Multi-agent evolutionary systems for the generation of complex virtual worlds

Modern films, games and virtual reality applications are dependent on convincing computer graphics. Highly complex models are a requirement for the successful delivery of many scenes and environments. While workflows such as rendering, compositing and animation have been streamlined to accommodate increasing demands, modelling complex models is still a laborious task. This paper introduces the computational benefits of an Interactive Genetic Algorithm (IGA) to computer graphics modelling while compensating the effects of user fatigue, a common issue with Interactive Evolutionary Computation. An intelligent agent is used in conjunction with an IGA that offers the potential to reduce the effects of user fatigue by learning from the choices made by the human designer and directing the search accordingly. This workflow accelerates the layout and distribution of basic elements to form complex models. It captures the designer's intent through interaction, and encourages playful discovery

How Can Science and Research Work Well? Toward a Critique of New Public Management Practices in Academia From a Socio-Philosophical Perspective

While New Public Management practices (NPM) have been adopted in academia and higher education over the past two decades, this paper is investigating their role in a specifically socio-philosophical way: The preeminent question is what organization of science is likely to make science and research work well in the context of a complex society. The starting point is an obvious intuition: that academia would be “economized” by NPM (basically, that something is coming from the outside and is disturbing the inside). Habermas provides a sophisticated theorization for this intuition. In contrast, the thesis advanced here is that we should consider NPM potentially problematic—but not for descending from economics or administration outside academia. It is because NPM often cannot help research and science to function well. In this (rather “essayistic” than strictly deductive) consideration, I will therefore tentatively discuss an alternative approach that takes up critical intuitions while transposing them into a different setting. If we understand science and research as a form of life, a different picture emerges that can still bring immanent standards to bear, but at the same time compose them more broadly. This outlines a socio-philosophical critique of NPM. Accordingly, the decisive factor is not NPM's provenance. What is decisive is that it addresses some organizational problems while at the same time creating new ones. At the end, an outlook is sketched on how the specific situation of NPM allows some hypotheses on academy's [by “academy”, I am referring to the whole research community (like “academia”)] future organization. Ex negativo, it seems likely that qualitative evaluation criteria and creative freedom will have to play a greater role

Catalytically active block copolymer membranes for light-driven hydrogen evolution and water oxidation

In this thesis, the integration of photocatalytically active materials into block copolymer mem-branes was developed over three generations. Due to the versatility of the block copolymers, it was possible to develop different mechanisms for the functionalization of the membrane with different POM catalysts and photosensitizers. In the first generation, POM and photosensitizer were attached purely electrostatically to the block copolymers while for the third generation a system in which both components could be anchored covalently was developed

Rekonstruktive Forschungsmethoden in der deutschen Volkswirtschaftslehre: Eine explorative Erhebung zugrunde liegender Repräsentationsmuster

Die Zweckmäßigkeit qualitativer bzw. rekonstruktiver Forschungsmethoden ist in sozialwissenschaftlichen Fächern seit langem anerkannt, entsprechend wird diese Methodik in der Forschungspraxis umfassend eingesetzt. Im wirtschaftswissenschaftlichen Feld hingegen spielen qualitative Methoden, wie z. B. leitfadengestützte Interviews oder teilnehmende Beobachtungen, praktisch keine Rolle. Vor dem Hintergrund, dass eine Mehrzahl deutscher Ökonomen Interesse und Kenntnisse in empirischen Forschungsmethoden für sehr wichtig halten, sollte es umso mehr überraschen, dass qualitative bzw. rekonstruktive Forschungsmethoden in wirtschaftswissenschaftlichen Publikationen so gut wie keine Verwendung finden. Um uns diesem Phänomen auf empirische Weise anzunähern, haben wir eine qualitative Befragung unter deutschsprachigen Ökonomen durchgeführt, um mehr über den Stellenwert und die Repräsentationsmuster qualitativer Forschungsmethoden herauszufinden. Ursache für die systematische Ablehnung des qualitativen Forschungsparadigmas - so unser Befund - sind die unzureichenden Kenntnisse über die Logik und den Nutzen qualitativer Forschungsansätze, der fehlende Umgang mit qualitativen Verfahren sowie eine unzulässige Methodenfixierung auf quantitative bzw. mathematische Designs. Entsprechend gilt es herauszuarbeiten, welche Gründe und Entwicklungen für eine solch rigorose Ablehnung qualitativer Forschungsmethoden in der Volkswirtschaftslehre verantwortlich sind. Es ist das Ziel des vorliegenden Beitrags, die fachspezifische Einstellung und das allgemeine Wissenschaftsverständnis deutscher Ökonomen darzustellen sowie Aussagen über Bedeutung, Relevanz und insbesondere Potentiale qualitativer und auch rekonstruktiver Forschungsmethoden für ökonomische Fragestellungen herauszuarbeiten.The usefulness of qualitative research methods has gained much recognition in the disciplines of Social Sciences. Consequently, its methods are implemented frequently in the practical course of research. Contrary to this, in economics, qualitative methods, such as semistructured and group interviews or participant observation, have no significance. Considering the fact that a majority of German economists have a vast knowledge and interest in empirical research methods it is very surprising that qualitative research methods are not applied for research in economic publications. To become more familiar with these phenomena on an empirical level, a qualitative census with German economists is conducted, in order to find out more about the significant values and representational samples of qualitative research methods. According to our results, the cause of the systematic disaffirmation of the qualitative research paradigm is the result of insufficient knowledge on the logic and accounts of qualitative research appendage. Moreover, the cause is also due to the missing association with qualitative procedures as well as an existing fixation of methods of quantitative or mathematical designs. Consequently, the causes and developments being responsible for such a rigid rejection of qualitative research methods in the field of economics are elaborated. It is the aim of the paper to present the specific attribution of German economists and to lay out the potential of qualitative research methods for economic reasoning

Quantifying the Circular Economy in European Regions: a Bridge towards Smart Specialisation?

Circular Economy (CE) aspects are becoming increasingly relevant for a sustainable transition and regional development. Still, a methodology to assess regional performance and interregional differences is exclaimed to be missing at least in the European context. This gap makes it difficult to assess policies and evaluate development patterns. The authors present a methodology to overcome this research gap by including several dimensions of social, environmental, and economic CE aspects. The methodology consists of 29 indicators grouped in six dimensions with data obtained from various data bases. A static and a trend index are calculated to compare European NUTS 2 regions in terms of their current CE status and its development over the last years. The new insights paint a more differentiated picture of regional CE transition highlighting that a segregation is observable not so much between North and South or East and West but more between urban and rural regions. Regarding the practical CE implementation in European regions, the instrument of smart specialisation is discussed

p53 aerobics: The major tumor suppressor fuels your workout

In addition to its role as the central regulator of the cellular stress response, p53 can regulate aerobic respiration via the novel transcriptional target SCO2, a critical regulator of the cytochrome c oxidase complex (Matoba et al., 2006). Loss of p53 results in decreased oxygen consumption and aerobic respiration and promotes a switch to glycolysis, thereby reducing endurance during physical exercise

Modes of p53 Regulation

The traditional view of p53 activation includes three steps—p53 stabilization, DNA binding, and transcriptional activation. However, recent studies indicate that each step of p53 activation is more complex than originally anticipated. Moreover, both genetic studies in mice and in vitro studies with purified components suggest that the classical model may not be sufficient to explain all aspects of p53 activation in vivo. To reconcile these differences, we propose that antirepression, the release of p53 from repression by factors such as Mdm2 and MdmX, is a key step in the physiological activation of p53

Productivity, Smart Specialisation, and Innovation: Empirical findings on EU macro-regions

The paper aims to enrich the discussion on the Research and Innovation Strategies for Smart Specialisation (RIS3) and ongoing development of macro-regions in the EU. EU macro-regions are defined as geographical related places that are considered to be socially, economically, and historically linked and, until now, make a blind spot in the discussion on Smart Specialisation and regional innovation. The empirical approach of this paper is to apply a simply pooled OLS-regression with productivity as an independent variable, various exogenous variables on Smart Specialisation, dummies on EU macro-regions, and time-fixed effects within NUTS2 regions between 2014 and 2018. From this, it can be concluded that Smart Specialisation has a significant dependency on productivity. Moreover, it was assumed that regions of a macro-region benefit from each other by co-location. The result is not perfect. This raises questions for the development of EU macro-regions