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Intelligent Generation of Graphical Game Assets: A Conceptual Framework and Systematic Review of the State of the Art
Get PDFSupplemental Material is available online at: https://dl.acm.org/doi/suppl/10.1145/3708499/suppl_file/csur-2023-0126-File003.pdf (679.05 KB).A preprint version of the article is available on arXiv at: https://arxiv.org/abs/2311.10129. It has not been certified by peer review.Procedural content generation (PCG) can be applied to a wide variety of tasks in games, from narratives, levels, and sounds to trees and weapons. A large amount of game content is composed of graphical assets, such as clouds, buildings, or vegetation, that do not require gameplay function considerations. There is also a breadth of literature examining the procedural generation of such elements for purposes outside of games. The body of research, focused on specific methods for generating specific assets, provides a narrow view of the available possibilities. Hence, it is difficult to have a clear picture of all approaches and possibilities, with no guide for interested parties to discover possible methods and approaches for their needs and no facility to guide them through each technique or approach to map out the process of using them. Therefore, a systematic literature review has been conducted, yielding 239 accepted papers. This article explores state-of-the-art approaches to graphical asset generation, examining research from a wide range of applications, inside and outside of games. Informed by the literature, a conceptual framework has been derived to address the aforementioned gaps
High-temperature heat pumps: fundamentals, modelling approaches and applications
Get PDFData availability: Data will be made available on request.In March 2023, the European Parliament and Council reached a consensus to increRCiase the binding renewable energy target (RES) to a minimum of 42.5% by 2030, effectively doubling the proportion of RES from the 2020 baseline. This significant development aligns the EU more closely with the objectives of the European Green Deal and the REPowerEU initiative. High-temperature heat pumps (HTHP), due to their appropriateness for industrial-scale applications, integrate perfectly within this progressive trajectory. They enable waste heat generated by various production processes to be recovered (temperatures typically ranges from around 50°C to 100°C) and subsequent use at temperatures above 100°C, thus reducing the consumption of fossil fuels and greenhouse gas emissions. The high operating temperatures and pressures of HTHPs are challenging. They require an in-depth analysis of the system processes involved, taking into account refrigerants, efficient heat pump cycles and key components. One possibility for a preliminary analysis of vapour compression HTHP system performance without incurring the costs associated with manufacturing and testing the device is modelling. However, there is no comprehensive review of research work on possible software. Commonly, the researchers report on one chosen methodology and the tools used. This paper provides a comprehensive review of modelling approaches. It also discusses aspects related to the principles of operation, refrigerants and system components. Additionally, the paper presents an overview of vapour compression heat pump applications in various sectors. The literature review conducted indicates the need for further research and development of HTHP covering not only technological aspects but also software development.European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme for projects: iWAYS, Cultural E and InComEss under Grant Agreement Numbers: 958274, 870072 and 862597 respectively
Assessing the safety of physical rehabilitation in critically ill patients: a Delphi study
Get PDFAvailability of data and materials:
All grouped data is provided in the supplementary tables. Individual responses and data cannot be made publicly available due to participant confidentiality requirements.Background:
Physical rehabilitation of critically ill patients is implemented to improve physical outcomes from an intensive care stay. However, before rehabilitation is implemented, a risk assessment is essential, based on robust safety data. To develop this information, a uniform definition of relevant adverse events is required. The assessment of cardiovascular stability is particularly relevant before physical activity as there is uncertainty over when it is safe to start rehabilitation with patients receiving vasoactive drugs.
Methods:
A three-stage Delphi study was carried out to (a) define adverse events for a general ICU cohort, and (b) to define which risks should be assessed before physical rehabilitation of patients receiving vasoactive drugs. An international group of intensive care clinicians and clinician researchers took part. Former ICU patients and their family members/carers were involved in generating consensus for the definition of adverse events. Round one was an open round where participants gave their suggestions of what to include. In round two, participants rated their agreements with these suggestions using a five-point Likert scale; a 70% consensus agreement threshold was used. Round three was used to re-rate suggestions that had not reached consensus, whilst viewing anonymous feedback of participant ratings from round two.
Results:
Twenty-four multi-professional ICU clinicians and clinician researchers from 10 countries across five continents were recruited. Average duration of ICU experience was 18 years (standard deviation 8) and 61% had publications related to ICU rehabilitation. For the adverse event definition, five former ICU patients and one patient relative were recruited. The Delphi process had a 97% response rate. Firstly, 54 adverse events reached consensus; an adverse event tool was created and informed by these events. Secondly, 50 risk factors requiring assessment before physical rehabilitation of patients receiving vasoactive drugs reached consensus. A second tool was created, informed by these suggestions.
Conclusions:
The adverse event tool can be used in studies of physical rehabilitation to ensure uniform measurement of safety. The risk assessment tool can be used to inform clinical practise when risk assessing when to start rehabilitation with patients receiving vasoactive drugs.
Trial registration: This study protocol was retrospectively registered on https://www.researchregistry.com/ (researchregistry2991).This report is independent research arising from a Clinical Doctoral Research Fellowship, awarded to HRW, (ICA-CDRF-2015-01-026), supported by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) and Health Education England. We acknowledge the support of the NIHR Clinical Research Network and infrastructure support for this research was provided by the NIHR Imperial Biomedical Research Centre (BRC). HRW, MW, DBA, CMA, ACG are supported by the NIHR Imperial BRC and ACG by an NIHR Research Professorship (RP-2015-06-018). DBA is funded by the NIHR
Counterintelligence and escalation from hybrid to total war in the Russo-Ukrainian conflict 2014–2024
Get PDFThis article has been corrected with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.This article examines certain counterintelligence (CI) aspects of the on-going conflict between Russia and Ukraine since 2014 in terms of key problems in current western CI concepts, doctrine and processes. It examines not only the CI threat to Ukraine during the Donbas ‘frozen war’ and 2022 invasion from the traditional CI triad of espionage, sabotage and subversion but also from Russian intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) capabilities and activities supporting both irregular and regular combatants. The article concludes that a UK and allied approach to CI shaped by a two-decade security focus on counterterrorism and counterinsurgency may not be fit for purpose in a contemporary strategic environment characterized by a persistent and escalating threat from strategic peers engaged in state-supported hybrid conflict
Extended audit reporting: Evidence from the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC)
Get PDFThis thesis was submitted for the award of Doctor of Philosophy and was awarded by Brunel University LondonExtended Audit Reporting (EAR) is an emerging area of research within the domain of auditing, and it represents the most significant change in the structure of audit reports over the past 70 years. Key Audit Matter (KAM) represents a form of EAR mandated by the International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board via the International Standard of Auditing 701. This thesis comprises three essays that examine EAR and KAM. The first essay is a systematic literature review (SLR) of EAR that synthesises and extends the current literature. It further provides a rigorous review of recent additions to auditing requirements. The second and third essays are cross-country research studies that examine the effect of the unique attributes of the six Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries on KAM, using a unique dataset collected manually during the 2016–2021 period for non-financial firms listed on GCC stock exchanges.
The first essay offers a comprehensive systematic review of EAR. It synthesises and extends the current knowledge through an integrative framework of this recent auditing development by exploring eight aspects of EAR. The review includes 156 articles published between 2014-2023 and structured according to the economic context and methodology of the studies to facilitate novel insights. The analysis shows that developed countries document mixed findings regarding the communicative value of EAR and its market effects. Developing countries, conversely, report informativeness and market reactions. Both report a decline in earnings management behaviour and an improvement in the quality of financial reporting. Most studies report that the attributes of audit committees, external auditors, and audited companies influence EAR disclosure, as do accounting standards precision and auditing standards clarity. Several opportunities are provided for future research to reconcile and extend past research, thereby filling existing gaps.
The second essay uses agency theory to examine the relationship between ownership structure (royal, family, and foreign) and board director type (royal, family, and foreign) with the external auditor reporting of KAMs. The results provide strong evidence that royal ownership decreases KAM disclosure, whereas family and foreign ownerships increase disclosure. The study also found that royal board directors reduce the number of disclosed KAMs, suggesting that external auditors consider power and status when determining KAMs. By contrast, foreign board directors increase KAM disclosure, possibly to address information asymmetry due to geographic separation between the principal and agents. The study found no evidence of an association between family directors and KAM reporting.
The third essay investigates the relationship between audit partner tenure and KAM reporting and whether Hofstede’s cultural dimensions affect this relationship. Hogarth's (1980) decision-behaviour theory is applied to examine the influence of tenure on partner judgement and KAM disclosure decisions. The results provide strong evidence that partner tenure is positively associated with KAMs disclosures. The study also found that long-tenured partners disclose KAMs in more detail and produce more readable audit reports, and interestingly, long-tenured auditors tend towards boilerplate reporting. The findings on the effect of Hofstede culture moderators suggest that the relationship between partner tenure and KAMs is relatively strong when power distance and uncertainty avoidance are moderating factors, and relatively weak when individualism is considered.
This study extends and contributes to the EAR literature in several ways. First, to the best of the author’s knowledge, this thesis presents cross-country evidence of KAM disclosures in six GCC countries for the first time. Second, this thesis offers the first evidence of the effect of the unique characteristics of the Gulf region (ownership structure and board directorship) on KAM reporting. Third, this thesis provides unprecedented evidence for the effect of audit partner tenure on KAM reporting. Fourth, this study provides the first evidence of how national cultural values, using Hofstede's cultural dimensions, can influence the behaviour of long-tenured partners’ KAM reporting
Dynamic Client Scheduling Enhanced Federated Learning for UAVs
Get PDFAlthough Federated Learning (FL) applied in Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) offers substantial benefits, it also poses some challenges. These challenges arise primarily from the dynamic nature of UAV movements and the constraints imposed by limited wireless channel resources. This leads to the situation where only partial UAVs can participate in the FL process during each communication round, introducing the bias of the optimization objective that adversely impacts model accuracy. To address this issue, we introduce a Multi-action Q Network (MQN) for client scheduling, which selects suitable UAVs for each round, resolving the problems of the partial participation of UAVs. Furthermore, we propose a Gain-based Parameter Aggregation (GPA), which assigns a “contribution score" to each local model based on its contribution, correcting the bias of the optimization objective in FL. Simulation results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed methods.10.13039/501100001809-National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Number: 41904127 and 62132004)
Covert allyship: Implementing LGBT policies in an adversarial context
Get PDFData Availability Statement: The data that support the findings of this study are available on request from the corresponding author. The data are not publicly available due to privacy or ethical restrictions, that is, the data may contain information that could compromise the privacy of research participants.This study introduces the concept of covert allyship as a strategy for tacitly supporting lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) inclusion in adversarial contexts. Drawing on a qualitative case study of 12 Western multinational enterprises (MNEs) operating in Indonesia, the largest Muslim country in the world, the article sheds light on how allyship for LGBT issues is undertaken covertly as allies seek to transcend tensions arising between headquarters publicly advocating for LGBT rights and their subsidiaries. The findings evaluate both barriers to MNE subsidiaries implementing LGBT-supportive policies and facilitating mechanisms for covert forms of institutional allyship. Finally, the article provides recommendations for how MNEs can adopt practices that build subtle yet effective LGBT-supportive approaches in contexts that require sensitivity to local cultures and legislation.Leverhulme Small Research Grant (SG2122\210739); SSHRC Insight Grant (430857)
Residential Micro-CHP system with integrated phase change material thermal energy storage
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The experimental data used in the research is included within the paperThis paper presents an analysis and experimental investigation of the effect of integrating Phase Change Material (PCM) within a heat exchanger within a Micro Combined Heat and Power (Micro-CHP) system intended for residential applications. A commonly used Micro-CHP layout is replicated in a test rig to characterise the performance of two alternative heat exchanger arrangements. The first is a conventional arrangement where the exhaust gas produced by the prime mover is directed to an air-to-water heat exchanger to heat water and store it in a tank. In the second arrangement, PCM material is encapsulated within specially designed compartments in a heat exchanger to store part of the exhaust thermal energy from the prime mover while heating the water in the storage tank. The time needed to heat the water and discharge heat is compared for both cases, as well as the amount of thermal energy stored during the same operating period. The study also explored the potential to improve the designed unit by using different PCM materials. The test results show that adding 4.7 L capacity paraffin compartments within the heat exchanger extended the discharge time of the hot water by over 400 %, which reflects a marked improvement in the heat storage capacity of the system. This would result in a significant increase in the viable operating period of a CHP system. The one-dimensional analysis revealed that replacing the paraffin with ClimSel C58 PCM can reduce the charging time of the water tank by around 54 % improve the heat storage capacity by factor of 2.35 comparing to Paraffin. The proposed heat exchanger with encapsulated PCM has a potential in other applications such as storage of excess renewable energy or integration with heat pumps to improve matching of supply and demand and thus flexibility of an energy system with integrated intermittent renewables
Barriers and facilitators to the delivery of a biopsychosocial education and exercise programme for patients with chronic low back pain in Ghana. A qualitative study
Get PDFPurpose:
Low back pain management has evolved with researchers advocating for a biopsychosocial management model. The biopsychosocial management model has been predominantly applied in high-income countries and underexplored in low- and middle-income countries including Ghana. This study aimed to explore the potential barriers and facilitators to patients with chronic low back pain (CLBP) and physiotherapists engagement with a biopsychosocial intervention (exercise and patient education) as part of a feasibility study.
Material and methods:
This was a qualitative study embedded within a mixed-methods, sequential, feasibility study, in Ghana, applying semi-structured interviews. Two categories of participants involved in this study were, two trained physiotherapists, and six patients with CLBP, sampled within the feasibility study.
Results:
Regarding the barriers and facilitators to the delivery of the BPS intervention, five interlinked themes emerged from the thematic analysis. These were: structure and process of delivery; patients’ expectations; patients’ health beliefs, autonomy, and engagement; external influences and personal and professional characteristics of physiotherapists.
Conclusion:
The themes that emerged from this study demonstrated many positive facilitators based on participants’ improved understanding of LBP and the clarity and purpose of the biopsychosocial intervention. The results therefore demonstrate a potential to deliver the biopsychosocial intervention in a Ghanaian context.
IMPLICATIONS FOR REHABILITATION
A biopsychosocial approach to managing chronic low back pain offers a promising alternative to patients and physiotherapists in Ghana.
A biopsychosocial approach to managing chronic low back pain has the potential to improve physiotherapists’ thoughts and attitudes, and have a positive influence on their professional development in Ghana.
A biopsychosocial approach to managing chronic low back pain has the potential to reverse patients’ maladaptive beliefs, improve their understanding of their condition, improve outcomes in Ghana.This study forms part of their PhD which was supported by the Commonwealth Scholarship Commissio
Corporate tax avoidance and firm value: The moderating role of environmental, social and governance (ESG) ratings
Get PDFData Availability Statement:
Data available on request from the authors.In this study, we examine how managers in firms that have practiced tax avoidance strategically use sustainability activities together with their tax avoidance practices. More specifically, we investigate the moderating impact of ESG on the association between tax avoidance and firm value. Using a sample of French-listed companies during the years 2012–2021, we hypothesized and found that ESG rating negatively and significantly moderates the relationship between corporate tax avoidance and firm market valuation. Overall, our results suggest that investors reward firms for good ESG performance, perceiving such companies as more valuable. However, when these firms engage in higher tax liabilities, the positive effect of ESG on firm value is slightly reduced. This nuanced insight highlights the importance of considering how tax strategies interact with ESG initiatives in shaping overall firm value. This study, thus, provides theoretical and practical consequences that will encourage businesses and politicians to promote sustainable development. Our findings remain robust to an array of tests, including a number of different tax avoidance measures and potential endogeneity problems.The authors received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article
Data sources:
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