes is often reported; however, the reasons for this disconnect remain unclear. The primary aim of this study was to utilise a qualitative-analytical approach to compare respiratory symptoms in athletes with and without objectively confirmed EIB. Methods Endurance athletes who had previously undergone bronchoprovocation test screening for EIB were divided into sub-groups, based on the presence or absence of EIB ± heightened self-report of dyspnoea: (i) EIB-Dys- (ii) EIB + Dys+ (iii) EIB + Dys- (iv) EIB-Dys+. All athletes underwent a detailed semi-structured interview. Results Twenty athletes completed the study with an equal distribution in each sub-group (n = 5). Thematic analysis of individual narratives resulted in four over-arching themes: 1) Factors aggravating dyspnoea, 2) Exercise limitation, 3) Strategies to control dyspnoea, 4) Diagnostic accuracy. The anatomical location of symptoms varied between EIB + Dys + athletes and EIB-Dys + athletes. All EIB-Dys + reported significantly longer recovery times following high-intensity exercise in comparison to all other sub-groups. Finally, EIB + Dys + reported symptom improvement following beta-2 agonist therapy, whereas EIB-Dys + deemed treatment ineffective. Conclusion A detailed qualitative approach to the assessment of breathlessness reveals few features that distinguish between EIB and non-EIB causes of exertional dyspnoea in athletes. Important differences that may provide value in clinical work-up include (i) location of symptoms, (ii) recovery time following exercise and (iii) response to beta-2 agonist therapy. Overall these findings may inform clinical evaluation and development of future questionnaires to aid clinic-based assessment of athletes with dyspnoea

Unpredictable movement as an anti-predator strategy

Prey animals have evolved a wide variety of behaviours to combat the threat of predation, and these have been generally well studied. However, one of the most common and taxonomically widespread antipredator behaviours of all has, remarkably, received almost no experimental attention: so-called ‘protean’ behaviour. This is behaviour which is sufficiently unpredictable to prevent a predator anticipating in detail the future position or actions of its prey. In this study, we used human ‘predators’ participating in 3D virtual reality simulations to test how protean (i.e. unpredictable) variation in prey movement affects participants’ ability to visually target them as they move (a key determinant of successful predation). We found that targeting accuracy was significantly predicted by prey movement path complexity, although, surprisingly, there was little evidence that high levels of unpredictability in the underlying movement rules equated directly to decreased predator performance. Instead, the specific movement rules differed in how they impacted on targeting accuracy, with the efficacy of protean variation in one element depending on the values of the remaining elements. These findings provide important insights into the understudied phenomenon of protean antipredator behaviour, which are directly applicable to predator-prey dynamics within a broad range of taxa

The C-Band All-Sky Survey: Instrument design, status, and first-look data

The C-Band All-Sky Survey (C-BASS) aims to produce sensitive, all-sky maps of diffuse Galactic emission at 5 GHz in total intensity and linear polarization. These maps will be used (with other surveys) to separate the several astrophysical components contributing to microwave emission, and in particular will allow an accurate map of synchrotron emission to be produced for the subtraction of foregrounds from measurements of the polarized Cosmic Microwave Background. We describe the design of the analog instrument, the optics of our 6.1 m dish at the Owens Valley Radio Observatory, the status of observations, and first-look data.Comment: 10 pages, 11 figures, published in Proceedings of SPIE MIllimeter, Submillimeter, and Far-Infrared Detectors and Instrumentation for Astronomy V (2010), Vol. 7741, 77411I-1 - 77411I-1

Understanding the Effects of Gamification and Juiciness on Players

Gamification is widely applied to increase user engagement and motivation, but empirical studies on effectivenessare inconclusive, and often limited to the integration of tangible elements such as leaderboards or badges. In this paper, we report findings from a study with 36 participants that uses the lens of Self-Determination Theory to compare traditional gamification elements, and the concept of juiciness (the provision of abundant audiovisual feedback) in the VR simulation Predator!. Results show that gamification and juiciness improve user experience, but that only juiciness fulfills all basic psychological needs that facilitate intrinsic motivation when applied in nongaming settings. User preferences favour the combination of both approaches, however, neither improved performance, and there is evidence of juicy elements influencing user behaviour. We discuss implications of these findings for the integration of gamification, reflect on the role of both approaches in the context of feedback, and outline challenges and opportunities for further research. Index Term

Assessing species’ habitat associations from occurrence records, standardised monitoring data and expert opinion: a test with British butterflies

Accurate knowledge of species’ habitat associations is important for conservation planning and policy. Assessing habitat associations is a vital precursor to selecting appropriate indicator species for prioritising sites for conservation or assessing trends in habitat quality. However, much existing knowledge is based on qualitative expert opinion or local scale studies, and may not remain accurate across different spatial scales or geographic locations. Data from biological recording schemes have the potential to provide objective measures of habitat association, with the ability to account for spatial variation. We used data on 50 British butterfly species as a test case to investigate the correspondence of data-derived measures of habitat association with expert opinion, from two different butterfly recording schemes. One scheme collected large quantities of occurrence data (c. 3 million records) and the other, lower quantities of standardised monitoring data (c. 1400 sites). We used general linear mixed effects models to derive scores of association with broad-leaf woodland for both datasets and compared them with scores canvassed from experts. Scores derived from occurrence and abundance data both showed strongly positive correlations with expert opinion. However, only for occurrence data did these fell within the range of correlations between experts. Data-derived scores showed regional spatial variation in the strength of butterfly associations with broad-leaf woodland, with a significant latitudinal trend in 26% of species. Sub-sampling of the data suggested a mean sample size of 5000 occurrence records per species to gain an accurate estimation of habitat association, although habitat specialists are likely to be readily detected using several hundred records. Occurrence data from recording schemes can thus provide easily obtained, objective, quantitative measures of habitat association

The BICS Mycenaean Seminar 2016-17

This annual publication contains summaries of the Mycenaean Seminar convened by the Institute of Classical Studies. The seminar series has been running since the 1950s, when it focused largely on the exciting new research enabled by the decipherment of Linear B. The series has now evolved to cover Aegean Prehistory in general, and is well known among subject specialists throughout the world. Taken together, the summaries provide a rich resource for Aegean Prehistory, and often provide the only citable instance of new research projects, until their fuller publication becomes possible. The summaries of the seminars have been published as part of BICS since 1963. Starting with the 2015–16 series, the Mycenaean summaries will be published separately online, retaining their original character and their close connection with BICS, and becoming far more widely available as Open Access publications via the Humanities Digital Library

Forensic investigations of disasters: Past achievements and new directions

In the 2020s, understanding disaster risk requires a strong and clear recognition of values and goals that influence the use of political and economic power and social authority to guide growth and development. This configuration of values, goals, power and authority may also lead to concrete drivers of risk at any one time. Building on previous disaster risk frameworks and experiences from practice, since 2010, the ‘Forensic Investigations of Disasters (FORIN)’ approach has been developed to support transdisciplinary research on the transformational pathways societies may follow to recognise and address root causes and drivers of disaster risk. This article explores and assesses the achievements and failures of the FORIN approach. It also focuses on shedding light upon key requirements for new approaches and understandings of disaster risk research. The new requirements stem not only from the uncompleted ambitions of FORIN and the forensic approach but also from dramatic and ongoing transformational changes characterised by climate change, the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic and the threat of global international confrontation, among other potential crises, both those that can be identified and those not yet identified or unknown. Contribution: Disasters associated with extreme natural events cannot be treated in isolation. A comprehensive “all risks” or “all disasters” approach is essential for a global transformation, which could lead to a better world order. To achieve this, an Intergovernmental Panel for Disaster Risk is suggested to assess risk science periodically and work towards sustainability, human rights, and accountability, within a development and human security frame and on a systemic basis and integrated perspective