While gamification has been extensively studied in specific fields, such as education and health, its application in other domains remains understudied. This thesis explores how battle passes, a common gamification system found in video games, are implemented and examines their potential challenges and limitations within and beyond video games. The study adopted a mixed-methods research approach, gathering qualitative and quantitative data through a survey designed to inquire battle pass users about how they use and are affected by the battle pass systems in Apex Legends, Destiny 2, Fortnite, Overwatch 2 and Valorant. The results indicate that gamers generally prefer completing the battle pass through passive generation of XP by playing the game. Challenges are still considered a fun addition to the battle pass system, although with varying levels of enjoyment. Gamers are motivated to complete even unenjoyable challenges to earn higher rewards, both highlighting the power of extrinsic motivators and the risks of implementing battle passes. It is important that companies implement battle passes responsibly, as these systems can be manipulative and exploitative. For example, entities implementing battle passes should consider that battle passes can cause exhaustion in users, and participation should as a consequence be optional. While the intentions of companies cannot be controlled, informing battle pass users about the potential negative impacts of battle passes can help them to protect themselves from exploitation. Overall, this study offers a foundation for future investigation into the effectiveness of gamification and battle passes.

No description available.

No description available.

The safety concern of aging aircraft is a rising issue in terms of both safety and cost. An aircraft structure failure during flight is unacceptable. A method needs to be developed and standardized to test the integrity of both commercial and military aircrafts. The current method to test the structure of an aircraft requires the aircraft to be taken out of service for inspection; this is costly due to the inspection required to be performed and the lost use from downtime. A novice idea of an on-site structural health monitoring (SHM) system has been proposed to test the integrity of aircraft structure. An on-site system is a system that can be used to perform inspection on an aircraft simultaneously while the aircraft is in use. This SHM system uses the principles of active lamb wave and passive acoustic emission through the use of piezoelectric sensors as the sensing elements. Piezoelectric sensors can be used both as an input device and as a sensing element. This research focuses on the development of the major data acquisition electronic components of the system. These components are charge amplifier, high pass filter, low pass filter and line driver. A charge amplifier converts a high impedance signal to a low impedance signal. A high pass filter attenuates the low frequency content of a signal, while a low pass filter attenuates the high frequency content of a signal. A line driver converts a low current signal to a high current signal. All of these components need to operate up to a frequency of 2 MHz. Off-the-shelf electronics will be used for prototyping as custom components will not be feasible at this point of the research. / Master of Science

Evaluation präoperativer Scoring-Ansätze bei kolorektalen Operationen entzündlicher Darmerkrankungen und Ischämien des Kolons. Der POSSUM Score (Physiological und Operative Severity Score for the enUmeration of Mortality and morbidity), seine Portsmouth - (P-POSSUM) und ColoRectal -(CR-POSSUM) Modifikation, sowie der E-PASS Score (Estimation of physiologic ability and surgical stress) sind Risikobewertungssysteme, welche einerseits auf einem präoperativen Score, der einen aktuellen Gesundheitszustand des Patienten widerspiegelt, andererseits auf einem intraoperativen Score, der die verursachte chirurgische Belastung darstellt, basieren und zur Abschätzung postoperativer Morbidität und Mortalität verwendet werden können. Das Ziel dieser Studie war es, diese Scores bei hauptsächlich elektiv operierten Patienten mit entzündlichen Darmerkrankungen und bei notfallmäßig operierten Patienten mit Ischämien des Kolons zu evaluieren, sowie deren postoperativ aufgetretene Komplikationen, zu analysieren. Zusätzlich sollte dabei untersucht werden, ob mithilfe der Teil-Scores bzw. schwerpunktmäßig der präoperativen Scores eine Risikostratifizierung postoperativer Komplikationen erfolgen kann.

The main idea of this thesis is a propose by designing filters in Mathcad program. This paper deals with a basic principle in filters design and these principles are implemented into the Mathcad program. In the introductory part is described aproximation which was used in Mathcad script. In the other parts of this project is described program which was created on designed filters.

Name: Analysis of an individual playing perfomance for younger pupils Objective: The aim of this study is to determine the technical level of the younger pupils AC Sparta Praha and SK Slavia Praha against Bohemans 1905. It is specifically the percentage success collecting of the ball, pass and shot. Further, as I will be interested in the failing collecting, shooting and passing the ball skills. Methods: The method that I used for processing work is called indirect observation of previously recorded video. Data were processed mainly quantitative method. Results: Using the results, we found that a skill that is among hard according to the literature, and handling of the ball had the highest success rate of all monitored. Furthermore, what I found is that the players have many more attempts each game activities played under pressure than no pressure on the players. Keywords: Football, pass, shoot, ball collecting

In this thesis, the relay communication between landed assets on the surface of Mars via a relay orbiter to Earth is studied for its latencies and the times which can be provided for the landed asset to work and for the ground to plan depending on the operational margins, the available ground station network and the available relay orbiters. In this context, an automated solver is developed to evaluate a locally optimal strategy of relay pass assignment respecting the different constraints and is proven to provide a solution close to the globally optimal one. The solver is determining the link opportunities and reasons on them, by minimising a cost function for each relay pass and choosing the cheapest ones in an iterative process. With this solver, it is shown that the best operational approach is to await commands confirmation and to provide the possibility of resending corrupted files. Moreover, it is shown that a 24/7 ground station coverage should be ideally provided, on which priority for booking should be given to relay missions since they depend on the actual timing of the orbiter overflights over the lander. Further- more, it is shown that adding additional relay orbiters increases the solution space drastically, making it desirable to use them. The possibility to restrict cross-agency support is assessed, showing that cross-support is still eligible. Finally, the data volume is shown to be sufficient to fulfil the ExoMars Rover and Surface Platform mission requirements, when using multiple orbiters, even though the solver itself would need extra capabilities to cope with allocating appropriate relay passes.

The Lesotho highlands are unique in many ways yet are at risk from severe degradation, primarily as a result of grazing and burning. This study aimed to determine whether recent (last 10-15 years) burning and grazing practices in the Sani region of eastern Lesotho are sustainable for the long-term survival of tussock grasses in the alpine belt. It was hypothesized that the alpine tussock grasses of Lesotho are being burnt and grazed at a rate that does not enable them to adequately recover between burns. A GIS based burn frequency and extent map was produced and indicated many small patchy burns (<100m2) were occurring within the Lesotho border, yet large scale burning (>10 000m2) occasionally breached the escarpment edge. Selected sites were monitored to determine the rate of growth and recovery of Merxmuellera drakensbergensis tussocks for a three year period (January 2009- December 2011). Increases were observed in basal circumference, living basal area and standing biomass yet the average height decreased across all sites and was attributed to grazing. A burn frequency of 4 burns per decade was found to be the optimum for retaining the greatest biomass, while a lack of burning for more than 9 years was suggested to result in a decrease in biomass. The leaves observed at a third of the diameter required the least average time of 6.3 years to recover to pre-burn heights as they are sheltered from environmental impacts and grazing. The middle tillers generally required the most time to recover to pre-burn heights (7.1 years) as the greatest competition for resources may be found in the centers as well as high possibilities of fire damage. The current burning activities are considered sustainable under the current levels of grazing occurring. The current levels of grazing are not advisable, especially as livestock numbers are increasing and grazing of the Sani region is becoming continuous throughout the year. A shortening of the average height of individuals within M. drakensbergensis communities is found, while increases were observed in invasive species cover. This research will add to the knowledge of environmental managers and hopefully actions may then be taken to better conserve the Lesotho highlands for future generations.

Thesis advisor: Georg Strasser / Exchange Rate Pass Through (ERPT) is the percentage change in a destination country’s import price given a percentage change in the exchange rate. A complete ERPT occurs when import price decreases by the same percentage as the depreciation of the exporting country’s currency and vice versa. In this paper I analyze ERPT in large and small open economies, and hypothesize that as destination economy size gets larger, ERPT will decrease. Reasons I provide to support this hypothesis are: the import share of exporters in destination economies, the demand elasticity that foreign exporters face, and the proportion of consumer demand to world demand that the foreign exporter faces. I find, with statistical significance, that ERPT decreases as the destination economy size increases. The main reason attributed to this inverse relationship is the import share of foreign exporters in destination economies. As import share of the foreign exporter increases, ERPT increases within those destination economies. Since foreign exporters have a higher chance of establishing a large import share in small economies than in large economies, they have a better chance of passing through exchange rate changes into destination country prices. / Thesis (BA) — Boston College, 2011. / Submitted to: Boston College. College of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Economics Honors Program. / Discipline: Economics.