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Do you feel like a hero yet? - Spec Ops: The Line and the Concept of the Hero
Get PDFWorking from a Folklore Studies and Cultural Studies perspective, I discuss the concept of a traditional hero-narrative as well as what makes up the hero-character. I then analyse the 2012 PC game Spec Ops: The Line as a modern contribution to hero-narratives, and as a conscious digression from them. My discussion of the hero-character is based on the work of notable Folklore scholars such as Propp as well as scholars from related fields, for instance Hourihan and Hosiaisluoma. I also discuss some particular aspects of analysing the narrative of a computer game - an interactive form of media - as well as briefly touching upon the intertextual context of Spec Ops: The Line. In my analysis, I come to the conclusion, that Spec Ops: The Line is a conscious subversion of the modern military hero-narrative; it at first sets up expectations of adhering to the genre and theme, which it then flaunts and actively criticises. The protagonist, Captain Martin Walker, starts out a heroic character, but soon fails this role. His final role in the narrative ultimately depends on the player s choices in the game s final chapter
Elucidating the role of light and CO2 on Antarctic coastal phytoplankton ecophysiology
No full textThe effects of climate change, including ocean acidification (OA), on future Southern Ocean phytoplankton communitya s species composition and consequent impacts on primary production and carbon export are largely unknown. Further, changes in light availability induced by decreased vertical mixing of surface waters can lead to higher light availability enhancing potentially phytoplankton productivity in Antarctic coastal and shelf areas. Therefore, a suite of laboratory and field experiments with the two ecologically relevant Antarctic diatom species as well as a natural phytoplankton community from the Western Antarctic Peninsula were conducted under different pCO2 levels and irradiance regimes. In the two diatom species Fragilariopsis curta and Odontella weisflogii, OA did not stimulate, but inhibited growth and carbon fixation under low and medium light whereas this effect was amended under high growth irradiances. Under different dynamic light regimes, however, OA stimulated carbon fixation in the two diatoms. Yet, reduced photosynthetic efficiencies in both species indicated that photosensitivity was enhanced under OA. In CO2-light incubation experiments with a natural community of the West Antarctic Peninsula, OA led to a decline of overall diatom abundances, including Fragilariopsis and Odontella, triggering thereby the dominance of the prymnesiophyte Phaeocystis antarctica, an inefficient vector for carbon export. In summary, these findings highlight that, under different irradiance regimes, OA is likely to induce a species shift, away from diatoms, within phytoplankton communities and to alter primary productivity of the coastal Southern Ocean with important implications for biogeochemical cycles in the future
Flow Conditioning in Heat Treatment by Gas and Spray Quenching
Get PDFGas quenching has been known for centuries as a convenient, affordable method to heat treat ferrous alloys. Heated parts are taken out of the furnace and quenched at ambient pressure, casually using a blower to increase the heat exchange. Technical developments in the metal industry, over the last decades, have seen a constant improvement of the ratio of heat exchange, e.g. by using pressured chambers, specific blowers, and a variety of gases and gas mixtures. The current gas quenching technologies are adapted to heat treatable metals found in the automotive industry, requesting a minimum heat exchange ratio, also depending on the part geometry. Little has been however investigated concerning the quenched batch, defined as the arrangement of the heated parts onto a single- or multiple-layer charge carrier. The present work, through a combination of experimental and numerical techniques, provides guidelines to adapt the batch to a specific gas flow pattern (spatial fitting), and to adapt the gas flow pattern to the batch structure (temporal fitting). Measurement techniques have been developed to assess the flow patterns inside industrial quenching chambers. Evaluated flow structures have been converted to numerical boundary conditions for extended simulations tools. Simulations have helped implementing technical solutions for flow correction in industrial gas quenching chambers. Furthermore, simulations have served the design of batches of various geometries, to improve both quenching homogeneity and intensity. Both experimental and numerical results confirmed the advantages of gas quenching for the homogeneous heat treatment of automotive steel grades, and demonstrated the potential of various flow correcting devices, such as perforated plates and cylindrical flow ducts. Heat treatment gas and spray quenching has also been integrated into the forging and the turning process chains of single components, successfully optimizing the lean process flow (automation, quality, and time), for various high-performance materials and part geometries
Executive Functions across the Adult Life Span: Age-related Differences and Relationships with Intelligence
Get PDFThe current thesis is aimed at exploring differences in executive functions (EFs) between healthy adults; additionally, the aim is to examine the relationship between EFs and intelligence through the comparison of younger and older adults. The Executive Functions Module of the Neuropsychological Assessment Battery (NAB), as a measure of EFs, and the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale a Fourth Edition (WAIS-IV), as a measure of intelligence, were implemented. Data of 485 NAB participants aged 18-99 were analyzed to examine age-related differences in EFs. Data of 126 NAB participants aged 18-88, who additionally completed the WAIS-IV, were used to investigate the relationship between EFs and intelligence. Decreases in the mean scores and increases in the dispersion of performance on the NAB Executive Functions Module subtests with advancing age were observed. Additionally, age-related relationships between the NAB Executive Functions Module and the WAIS-IV were demonstrated. Age-related differences with regard to the relationship between EFs and intelligence were associated with higher scores in older adults
Effizienzsteigerung numerischer Verfahren der nichtlinearen Optimierung
Get PDFThis thesis focuses on the development of multiple different techniques to improve the efficiency of nonlinear optimization algorithms. The contribution of this work can be divided in three main parts. Having a closer look on an Sequential Quadratic Programming (SQP) algorithm (namely the solver WORHP) theoretical results about the inertia of the system matrix in the case of SQP with interior-point-method for the solution of the subproblems are given and an adaptive relaxation scheme to handle inconsistent constraints is developed. Using parametric sensitivity analysis multiple algorithms to improve the SQP method are presented. These focus mainly on the handling of nonlinear constraints, but a new strategy to improve the necessary regularization of the Hessian of the Lagrangian is shown as well. In addition to these algorithmic advancements a technical discussion about parallelism for nonlinear programming is given and used to develop a new multi-core capable interface
Datenbasierte Modellierung und Optimierung von Kraft-Wärme-Kopplungsanlagen
Get PDFThe demand of energy increases steadily. However, the conventional energy resources are limited and a complete changeover to other resources like regenerative energies is not done yet. Therefore, the efficient use of the conventional energy is important. Cogeneration is a method to achieve this goal and it is already used in different plants in industry though the plants can be more efficient if a mathematical optimization is applied to plan the production of energy. In this dissertation, a new method to model cogeneration plants is introduced. The resulting models are very precise, and the evaluations times are very small, which enables the use of sequential quadratic programming (SQP)-based optimization algorithms, and reduces operational costs and emission of greenhouse gases
Microbial community functioning at hypoxic sediments revealed by targeted metagenomics and RNA stable isotope probing
Get PDFMicroorganisms are instrumental to the structure and functioning of marine ecosystems and to the chemistry of the ocean due to their essential part in the cycling of the elements and in the recycling of the organic matter. Two of the most critical ocean biogeochemical cycles are those of nitrogen and sulfur, since they can influence the synthesis of nucleic acids and proteins, primary productivity and microbial community structure. Oxygen concentration in marine environments is one of the environmental variables that have been largely affected by anthropogenic activities; its decline induces hypoxic events which affect benthic organisms and fisheries. Hypoxia has been traditionally defined based on the level of oxygen below which most animal life cannot be sustained. Hypoxic conditions impact microbial composition and activity since anaerobic reactions and pathways are favoured, at the expense of the aerobic ones. Naturally occurring hypoxia can be found in areas where water circulation is restricted, such as coastal lagoons, and in areas where oxygen-depleted water is driven into the continental shelf, i.e. coastal upwelling regions. Coastal lagoons are highly dynamic aquatic systems, particularly vulnerable to human activities and susceptible to changes induced by natural events. For the purpose of this PhD project, the lagoonal complex of Amvrakikos Gulf, one of the largest semi-enclosed gulfs in the Mediterranean Sea, was chosen as a study site. Coastal upwelling regions are another type of environment limited in oxygen, where also formation of oxygen minimum zones (OMZs) has been reported. Sediment in upwelling regions is rich in organic matter and bottom water is often depleted of oxygen because of intense heterotrophic respiration. For the purpose of this PhD project, the chosen coastal upwelling system was the Benguela system off Namibia, situated along the coast of south western Africa. The aim of this PhD project was to study the microbial community assemblages of hypoxic ecosystems and to identify a potential link between their identity and function, with a particular emphasis on the microorganisms involved in the nitrogen and sulfur cycles. The methodology that was applied included targeted metagenomics and RNA stable isotope probing (SIP). It has been shown that the microbial community diversity pattern can be differentiated based on habitat type, i.e. between riverine, lagoonal and marine environments. Moreover, the studied habitats were functionally distinctive. Apart from salinity, which was the abiotic variable best correlated with the microbial community pattern, oxygen concentration was highly correlated with the predicted metabolic pattern of the microbial communities. In addition, when the total number of Operational Taxonomic Units (OTUs) was taken into consideration, a negative linear relationship with salinity was identified (see Chapter 2). Microbial community diversity patterns can also be differentiated based on the lagoon under study since each lagoon hosts a different sulfate-reducing microbial (SRM) community, again highly correlated with salinity. Moreover, the majority of environmental terms that characterized the SRM communities were classified to the marine biome, but terms belonging to the freshwater or brackish biomes were also found in stations were a freshwater effect was more evident (see Chapter 3). Taxonomic groups that were expected to be thriving in the sediments of the Benguela coastal upwelling system were absent or present but in very low abundances. Epsilonproteobacteria dominated the anaerobic assimilation of acetate as confirmed by their isotopic enrichment in the SIP experiments. Enhancement of known sulfate-reducers was not achieved under sulfate addition, possibly due to competition for electron donors among nitrate-reducers and sulfate-reducers, to the inability of certain sulfate-reducing bacteria to use acetate as electron donor or to the short duration of the incubations (see Chapter 4). Future research should focus more on the community functioning of such habitats; an increased understanding of the biogeochemical cycles that characterize these hypoxic ecosystems will perhaps allow for predictions regarding the intensity and direction of the cycling of elements, especially of nitrogen and sulfur given their biological importance. Regulation of hypoxic episodes will aid the end-users of these ecosystems to possibly achieve higher productivity, in terms of fish catches, which otherwise is largely compromised by the elevated hydrogen sulfide concentrations
Die Serien Die Borgias und Borgia im Vergleich: Eine Untersuchung zur Vermittlung aktueller Normen und Werte in historischen Fernsehserien
Get PDFDie Hausarbeit vergleicht die beiden modernen Serien Die Borgias und Borgia miteinander und untersucht dabei die Vermittlung aktueller Normen und Werte in historischen Fernsehserien. Hierzu erläutert der Autor zunächst den sich in der Renaissance entwickelnden Humanismus, dessen Anspruch es war, die Mitbürger innen zu einem moralisch einwandfreien Leben anzuhalten. Für die Kirche bedeutete dies keine übermäßige Bevorzugung der eigenen Familie, keine sexuellen Kontakte und keine Nachkommen. Im Anschluss beschreibt er den Aufstieg der Familie Borgia und zeigt, dass bereits der erste Borgia-Papst Calixtus III. diesen Ansprüchen nicht gerecht wurde, als er seinen Vetter Luis Juan de Mila sowie Rodrigo Borgia zu Kardinälen machen ließ. Letzterer zeugte mit seiner langjährigen Geliebten Vanozza de Catanei seine vier wohl bekanntesten Nachkommen Cesare, Giovanni (Juan), Lukretia und Jofre, bevor er 1492 zum Papst gewählt wurde und den Namen Alexander VI. annahm. Bei dieser Papstwahl setzen beide vom Autor untersuchten Serien an. Untersucht wird die jeweils erste Staffel der Serien Die Borgias - Sex. Macht. Mord. Amen , welche erstmals auf dem amerikanischen Pay-TV-Sender Showtime ausgestrahlt wurde, und die europäische Produktion Borgia , welche dem Genre des Familiendramas zugeordnet werden. Der Autor stellt fest, dass beide dargestellten Geschichten der Borgia mit Mittelalterstereotypen arbeiten, welche auch in Filmen verwendet werden - vorwiegend durch Gewalt erkennen Zuschauer innen, dass sie eine andere Epoche betrachten. Er kommt zu dem Schluss, dass sich beide Serien dadurch auszeichnen, dass in ihnen moderne Werte- und Normenmuster wie Familienweisheiten, Emanzipation und Selbstbehauptung in renaissancezeitlichem Gewand vermittelt werden, welche das Publikum in der eigenen Gegenwart wiedererkennen kann
The Gamification Inventory : an Instrument for the Qualitative Evaluation of Gamification and its Application to Learning Management Systems
Get PDFGamification has risen meteorically in popularity since the beginning of the decade, both in practitioner circles and among researchers. We show that empirical results of gamificationa s effects do not match the hype around it as studies have largely failed to prove any effects. We posit that a proper evaluation of gamification requires an understanding of how gamification can be expressed in real-world applications and employ Wittgensteinian family resemblances as a basis for such a definition. We have collected a set of properties that gamified applications can have through the analysis of goals and means of gamification mentioned in the literature and through an expert survey. We then used those results to create the Gamification Inventory, an instrument for the qualitative assessment of gamification in a given system. We have tested the instrument with a set of evaluators in the field of learning management systems (LMSs), informing both a refinement of the instrument and the preparation of an experiment with the intent of testing the effectiveness of common forms of gamification. The analysis of these LMSs led to results very similar to what our analysis of previous empirical studies in gamification, and especially gamification in education, have shown: most gamification is concentrated on using points, badges, levels and leaderboards as game design elements. We argue that a large-scale, long-term experiment with a proper factorial design is needed to evaluate the effectiveness of gamification and have prepared such a study. Having identified points and badges as two major elements to be tested, we developed an extension to a competency grid add-on for the LMS Moodle that allows for a 2x2 factorial design of using points and badges. The system is designed for large-scale distribution among schools using the competency grid in Moodle, with minimal invasiveness in mind. We briefly discuss the challenges that come with such large-scale experiments, especially in German schools. As a result, we present a new, tested, and refined instrument for the qualitative assessment of gamification in a given system, an overview over gamification as it is being used in the most popular LMSs, and an experimental setup to test the effectiveness of points and badges in schools, using custom add-ons to the competency grid for Moodle and to the corresponding mobile application
