This thesis contributes to the field of academic game studies by reworking and updating the established theories of Espen Aarseth, Janet Murray and Marie-Laure Ryan in understanding the path in videogames. It also draws upon the more recent theoretical discussions of figures such as Jesper Juul, Lev Manovich, Frans Mäyrä and James Newman in order to explore the player’s experience along these paths in the gameworld. By defining a vocabulary of routes through space, the thesis uses the maze in particular as a way of understanding the paths of videogames. The research starts by examining our cultural understanding of the maze within videogames. Various mazes around the UK were walked in order to understand their design and how this may translate into the virtual world of the videogame. The thesis examines the uses of real world mazes through the work of Penelope Doob, and Herman Kern to discuss how the videogame may rework our cultural understanding of the maze due to its increasingly ubiquitous nature. This enables a discussion of maze-paths found within many videogames that are not necessarily categorised by what is often discussed as the maze genre of games. A morphology of maze-paths is devised through comparing the mazes of the real world and the virtual mazes of the videogame. This is achieved by breaking down the maze into separate path types and shows how these paths may link to one another. The thesis argues that the paths of the videogame are generated by the player’s actions. Therefore the focus of this thesis is on the player’s experience along these paths and the objects found at points on them. In acknowledging how to overcome obstacles along the path it is also possible to understand the role of the path in the player’s learning and mastery of the gameworld. This leads to discussions of different types of play experienced by the player in the videogame. Play is separated into what I term purposeful play, being the activities intended by the designer, and appropriated play which is the play formed out of the player’s exploration of the game system. These two terms help to understand player’s incentives for playing along the ruled paths of the gameworld as well as exploring the game’s system further to find new types of play outside of the pre-determined rules. As this thesis is concerned with videogames involving the player’s avatar having a direct relationship with the path, the research also investigates what happens when certain devices break these paths. It was discovered that warp devices reconstruct both temporal and narrative elements within the gamespace, and cause the player’s avatar to temporarily move on tracks through the gameworld. In defining a vocabulary of movement through space on a fixed track, as opposed to a player-determined path, there is a further understanding of the player experience related to each type of route taken in the game. Through an understanding of the maze and defining a vocabulary of maze-paths, tracks and objects found along them, this thesis adds a new contribution to knowledge. It also acknowledges the importance of different types of play within videogames and how these can shape the player experience along the paths of the game.

Shingled Magnetic Recording (SMR) has been recognised as one of the alternative technologies to achieve an areal density beyond the limit of the perpendicular recording technique, 1 Tb/in2, which has an advantage of extending the use of the conventional method media and read/write head. This work presents SMR system subject to both Inter Symbol Interference (ISI) and Inter Track Interference (ITI) and investigates different equalisation/detection techniques in order to reduce the complexity of this system. To investigate the ITI in shingled systems, one-track one-head system model has been extended into two-track one-head system model to have two interfering tracks. Consequently, six novel decoding techniques have been applied to the new system in order to find the Maximum Likelihood (ML) sequence. The decoding complexity of the six techniques has been investigated and then measured. The results show that the complexity is reduced by more than three times with 0.5 dB loss in performance. To measure this complexity practically, perpendicular recording system has been implemented in hardware. Hardware architectures are designed for that system with successful Quartus II fitter which are: Perpendicular Magnetic Recording (PMR) channel, digital filter equaliser with and without Additive White Gaussian Noise (AWGN) and ideal channel architectures. Two different hardware designs are implemented for Viterbi Algorithm (VA), however, Quartus II fitter for both of them was unsuccessful. It is found that, Simulink/Digital Signal Processing (DSP) Builder based designs are not efficient for complex algorithms and the eligible solution for such designs is writing Hardware Description Language (HDL) codes for those algorithms.

No description available.

Master of Science / Department of Computing and Information Sciences / Daniel Andresen / The world is becoming smarter with an increase in efficiency of wireless communication resulting in an accelerated use of smart phones. Open source of Android market gave a chance to individuals to freely develop their own applications which could be run easily on Android smart phones. The purpose of this project is to develop an Android application for managing and tracking a user’s shopping information. The Smart tracker is about tracking the user's purchase of clothes and accessories. The main advantage of this Android app is that it helps to remember the size of clothing purchased. When a user shops at a retail store, he feeds the information pertaining to the fitting of the clothes purchased brand wise, whether it is a correct fit or a bit loose/tight. The data thus entered can be retrieved when he decides to make a purchase in the same store in future. This tremendously decreases the user’s shopping time and makes the experience easier as the right size is already known and hence there is no hassle of using trial rooms to see if the clothes fit. In addition to size, Smart tracker also stores the price at which the item was bought and any additional user comments along with the store location. When data pertaining to a purchased clothing item is entered, the app provides the option to append an image of the item either by capturing a picture through the smart phone’s camera or by uploading an image from the gallery. This helps the user recount the item to which the information corresponds. Another important feature is that tracking of purchases for a family can be personalized, i.e., the shopping information of each family member can be stored separately (especially for kids who can't track their own expense). Additionally, the user can also keep track of money spent on each item/brand/family member. Smart tracker also enables user to create a wish list to remember what they (or a friend) liked but didn't buy in a particular store.

O objetivo da pesquisa aqui relatada é desenvolver um modelo de simulação estocástica capaz de reproduzir a circulação de trens em trechos de linha singela. O modelo é usado para avaliar o impacto que determinadas alterações podem provocar sobre o desempenho do sistema. Os fatores estudados são o número de estações existentes, os horários de partida dos trens, os tempos de parada nas estações e a velocidade média dos trens, que foram combinados em sete cenários diferentes. Os efeitos das alterações propostas são avaliados em termos do tempo total de percurso dos trens, o tempo médio de espera nas estações, a fila média, o tempo em que os trens ficam parados e circuIando, os tempos de ocupação dos desvios e a velocidade média dos trens. / The objective ofthis research isto develop a stochastic simulation model capable to reproduce the circulation of trains on a single track line. The proposed model is used to assess the impact of certain changes on the overall performance of the system. Seven different scenarios are used with this purpose. These scenarios include changes in the number of stations, train departure times, duration of stopping times at the stations and the train average speeds. The overall effect of these changes on the system is assessed by means of the trains total travel times, average waiting times at the stations, average queue lengths, running and stopping times, occupation times for sidings and the overall average speed for trains.

The purpose of this thesis was to explore the development of elite sport through national sport policy within a developing country, Jamaica. Taking a qualitative approach, the thesis drew on the SPLISS framework (De Bosscher et al., 2006, 2015) to understand government influence in the development of elite sport, through policy, and to investigate other contributing factors for elite sporting success. A logic model illustrated the input-throughput-output pillars of the SPLISS framework, and aided in the interpretation of both a theoretical and rival proposition (Yin, 2018). This thesis purpose, accomplished in part by exploring the most successful elite sport in Jamaica, athletics (track and field), incorporated three interconnected studies on that developing country’s national sport system, a sport system that produced its first Olympic success in 1948, forty-six years before the introduction of national sport policy. Three interconnected studies allowed for findings that highlighted the roots of Jamaica’s sport development, beginning with the introduction of a school and community sport system by the former colonial British government, and retained and expanded by the Jamaican government from 1962. The findings also highlighted that the school and community sport systems facilitated a local approach to the development and training for athletics. It included factors outside of the influence of government, such as the impact of coaches and role models that assisted in creating a fraternity in the sport through tradition, culture and passion, and established an environment for elite sport. This environment involved a collaboration between educational institutions and the professional local club system, and represents the critical elements in the success of athletics, indicating that the influence of government policies for sport development was not impacting international sporting success up to 2017. The interconnected studies also provided support for gaps identified in the SPLISS framework and the literature on elite sport policy. For SPLISS, the findings provided evidence in understanding what happens when input factors are processed (the ‘black box’) leading to outputs, and national outcomes. For the literature, the thesis found that an historical context is important in understanding the coalescing of micro-, macro-, and meso-level factors for elite sporting success.

I det här arbetet har jag undersökt topline-låtskrivande, det vill säga låtskrivande av text och melodi, enligt två specifika metoder. Metoderna som använts är Melody-and-lyrics and a cappella samt Track-and-hook, där den förstnämnda tekniken innebär att toplinen skrivs helt a cappella utan instrumentell stöttning där produktionen görs i efterhand, medan den andra metoden innebär att ett track produceras i första hand och att toplinen sedan skrivs till den färdiga tracket. Metoderna står därmed i motsats till varandra. Låtarna har skrivits enligt båda metoderna, efter bestämda tidsramar och mot tre olika leads (påhittade uppdrag från artister), vilket resulterade i totalt sex låtar. Den konstnärliga processen har dokumenterats i en loggbok och när det klingande materialet var färdigt kunde jag reflektera över skapandeprocessen, diskutera hur de båda metoderna fungerade samt hur väl låtarna passade till aktuella leads. Jag kom fram till att det som främst styrde min kreativa process, förutom valet av metod, var min sinnesstämning i aktuell session, vilken lead jag jobbade mot samt vilken tidsram jag skrev inom. Jag kan konstatera att det finns styrkor och svagheter hos båda tillvägagångssätten och att metoderna fungerar bra på olika sätt till mina olika leads, men att jag trots allt föredrar den första metoden (melody-and-lyrics and a cappella) sett till det klingande resultatet. Det passade mig bättre att skriva låtar enligt den tekniken, samtidigt som jag anser att denna metod genererade starkast toplines.

Denna rapport är resultatet av ett examensarbete utfört på ingenjörshögskolan (Maskin), Borås i samarbete med företaget Unitraffic AB. Unitraffic AB utvecklar, tillverkar och marknadsför teknik för trafik- och hastighetsövervakning för den skandinaviska marknaden. Syftet med examensarbetet har varit att utveckla en servicelösning samt nykonstruktion för kringutrustning för en genomsnittshastighetsmätare, Trip-Track.Servicelösningen kommer att införas på displayer som visar symptom på läckage. Examensarbetet har också resulterat i ett förslag till en bättre konstruktion på displayhuset samt förslag på nykonstruktioner av kapsling av huvuddator och kapsling för videodisplay. / Uppsatsnivå: C

O presente estudo teve por objetivo caracterizar em atletas homens e mulheres a dinâmica do stiffness e dos parâmetros biomecânicos atrelados ao stiffness (PBAS) durante uma corrida de elevada velocidade e curta duração. Ainda, investigar possíveis discriminantes de desempenho da corrida, e a relação destes com as tarefas de salto frequentemente utilizados nos treinamentos. Para tanto, foram realizados 2 estudos, sendo que o estudo 1 caracterizou a dinâmica dos parâmetros biomecânicos atrelados ao stiffness e apontou possíveis discriminantes de desempenho (por gênero), e no estudo 2 relacionou-se estes possíveis discriminantes com as tarefas de salto. O \"Spring Mass Model\" foi utilizado para obtenção dos PBAS, ao ponto que plataformas de força (AMTI) e a cinemetria (VICON) foram utilizados para a aquisição dos dados de salto. Foi evidenciado que o stiffness não apresentou total convergência com a dinâmica da velocidade apresentada no teste de corrida de elevada velocidade e curta duração, e que a força vertical aplicada ao solo durante a fase de apoio foi o PBAS que mais se aproximou da dinâmica apresentada pela velocidade. Não houveram distinções entre os gêneros na dinâmica do stiffness e dos PBAS, porém o gênero feminino apresentou maior dependência de parâmetros temporais de passo no início do teste e complacência muscular no final do teste, e o gênero masculino maior dependência de parâmetros atrelados a incremento de força no início do teste e incremento da fase aérea no final do teste. Ainda, houve diferença com significância estatística entre os gêneros quanto à magnitude e contribuição das fases da corrida. No mais, o salto horizontal (SH) apresentou maior relação com o desempenho em ambos os gêneros. Desta forma, conclui-se que 1) o stiffness propriamente dito não pode explicar o desempenho em uma corrida de elevada velocidade e curta duração, 2) dentre os PBAS, a magnitude da força vertical aplicada ao solo durante a fase de apoio apresentou maior proximidade com a dinâmica da velocidade, 3) homens e mulheres dependem distintamente dos PBAS para melhora no desempenho na corrida, e 4) o SH é meio de maior validade ecológica a ser utilizado nas rotinas de avaliação e treinamento de atletas envolvidos em provas de elevada velocidade e curta duração / The present study aims to characterize the dynamics of stiffness and biomechanical parameters related to stiffness (BPRS) in male and female athletes during top speed short distance run. It also intends to investigate possible performance discriminative factors and their relation with jumping tasks frequently used in training. For this purpose, two studies have been developed. Study 1 has characterized the dynamics of the biomechanical parameters related to stiffness and indicated possible discriminative factors (by gender). The study 2 has related these possible discriminative factors with jumping. The \'Spring Mass Model\' has been used to obtain the BRPS and the force plate (AMTI) and cinemetry (VICON) have been used to acquire jumping data. The study showed that stiffness has not presented total convergence with velocity dynamics and the vertical force applied to the ground during the support phase has been the closest result to the velocity dynamics presented. There has not been distinctions regarding gender in stiffness and BRPS dynamics, however, females have showed more dependency on step timing parameters on the test beginning and muscle complacency at the end of the test; and males presented more dependency on to the vertical force applied to the ground during the support phase on the test beginning and parameters connected to the increase in the swing phase at the end test. Moreover, there has been a difference with statistical significance between genders regarding magnitude and contribution through the running phases. In additional, the horizontal jump (HJ) results represented a closer relation to the performance top speed short distance run. Therefore, it has been concluded that 1) stiffness itself cannot explain the performance in top speed short distance run, 2) among the BRPS, vertical force magnitude applied to the ground during support phase presents closer results to velocity dynamics, 3) males and females depend on distinct BRPS to enrich their performance and 4) HJ is the exercise with the major validity to be used for the evaluation and training routine of top speed short distance run athletes

O objetivo da pesquisa aqui relatada é desenvolver um modelo de simulação estocástica capaz de reproduzir a circulação de trens em trechos de linha singela. O modelo é usado para avaliar o impacto que determinadas alterações podem provocar sobre o desempenho do sistema. Os fatores estudados são o número de estações existentes, os horários de partida dos trens, os tempos de parada nas estações e a velocidade média dos trens, que foram combinados em sete cenários diferentes. Os efeitos das alterações propostas são avaliados em termos do tempo total de percurso dos trens, o tempo médio de espera nas estações, a fila média, o tempo em que os trens ficam parados e circuIando, os tempos de ocupação dos desvios e a velocidade média dos trens. / The objective ofthis research isto develop a stochastic simulation model capable to reproduce the circulation of trains on a single track line. The proposed model is used to assess the impact of certain changes on the overall performance of the system. Seven different scenarios are used with this purpose. These scenarios include changes in the number of stations, train departure times, duration of stopping times at the stations and the train average speeds. The overall effect of these changes on the system is assessed by means of the trains total travel times, average waiting times at the stations, average queue lengths, running and stopping times, occupation times for sidings and the overall average speed for trains.