Companion characters are an important aspect of video games and appear in many different genres. Their role is typically to support the player as they progress through the game by helping to complete tasks or assisting in combat. However, oftentimes, these companion characters are limited in their ability to dynamically react to new situations and fail to properly assist the player. In this paper, we present a solution by improving upon the MimicA framework, which allows companion characters to emulate the human player. The framework takes a learn by observation approach by storing the game state when the player performs an action. This is then used by machine learning classifiers to determine what action to take and where it should be done. Because the framework makes little assumptions about the rules of the game and focuses on a single session experience, it is flexible enough to apply to a variety of different games and requires no prior training data. We have further improved the original MimicA framework by adding feature selection, n-gram analysis, an improved feedback system, random forest classifier, and a new system for picking a location for actions. In addition, we refactored and updated the original framework to make it easier to use for game developers and the game, Lord of Towers, which was used as a proof of concept. Further, we create another game, Lord of Caves, to demonstrate the flexibility of the new version of the framework. We validated our work using automated simulations and a user study. In our automated simulations, we found random forest was a consistently strong performer. Our user study found that the our implementation of n-grams was successful and 19 of 26 believed our framework would be useful to a game developer.

The genus Dryandra, in the family Proteaceae, is endemic to south-western Australia. It consists of 92 named species and is an important component of some kwongan communities. Various aspects of the ecology of three threatened species of Dryandra (Dryandra ionthocarpa, D. mimica and D. serra) were studied. Threats to these species include weed invasion, inappropriate fire regimes, disturbance from roads, recreational activities, grazing, trampling, clearing and chemical drift from adjacent farms. Knowledge presented within on the ecology and biology of these three species is needed to develop appropriate conservation and management strategies.Population measurements of plant dimensions and seed bank size were assessed. Seed banks of all three species were shown to increase with increasing plant size. D. ionthocarpa and D. serra produced large numbers of viable seeds which was related to their mode of regeneration after fire. Experimental fires killed both species and seedling recruitment occurred following the death of adult plants. This indicated that both species are nonsprouters. D. mimica produced extremely small numbers of seeds, and had a high level of barren cones. Following an experimental burn, resprouting of adult plants was observed, but no seedling recruitment, indicating that this species is a resprouter.Granivore exclusion experiments showed that the seed banks of D. ionthocarpa and D. serra increased after the application of insecticide or bagging. Granivores are therefore considered to be a significant factor limiting the size of the seed bank. Timing of attack for D. ionthocarpa was shown to occur early in inflorescence development. However, the seed predators did not start to consume the seeds until after the infructescence was almost fully developed.Translocation studies were used to investigate whether D. ionthocarpa could survive and grow on ++ / other soil types or under the same edaphic conditions in other areas. Survival after nine months was better in spongolite or heavy clay soils. The highest survival and growth was for spongolite soils in a nature reserve near to the two known populations indicating that this species will grow well, at least initially in other areas, and that this area can be considered suitable for a larger' scale translocation. Reciprocal translocations were used to assess whether D. serra shows adaptation to local conditions across its distribution. No clear pattern was found, with only seedlings from the South Sister population surviving better at their original locality. Monitoring over a longer time period is recommended to assess whether a clearer pattern develops after flowering and fruiting.Plants of D. ionthocarpa with orange leaves were found to be under greater water stress during summer and autumn than green plants. The levels of chlorophyll a and b were also lower in orange plants in summer and autumn than green plants. These differences were attributed to a drought response, and the orange colour of this species during summer can therefore be used as an indicator of the health of the populations.An important objective of these investigations was to provide baseline information that could be used in the development of conservation and recovery strategies for these species. Several management actions are recommended. The health of the D. ionthocarpa populations should be assessed regularly using the orange foliage colour and total plant numbers as indicators. In the event the population is in decline the use of small scale controlled burns in autumn is recommended to stimulate seedling recruitment. This should be undertaken in conjunction with the control of seed predators pre-burn, and the watering of any seedlings recruited post-burn, for at least the first summer. In ++ / addition, translocation to other matched sites, particularly the spongolite soils of the Kalgan Plains Nature Reserve is recommended. No exclusion from fire is deemed necessary for D. mimica, as this species appears to tolerate fire. Active management of D. serra is not considered necessary, instead the species should be monitored regularly.

Orientador: Carlos Fernando Fiorini / Tese (doutorado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Instituto de Artes / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-15T18:20:01Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Branco_HeloizadeCastello_D.pdf: 5961172 bytes, checksum: a6a2de42cf0e3d39e42207698d64d968 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2010 / Resumo: Este estudo objetivou apontar a presença de empatia dos cantores com o regente durante a execução musical, através da identificação de episódios de empatia em filmagens de ensaios corais. A empatia, nesta pesquisa, denomina o fenômeno em que o cantor, ao olhar com atenção o regente fazendo movimentos durante a execução musical, realiza de forma inconsciente os mesmos movimentos. Dividiu-se a revisão de literatura em duas partes. Na primeira, buscou-se compreender o processo de empatia entre duas pessoas: como acontece, porque acontece e que fatores o afetam. Na segunda, transferiu-se o foco da pesquisa para as condições características das atividades de regentes e cantores durante a execução musical, de forma a identificar fatores que propiciam a empatia dos cantores com o regente. A seção intermediária tratou da metodologia e dos procedimentos utilizados para o preparo da filmagem dos dois corais participantes. Os resultados da análise dos movimentos corporais e faciais dos cantores em relação aos movimentos do regente deram origem à seção seguinte. Como corolário desses resultados, o trabalho se encerra com as considerações possíveis a respeito da empatia observada dos cantores com o regente, fazendo uma síntese das informações colhidas sobre empatia e aplicando-as ao contexto da execução musical no ensaio coral. / Abstract: The objective of this study is to point out the existence of singer empathy for the conductor during musical performance, identifying episodes of empathy in video recordings of choir rehearsals. Empathy, for the purposes of this study, is a phenomenon in which the singer, while looking attentively at the movements of the conductor during musical execution, makes the same movements unconsciously. Literature research was divided into two parts. In the first, an attempt was made to understand the empathy process between two people: how it happens, why it happens, and which factors affect it. After that, the research focused on characteristic conditions in the activities of conductors and singers during musical execution, in order to identify factors that may promote empathy between singer and conductor. A further section detailed the methodology and the procedures used to prepare the video recordings of the two choirs that took part in the study. The results from the analysis of corporal and facial movements of the singers and the conductors originated the next section, the discussion. As a corollary of the results, this study concludes with possible considerations about the empathy observed between singers and conductor, presenting a synthesis of the information obtained about empathy, and applying this information to the context of musical performance in choir rehearsal. / Doutorado / Doutor em Música