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MMORPG game as the a representative product of video game from its birth to the present more than several decades, have been developing at an astonishing speed and MMORPG player groups have expanded. Nevertheless, there are questions being raised of the relatively new and successful field of sense of immersion of MMORPG game design. In the previous studies, the theory of flow had been testified to be the tremendously significant to explore sense of immersion while performing the activities and it had been applied to many different domains. Based on three conditions of that are necessary to achieve the flow state, the paper addresses the predicaments by analyzing the research results in relation to previous design report on the sense of immersion of MMORPG game design. The paper also provides the constrictive thoughts and productive sketches on how to promote the sense of immersion of MMORPG game using the design artifacts in an early design process.

This thesis presents the results of the investigations in two areas, i.e. non-Newtonian annular flow and cuttings transport in drilling annuli at various angles. In the first part of the thesis, a review of the fundamentals and the previous studies on laminar concentric annular flow of non-Newtonian fluids is given at first. Then two parallel theoretical studies are performed, respectively, on: a. Laminar eccentric annular flow of power-law and Bingham plastic fluids. In this analysis, a new method is used which treats an eccentric annulus as infinite number of concentric annuli with variable outer radius. The analytical solutions of the shear stress, shear rate, velocity and the volumetric flowrate/pressure gradient are obtained over the entire eccentric annulus. This analysis is useful in design of any engineering operations related to eccentric annular flow such as oil drilling operations. b. Laminar helical flow of power-law fluids through concentric annuli. A group of dimensionless equations are derived in this analysis for the profiles of the apparent viscosity, angular and .axial velocities, and for the volumetric flowrate. These equations are essential when one needs to simulate the helical flow conditions in various engineering operations. In addition, another group of dimensionless equations are also derived for pressure gradient calculations which can be used directly by drilling engineers to predict the reduction of the annular friction pressure drop caused by drillpipe rotation during drilling operations. The second part of the thesis is dedicated to the investigations into the problems directly related to cuttings transport through drilling annuli at various angles. First, both theoretical and experimental studies on settling velocities of drilled cuttings in drilling fluids are conducted using new approaches to account for the non-Newtonian nature of drilling fluids and for the shape irregularity of drilled cuttings. Based on experimental results, a generalised model is developed for calculating settling velocities of variously shaped particles in power-law fluids. Then, the effects of various parameters on cuttings transport during drilling operations are analysed based on the previous and the present studies. After that, an extensive theoretical analysis for the previous studies on the minimum transport velocity (MTV) in solid-liquid mixture flow through pipelines, on initiation of sediment transport in open channels and on MTV for cuttings transport in deviated wells is presented. At last, theoretical studies on the minimum transport velocity for cuttings transport in drilling annuli at various angles are conducted and two parallel general correlations are developed. When these correlations are experimentally verified and numerically established in the future, they can be served as general criteria for evaluating and correlating the effects of various parameters on cuttings transport, and as a guideline for cuttings transport programme design during directional drilling.

Användarupplevelse anses vara en viktig aspekt inom dagens spel och utgör en betydande roll för framgång inom branschen. Flertal funktioner bör beaktas vid utvecklingen av optimal upplevelse och eftersom spelindustrin ständigt utvecklas måste även människans kunskap om komponenterna som skapar den optimala upplevelsen utvecklas. För avhandlingen undersöks flow och immersion som komponenter av optimal upplevelse i syfte att skapa förståelse för aktiviteters potential att inducera optimala spelupplevelser inom FPS-spel. Samtidigt undersöks möjligheten att kombinera flow och immersion inom en teori, för att uppnå bättre förståelse för deras relation till varandra inom en spelmiljö. Teorin som presenteras är flow theory, vilken staterar att specifika sinnestillstånd kan observeras när användare utför uppgifter som hen har olika kompetensnivåer inom och som motsätter sig olika utmaningsnivåer. Upplevelsen av flow faller inom de sinnestillstånd som kan observeras, medan immersion ej observeras. Dock överlappar immersion och flow inom flertal av de aspekter som möjliggör flows plats inom teorin, således finns möjlighet för immersion att potentiellt identifieras inom den. För att undersöka detta används både kvantitativa och kvalitativa metoder i form av enkätundersökningar och intervjuer med spelare av FPS-spel. Resultaten visar att ingen specifik aktivitet inom dessa spel kan identifieras med högre nivåer av vare sig flow eller immersion och ingen ytterligare forskning inom ämnet genomfördes. Resultaten påvisade att potentiell immersion kan uppstå inom flertal sinnestillstånd inom flowteorin, dock varierade nivåerna av potentiell immersion mellan dem. Vänners närvaro ökar potentialen att uppleva immersion. / User experience is an important aspect of modern gameplay and plays an important role throughout the various parts that gaming has to offer. There are many features to regard in the development of the optimal gaming experience and as the industry continues to advance, our knowledge about the components of the optimal experience must advance with it. In this thesis flow and immersion as components of optimal user experience will be researched to gain an understanding for which activities within FPS-games show the most potential to induce these optimal gaming experiences. Whilst also attempting to combine them under one theory to achieve a better understanding of their relation to one another in a game setting. The theory presented is flow theory, which states that specific states of mind can be observed when users perform tasks in which they possess varying levels of competence and that oppose varying levels of challenge. The experience of flow is an observable state of mind within the theory, whilst immersion is not. However, immersion overlaps with multiple aspects of the flow experience that enables it to be part of this theory, thus enabling immersion's potential to be identified within it. To investigate this both quantitative and qualitative methods are used, consisting of surveys and interviews with gamers of FPS-style games. The results show that no specific activity within these games can be identified with higher levels of neither flow nor immersion and no further research on the subject was conducted. The results regarding immersion within the flow theory gave positive results. The potential to experience immersion was observed within multiple parts of the theory, even though the levels of potential immersion varied between the different areas. The results also showed that the presence of friends increased the potential to experience immersion.

When high school art teachers do not understand how their students experience creativity, studio art programs are less effective in fostering student learning than they would otherwise be. Nevertheless, extant research does not reveal a consistent or comprehensive understanding of how adolescents experience creativity in art education. Drawing on Csikszentmihalyi's theory of creativity and flow, this study explored students' perceptions of creativity and its relationship to flow, or the state of consciousness associated with optimal pleasure. This phenomenological study investigated students' perceptions of creativity and flow by interviewing nine high school advanced placement students in a public high school in southwest Florida. Data were drawn from three structured interviews with each subject and a field journal kept by the researcher. The Think Aloud technique used for the second interview provided rich descriptions while participants were in the midst of doing art. Field journal entries were organized according to Bailey's guide to field note classification. Moustakas's interpretation and modifications of the Van Kaam method of analysis provided a systematic approach to transcript reduction. The results of the investigation revealed four themes in the ways students perceive their own creativity, namely, influences, mindset, self-efficacy, and emotions. As they reflected on their perceptions of creativity and flow, students gained a greater awareness of their experience while creating art. Among the study's implications for social change, as art educators elicit these understandings, they foster creativity and transform students' lives in school and potentially, the wider society.

Massively multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPGs) are growing in popularity and use worldwide. This study seeks to explore the motivations and experiences of MMORPG players through an extensive online survey with more than a thousand participants (n=1,422). The findings support a complex relationship between the variables, including the direct effects of motivations and flow on the time invested by players in MMORPG play, as well as the mediated effects of motivation via flow. Causal relationships are examined in addition to the significance of direct and indirect effects on frequency of play, yielding several significant results, including (1) the overwhelming importance of relationships as a motivation for MMORPG players, (2) the lack of motivation for manipulating players and elements of the game experienced by players, (3) the significance of achievement motivators when mediated by flow, (4) the significance of the direct effects of the mechanisms of flow (challenge, skill, and play) on MMORPG play behaviors, and (5) the recognition of the intricate network of connections between the variables in their effects on MMORPG players' habits.

Compared with the advertisement on traditional media, mobile applications are totally different in usage situation, operating interfaces and communication modes with consumers. The study analyzes the influence of the positions (such as, pre-game advertisement and peripheral game advertisement) and formats (such as, dynamic banners advertisement and rich media advertisement) of advertisement on advertising effects. In addition, flow level is the modifying variable. The study collected a total of 220 effective samples by using judgmental sampling procedures to send out questionnaires over the Internet. Respondents must have experiences in playing Angry Bird on a smart phone The research results include: (1) The positions of advertisement influence significantly over the advertisement attitudes, brand and product memories; (2) The formats of advertisement influence significantly over the advertisement attitudes, and (3) The positions and formats of advertisement influence significantly over the advertisement attitudes when respondents are in low flow level. On the contrary, the positions and formats of advertisement influence significantly over brand and product memories when respondents are in high flow level.

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abstract: This dissertation research is concerned with the study of two important traffic phenomena; merging and lane-specific traffic behavior. First, this research investigates merging traffic behavior through empirical analysis and evaluation of freeway merge ratios. Merges are important components of freeways and traffic behavior around them have a significant impact in the evolution and stability of congested traffic. At merges, drivers from conflicting traffic branches take turns to merge into a single stream at a rate referred to as the “merge ratio”. In this research, data from several freeway merges was used to evaluate existing macroscopic merge models and theoretical principles of merging behavior. Findings suggest that current merge ratio estimation methods can be insufficient to represent site-specific merge ratios, due to observed within-site variations and unaccounted effects of downstream merge geometry. To overcome these limitations, merge ratios were formulated based on their site-specific lane flow distribution (LFD), the proportion of flow in each freeway lane, for two types of merge geometries. Results demonstrate that the proposed methods are able to improve merge ratio estimates, reproduce within-site variations of merge ratio, and represent more effectively disproportionate redistribution of merging flow for merges where vehicles compete directly to merge due a downstream lane reduction. Second, this research investigates lane-specific traffic behavior through empirical analysis and statistical modeling of lane flow distribution. Lane-specific traffic behavior is also an important component in evaluating freeway performance and has a significant impact in the mechanism of queue evolution, particularly around merges, and bottleneck discharge rate. In this research, site-specific linear LFD trends of three-lane congested freeways were investigated and modeled. A large-scale data collection process was implemented to systematically characterize the effects of several traffic and geometric features of freeways in the occurrence of between-site LFD variations. Also, an innovative three-stage modeling framework was used to model LFD behavior using multiple logistic regression to describe between-site LFD variations and Dirichlet regression to model recurrent combinations of linear LFD trends. This novel approach is able to represent both between and within site variations of LFD trends better, while accounting for the unit-sum constraint and distribution assumptions inherent of proportions data. Results revealed that proximity to freeway merges, a site’s level of congestion, and the presence of HOV lanes are significant factors that influence site-specific recurrent LFD behavior. Findings from this work significantly improve the state-of-the-art knowledge on merging and lane-specific traffic behavior, which can help to improve traffic operations and reduce traffic congestion in freeways. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Civil and Environmental Engineering 2015

Art experience, as an important contributor to intellectual experiences, has been studied by many researchers and philosophers to unearth and enhance certain qualities of it [9,16,21,22]. One of the ways of interpreting profound forms of art experience has been relating it with “flow,” a term that indicates a holistic sensation with the act of total involvement, concentration, intrinsic enjoyment and action-awareness [7]. Previous studies argue that looking at art experience as a form of flow, reveals its structural characteristics and dynamics more clearly, and thereby discuss art experience as a flow-conductive activity [8]. Along with that, the flow phenomenon has been studied in the context of musical activities and argued to have strong links with the musical domain [3,5]. Little is known at the moment about how musical sound can facilitate flow in the context of an art experience. This study presents a research through sound design process, with the purpose of facilitating an enhanced art experience i.e., facilitating flow in the artistic encounter. The study presents two primary contributions: (1) a presentation of the design process, consisting of an explorative prestudy at Moderna Museet in Stockholm, a followup sound experiment in an artistic encounter and (2) findings from the evaluation at Uppsala Konstmuseum, focused on identifying the impact that the designed sound artefact has had on individuals’ experiences. The author argues that the sound artefact may create an immersive environment, help initiate the mindset for introspection through the interactive characteristics and elevate conditions for flow to an observable extent. Lastly, critical reflections on the design process are also included in the final chapter to benefit research through sound design community. / Konstupplevelsen, som en viktig bidragande faktor till den intellektuella upplevelsen, har studerats av många forskare och filosofer i syfte att demaskera och förstärka dess särskilda karaktärsdrag [9,16,21,22]. Ett sätt på vilket sofistikerade former av konstupplevelser har tolkats har varit genom “flow”; ett begrepp som betecknar en holistisk förnimmelse genom totalt engagemang, koncentration, inneboende njutning och handlings-medvetenhet [7]. Tidigare forskning hävdar att genom att se konstupplevelser som ett “flow” avslöjas dess strukturella karaktärsdrag och dynamik på ett tydligare sätt. Konstupplevelsen undersöks på detta sätt som en aktivitet upplevd genom “flow” [8]. Vidare har begreppet “flow” studerats i relation till musikalisk aktivitet och har ansetts ha starka kopplingar till musikens område [3,5]. Kunskapen är i nuläget begränsad kring hur musikaliskt ljud kan främja “flow” i relation till en konstupplevelse. Denna studie baseras på metoden forskning genom design och har som syfte att främja en förhöjd konstupplevelse, med andra ord att underlätta “flow” i det konstnärliga mötet. Studiens två huvudsakliga bidrag består i: (1) en presentation av designprocessen genom en explorativ förstudie på Moderna Museet i Stockholm, ett uppföljande ljudexperiment i ett konstnärligt sammanhang och (2) resultaten av en utvärdering gjord på Uppsala Konstmuseum med fokus på identifieringen av vilken effekt den designade ljudartefakten har på den individuella upplevelsen. Författaren hävdar att ljudartefakten kan bidra till att skapa en omslutande miljö, bidra till att initiera ett introspektivt tankesätt genom de interaktiva karaktärsdragen samt öka förutsättningarna för “flow” i märkbar omfattning. Slutligen har kritiska reflektioner över designprocessen inkluderats i det sista kapitlet i syfte att bidra till forskningen inom ljuddesign.