Procedural Video Game Scene Generation by Genetic and Neutrosophic WASPAS Algorithms

The demand for automated game development assistance tools can be fulfilled by computational creativity algorithms. The procedural generation is one of the topics for creative content development. The main procedural generation challenge for game level layout is how to create a diverse set of levels that could match a human-crafted game scene. Our game scene layouts are created randomly and then sculpted using a genetic algorithm. To address the issue of fitness calculation with conflicting criteria, we use weighted aggregated sum product assessment (WASPAS) in a single-valued neutrosophic set environment (SVNS) that models the indeterminacy with truth, intermediacy, and falsehood memberships. Results are presented as an encoded game object grid where each game object type has a specific function. The algorithm creates a diverse set of game scene layouts by combining game rules validation and aesthetic principles. It successfully creates functional aesthetic patterns without specifically defining the shapes of the combination of games’ objects.

The Function of CBM32 in Alginate Lyase VxAly7B on the Activity on Both Soluble Sodium Alginate and Alginate Gel

Carbohydrate-binding modules (CBMs), as an important auxiliary module, play a key role in degrading soluble alginate by alginate lyase, but the function on alginate gel has not been elucidated. Recently, we reported alginate lyase VxAly7B containing a CBM32 and a polysaccharide lyase family 7 (PL7). To investigate the specific function of CBM32, we characterized the full-length alginate lyase VxAly7B (VxAly7B-FL) and truncated mutants VxAly7B-CM (PL7) and VxAly7B-CBM (CBM32). Both VxAly7B-FL and native VxAly7B can spontaneously cleavage between CBM32 and PL7. The substrate-binding capacity and activity of VxAly7B-CM to soluble alginate were 0.86- and 1.97-fold those of VxAly7B-FL, respectively. Moreover, CBM32 could accelerate the expansion and cleavage of alginate gel beads, and the degradation rate of VxAly7B-FL to alginate gel beads was threefold that of VxAly7B-CM. Results showed that CBM32 is not conducive to the degradation of soluble alginate by VxAly7B but is helpful for binding and degradation of insoluble alginate gel. This study provides new insights into the function of CBM32 on alginate gel, which may inspire the application strategy of CBMs in insoluble substrates.

CONCERNING SOME PRINCIPLES REGULATING THE OPERATIVE DETECTIVE ACTIVITIES IN WORKING WITH PERSONS PROVIDING TACIT ASSISTANCE

В статье приводятся суждения ученых о принципах, на которых основывается оперативно-розыскная деятельность в части работы с лицами, оказывающими негласное содействие оперативным подразделениям, в рамках борьбы с криминальными проявлениями. Рассматривается интерпретация подходов к понятию и содержанию специальных принципов, приводятся их виды. Отмечается, что научные изыскания в оперативно-розыскной деятельности направлены, прежде всего, на совершенствование правового регулирования оперативно-розыскного законодательства, обходя важные основополагающие критерии в виде принципов, носящих общий характер. Основывая рассуждения на понимании особой специфической функции оперативно-розыскной деятельности, уточняется, что общие принципы необходимо расширить и закрепить в федеральном законе об оперативно-розыскной деятельности, а специальные принципы отразить в ведомственном законодательстве, в частности, уделяя внимание тем, которые непосредственно касаются лиц, оказывающих негласное содействие оперативным подразделениям. В рамках данной статьи предложен ряд принципов, на которых должна основываться данная деятельность. На основе анализа понятийного и содержательного подхода к принципам авторы статьи формулируют свой научно-прикладной подход к обсуждаемым категориям и дополняют их новым принципом The article presents the judgments of scientists about the principles on which the operative detective activity is based in terms of working with persons who provide covert assistance to operational units in the framework of the fight against criminal manifestations. The interpretation of approaches to the concept and content of special principles is considered, their types are given. It is noted that scientific research in operative detective activities is aimed primarily at improving the legal regulation of operative detective legislation, bypassing important fundamental criteria in the form of general principles. Basing the reasoning on the understanding of the special specific function of operative detective activity, it is clarified that the general principles must be expanded and consolidated in the federal law on operative detective activity, and special principles should be reflected in the departmental legislation, in particular, paying attention to those that directly relate to persons providing tacit assistance to operational units. Within the framework of this article, a number of principles have been proposed on which this activity should be based. Based on the analysis of the conceptual and substantive approach to the principles, the authors of the article formulate their scientific and applied approach to the discussed categories, and as their contribution to science, they supplement them with their new principle.

A Medieval Open Work

Guigo II is commonly known and praised among specialists of Western mysticism for his Scala claustralium, a work that presents a spiritual program for cloistered monks. His Meditations, on the other hand, have usually been relegated to the margin of attention. The First Meditation, in particular, is generally regarded as a minor piece. The paper argues, however, that a new approach can make better sense of the First Meditation, while also enabling us to recognize its specific function and value. Seen from this new perspective, Guigo’s purpose with the text is to train and exercise his readers’ minds according to the spiritual program laid out in the Scala. The paper shows that the First Meditation realizes that goal, surprisingly, by having the same essential features that Umberto Eco found in the ‘open works’ of the Western avant-garde.

Palace Courtyards in Iléṣà: A Melting Point of Traditional Yorùbá Architecture

The Yorùbá courtyard is an important architectural space in traditional Yorùbá architecture that has not received adequate scholarly attention. This paper examines the courtyards in the palace of certain chiefs and Ọwá Obòkun in Iléṣà, in southwest Nigeria. Fieldwork identified about ten courtyards in the palace of the Ọwá, four in the Rísàwè palace, and two in the palaces of the Léjọkà and Ọdọlé of Iléṣà. It uses these courtyards as models for courtyards in Yorùbá architecture. The study revealed that most of the courtyards in the Ọwá’s palace are generally not used for one specific function, though some are used mainly for religious purposes. The courtyards in the palaces of the chiefs are more functional, and better maintained than those of the Ọwá’s palace. The paper concludes that—considering their ancient and social function—the courtyards form a melting point within Yorùbá architecture. It suggests that efforts be made to ensure that the existing courtyards in these palaces are designated as land

Mind and World in Aristotle's De Anima

Why is the human mind able to perceive and understand the truth about reality; that is, why does it seem to be the mind's specific function to know the world? Sean Kelsey argues that both the question itself and the way Aristotle answers it are key to understanding his work De Anima, a systematic philosophical account of the soul and its powers. In this original reading of a familiar but highly compressed text, Kelsey shows how this question underpins Aristotle's inquiry into the nature of soul, sensibility, and intelligence. He argues that, for Aristotle, the reason why it is in human nature to know beings is that 'the soul in a way is all beings'. This new perspective on the De Anima throws fresh and interesting light on familiar Aristotelian doctrines: for example, that sensibility is a kind of ratio (logos), or that the intellect is simple, separate, and unmixed.

Armorial Lockplates: A Story of Success in Renaissance Rome

This article was prompted by a gilt bronze lockplate in the Rijksmuseum, originally the decorative fastening of a chest and one of a large group of similar objects. Hardly any other metalwork design was more extensively reproduced in Italian Mannerism. Its success was based on the appealing design and the fact this type of lockplate offered the possibility of integrating coats of arms and thus personalizing a chest. The paper presents new examples not yet listed in Charles Avery’s comprehensive overview (2001), identifies a whole series of clients for these lockplates on the basis of heraldic and genealogical analyses and deduces from this an origin in Rome and a dating of the entire group (previously dated 1540) to the last third of the sixteenth century.It has been generally assumed that the specific function of these objects was to decorate marriage chests. Closer analysis argues against this thesis. The lockplate in the Rijksmuseum is particularly significant in this context. The coats of arms on its lateral cartouches identify the Roman Orazio Ruspoli and his wife Felice Cavalieri (marr. 1594) as the clients for the piece. Surprisingly, however, the crest on the hasp belongs to a family that was not related to this couple. A comparable finding is made for a lockplate in the National Gallery in Washington, which has also been misinterpreted so far. In this case, too, the coats of arms on the plate and on the hasp do not point to a family connection, but to neighbouring and presumably friendly families. The analysis of other examples, such as one in the Palazzo Venezia, confirms that these lockplates and the chests to which they were attached were not exclusively bound to the context of marriage. As travelling chests, which became must-have items for the Roman upper class, they seem to have been open to a variety of functions.

QTL Analysis Based on A Rice Short-Wide Grain CSSL-Z414 and Substitution Mapping of qGL11 and qGW5

Background: Most of rice agronomic traits as grain length etc. are complex traits controlled by multiple genes. Chromosome segment substitution lines (CSSLs) are ideal materials for dissecting and studying of these complex traits. Results: We developed a novel rice short-wide grain CSSL, Z414, deriving from progeny of the recipient parent Xihui 18 (an indica restorer line) and the donor parent Huhan 3 (a japonica cultivar). Z414 contained 4 substitution segments (average length was 3.04 Mb). Compared with Xihui 18, Z414 displayed seven significantly different traits as grain length, width and weight, chalkiness degree, brown rice rate etc. Then, 8 quantitative trait loci (QTLs) were found responding these difference traits by F2 population from Xihui 18/Z414. Among them, 6 QTLs (qPL3, qGW5, qGL11, qRLW5, qRLW11, qGWT5) could be verified by novel developed single segment substitution lines (SSSLs, S1-S6). In addition, 4 QTLs (qGL3, qGL5, qCD3 and qCD5) were novel detected by S1 and S5. Thus, the short–wide grain of Z414 was responded by qGL11, qGL3, qGL5, and qGW5. Then, qGL11 and qGW5 were delimited within intervals of 0.405 and 1.14 Mb on chromosomes 11 and 5, respectively, by substitution mapping. Again by sequencing, qRT-PCR and cell morphology analysis, qGW5 should be a novel allele of GS5 and qGL11 is novel QTL encoding CycT1;3, whose specific function of regulating grain length was still unknown. Finally, pyramid of qGL3 (a=0.22) and qGL11 (a=-0.19) displayed qGL11 epistatic to qGL3. In addition, novel S1 and D2 exhibited different grain sizes and lower chalkiness degree. They are potential to be directly used in breeding hybrid rice varieties.Conclusions: We constructed a novel rice short–wide grain CSSL-Z414 with 4 substitution segments based on the genetic backgrounds of Xihui 18. The broad grain of Z414 was controlled by qGW5, which should be a novel allele of GS5. The short grain of Z414 was controlled by qGL11, qGL3, and qGL5, and qGL11 is a novel QTL encoding CycT1;3, whose specific function of regulating grain length was still unknown, and qGL11 is epistatic to qGL3. Novel S1 and D2 are potential in hybrid rice varieties.

The Communication Argument and the Pluralist Challenge

Various theorists have endorsed the “communication argument”: communicative capacities are necessary for morally responsible agency because blame aims at a distinctive kind of moral communication. I contend that existing versions of the argument, including those defended by Gary Watson and Coleen Macnamara, face a pluralist challenge: they do not seem to sit well with the plausible view that blame has multiple aims. I then examine three possible rejoinders to the challenge, suggesting that a context-specific, function-based approach constitutes the most promising modification of the communication argument.

Institutions for Protecting Constitutional Democracy: An Analytic Framework, with Special Reference to Electoral Management Bodies

Constitutional theory dating to Montesquieu identified three branches of government, each with a specific function: the legislature enacted general rules, the executive enforced the rules, and the judiciary resolved disputes about the rules’ meaning and application. Every government had to have these branches in some form; that is, the branches were necessary elements in a governance structure. In addition, the branches were exhaustive: that is, taken together they did everything a government could do.