2,713 research outputs found
Player agency in interactive narrative: audience, actor & author
The question motivating this review paper is, how can
computer-based interactive narrative be used as a constructivist learn-
ing activity? The paper proposes that player agency can be used to
link interactive narrative to learner agency in constructivist theory,
and to classify approaches to interactive narrative. The traditional
question driving research in interactive narrative is, âhow can an in-
teractive narrative deal with a high degree of player agency, while
maintaining a coherent and well-formed narrative?â This question
derives from an Aristotelian approach to interactive narrative that,
as the question shows, is inherently antagonistic to player agency.
Within this approach, player agency must be restricted and manip-
ulated to maintain the narrative. Two alternative approaches based
on Brechtâs Epic Theatre and Boalâs Theatre of the Oppressed are
reviewed. If a Boalian approach to interactive narrative is taken the
conflict between narrative and player agency dissolves. The question
that emerges from this approach is quite different from the traditional
question above, and presents a more useful approach to applying in-
teractive narrative as a constructivist learning activity
Effect of heat treatment and aging on the mechanical loss and strength of hydroxide catalysis bonds between fused silica samples
Hydroxide catalysis bonds are used in the aLIGO gravitational wave detectors and are an essential technology within the mirror suspensions which allowed for detector sensitivities to be reached that enabled the first direct detections of gravitational waves. Methods aimed at further improving hydroxide catalysis bonds for future upgrades to these detectors, in order to increase detection rates and the number of detectable sources, are explored. Also, the effect on the bonds of an aLIGO suspension construction procedure involving heat, the fibre welding process, is investigated. Here we show that thermal treatments can be beneficial to improving some of the bond properties important to the mirror suspensions in interferometric gravitational wave detectors. It was found that heat treating bonds at 150\,^\circC increases bond strength by a factor of approximately 1.5 and a combination of bond ageing and heat treatment of the optics at 150\,\circC reduces the mechanical loss of a bond from 0.10 to 0.05. It is also shown that current construction procedures do not reduce bond strength
Lagrangian Framework for Systems Composed of High-Loss and Lossless Components
Using a Lagrangian mechanics approach, we construct a framework to study the
dissipative properties of systems composed of two components one of which is
highly lossy and the other is lossless. We have shown in our previous work that
for such a composite system the modes split into two distinct classes,
high-loss and low-loss, according to their dissipative behavior. A principal
result of this paper is that for any such dissipative Lagrangian system, with
losses accounted by a Rayleigh dissipative function, a rather universal
phenomenon occurs, namely, selective overdamping: The high-loss modes are all
overdamped, i.e., non-oscillatory, as are an equal number of low-loss modes,
but the rest of the low-loss modes remain oscillatory each with an extremely
high quality factor that actually increases as the loss of the lossy component
increases. We prove this result using a new time dynamical characterization of
overdamping in terms of a virial theorem for dissipative systems and the
breaking of an equipartition of energy.Comment: 53 pages, 1 figure; Revision of our original manuscript to
incorporate suggestions from refere
Experimental observation of the dual behavior of -symmetric scattering
We investigate experimentally parity-time () symmetric scattering
using circuits in an inductively coupled - symmetric pair
connected to transmission line leads. In the single-lead case, the -symmetric circuit acts as a simple dual device - an amplifier or an
absorber depending on the orientation of the lead. When a second lead is
attached, the system exhibits unidirectional transparency for some
characteristic frequencies. This non-reciprocal behavior is a consequence of
generalized (non-unitary) conservation relations satisfied by the scattering
matrix.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure
Dark energy constraints and correlations with systematics from CFHTLS weak lensing, SNLS supernovae Ia and WMAP5
We combine measurements of weak gravitational lensing from the CFHTLS-Wide
survey, supernovae Ia from CFHT SNLS and CMB anisotropies from WMAP5 to obtain
joint constraints on cosmological parameters, in particular, the dark energy
equation of state parameter w. We assess the influence of systematics in the
data on the results and look for possible correlations with cosmological
parameters.
We implement an MCMC algorithm to sample the parameter space of a flat CDM
model with a dark-energy component of constant w. Systematics in the data are
parametrised and included in the analysis. We determine the influence of
photometric calibration of SNIa data on cosmological results by calculating the
response of the distance modulus to photometric zero-point variations. The weak
lensing data set is tested for anomalous field-to-field variations and a
systematic shape measurement bias for high-z galaxies.
Ignoring photometric uncertainties for SNLS biases cosmological parameters by
at most 20% of the statistical errors, using supernovae only; the parameter
uncertainties are underestimated by 10%. The weak lensing field-to-field
variance pointings is 5%-15% higher than that predicted from N-body
simulations. We find no bias of the lensing signal at high redshift, within the
framework of a simple model. Assuming a systematic underestimation of the
lensing signal at high redshift, the normalisation sigma_8 increases by up to
8%. Combining all three probes we obtain -0.10<1+w<0.06 at 68% confidence
(-0.18<1+w<0.12 at 95%), including systematic errors. Systematics in the data
increase the error bars by up to 35%; the best-fit values change by less than
0.15sigma. [Abridged]Comment: 14 pages, 10 figures. Revised version, matches the one to be
published in A&A. Modifications have been made corresponding to the referee's
suggestions, including reordering of some section
Spinal NKCC1 blockade inhibits TRPV1-dependent referred allodynia
Background
The Na+, K+, 2Cl- type I cotransporter (NKCC1) and TRPV1 receptors, at the level of the dorsal horn, have been implicated in mediating allodynia in response to an inflammatory insult. The NKCC1 cotransporter regulates intracellular [Cl-] and thus the magnitude and polarity of GABAA receptor responses in neurons. TRPV1 receptors transduce diverse chemical and natural stimuli in nociceptors and are critical for inflammatory hyperalgesia.Results
Here we have tested the role of spinal NKCC1 cotransporters and TRPV1 receptors in referred allodynia in a model of visceral hyperalgesia in mice. Intrathecal (IT) injection of the NKCC1 inhibitor bumetanide (BUM, 1 nmol) inhibited referred, abdominal allodynia evoked by an intracolonic capsaicin injection. BUM was effective when injected IT either before or up to 4 hrs after the establishment of referred allodynia. The TRPV1 antagonist AMG 9810 (1 nmol) also inhibited referred allodynia in this model suggesting the involvement of an endogenous TRPV1 agonist in the dorsal horn in referred allodynia. In support of this suggestion, the endovanilloid TRPV1 agonist, narachidonoyl- dopamine (NADA, 1 or 10 nmol, IT) evoked stroking allodynia in the hindpaw that was blocked by co-treatment with AMG 9810 (1 nmol). The TRPV1-dependent stroking allodynia caused by NADA appeared to be functionally linked to NKCC1 because BUM (1 nmol) also inhibited NADA-evoked stroking allodynia.Conclusion
Our findings indicate that spinal NKCC1 and TRPV1 are critical for referred allodynia mediated by a painful visceral stimulus. Moreover, they suggest that endogenous TRPV1 agonists, released in the CNS in painful conditions, might stimulate TRPV1 receptors on primary afferents that, in turn, play a role in increasing NKCC1 activity leading to allodynia.This work was supported by the National Institutes for Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS, DA19959, to TJP), the American Pain Society (to TJP), the Spanish Secretaria de Estado de Educacion y Universidades: Formacion de Profesorado Universitario Grant (to JME), the Canadian Foundation for Innovation (CFI, to FC), the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR, to FC) and the Fonds de la recherche en santé du Québec (FRSQ, to FC)
Toward a complete theory for predicting inclusive deuteron breakup away from stability
We present an account of the current status of the theoretical treatment of
inclusive reactions in the breakup-fusion formalism, pointing to some
applications and making the connection with current experimental capabilities.
Three independent implementations of the reaction formalism have been recently
developed, making use of different numerical strategies. The codes also
originally relied on two different but equivalent representations, namely the
prior (Udagawa-Tamura, UT) and the post (Ichimura-Austern-Vincent, IAV)
representations.
The different implementations have been benchmarked, and then applied to the
Ca isotopic chain. The neutron-Ca propagator is described in the Dispersive
Optical Model (DOM) framework, and the interplay between elastic breakup (EB)
and non-elastic breakup (NEB) is studied for three Ca isotopes at two different
bombarding energies. The accuracy of the description of different reaction
observables is assessed by comparing with experimental data of on
Ca. We discuss the predictions of the model for the extreme case of
an isotope (Ca) currently unavailable experimentally, though possibly
available in future facilities (nominally within production reach at FRIB). We
explore the use of reactions as surrogates for processes,
by using the formalism to describe the compound nucleus formation in a
reaction as a function of excitation energy, spin, and parity.
The subsequent decay is then computed within a Hauser-Feshbach formalism.
Comparisons between the and induced gamma decay
spectra are discussed to inform efforts to infer neutron captures from
reactions. Finally, we identify areas of opportunity for future
developments, and discuss a possible path toward a predictive reaction theory
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