Fabula Nova Obscura Est: Possible Worlds in “Final Fantasy XIII-2”

Modern narratological researches are quite well developed and has long gone beyond the purely philological field. One of the applications of narratology is the study of computer games, the most relevant new medium. This paper is devoted to the issue of unusual narrative strategies used in games on the example of Final Fantasy XIII-2. The analysis is conducted via the possible-worlds method, which is currently in demand in modern humanities, but it is less known in Russia. The aim of the research is to determine the function of possible worlds existing in Final Fantasy XIII-2 for a better understanding of the game design. In the course of the work, the author examines the internal structure of the game world with the help of the theory of possible worlds, analyzes the narrative strategy, and makes a game scheme of possible worlds with accessibility links which let to see the deep internal structure of the narrative game world. In conclusion, it is clear that Final Fantasy XIII-2 contains a non-trivial narrative structure with multiple branches that is smoothed out by the gameplay and cinematic experience of the player, although such a composition of possible worlds represents a complex scheme of the game's macrocosm which demands a close attention to the narrative. The article is intended for various humanitarian specialists interested in the study of computer games.

Zombie of Biopower: Is the Concept Outdated?

The article is devoted to the discussion about what the concept of biopower, developed within the framework of the postmodern critical theory, means in the context of the modern world, both in general theoretical and empirical sense. According to the author’s conclusion, although this concept remains significant for Political Science, it is largely outdated and could turn into a scientific zombie idea. Giorgio Agamben, one of the classics of Political Philosophy, who denied the danger of the COVID-19 pandemic on the basis of the methodology of biopolitics, is case in point. Another evidence comes from the fact that researchers from different countries, including Russia, increasingly look for new approaches and tools of the biopolitical analysis, and try to saturate the concept with new ideas and data. This article proposes three ways how to make biopolitical research more relevant today. One way is to rethink the normative/moral foundations of biopower, to reject an implicitly negative assessment of the concept. Another way is to expand the historical framework, to pay greater attention to historical cases that allow us to trace different stages of the evolution of biopolitical patterns, to focus on the analysis of specific manifestations of biopower in concrete situations. The third way is to move towards the synthesis of critical biopolitics and evolutionary biopolitics, which draws data from the natural sciences. According to the author, these efforts together will make it possible to move from the unidirectional asymmetric link “the political influences the bio logical” to a more complex scheme of mutual reflective influence of the political and the biological.

A New Study of the Decorated Cists in Kilmartin Glen, Argyll, Scotland

Decorated cists have been identified at three burial cairns in Kilmartin Glen, Mid Argyll. The paper provides a new analysis of the cover slab at Nether Largie North, which features a series of pecked axeheads. Previous studies suggested that they replaced an array of cup marks, but the evidence of photogrammetry suggests a longer sequence and a more complex scheme. The same approach was taken to the decorated cists beneath the Nether Largie Mid cairn and a comparable structure at Ri Cruin. Additional depictions were identified. The carvings within all three cists are organised in similar ways. They date from a period in the Early Bronze Age when metal was imported from Ireland. At the same time, the reuse of older structures suggests a new concern with the past.

Single-cell morphometrics reveals ancestral principles of notochord development

Embryonic tissues are shaped by the dynamic behaviours of their constituent cells. To understand such cell behaviours and how they evolved, new approaches are needed to map out morphogenesis across different organisms. Here, we apply a quantitative approach to learn how the notochord forms during the development of amphioxus, a basally-branching chordate. Using a single-cell morphometrics pipeline, we quantify the geometries of thousands of amphioxus notochord cells, and project them into a common mathematical space, termed morphospace. In morphospace, notochord cells disperse into branching trajectories of cell shape change, revealing a dynamic interplay between cell shape change and growth that collectively contribute to tissue elongation. By spatially mapping these trajectories, we identify conspicuous regional variation, both in developmental timing and trajectory topology. Finally, we show experimentally that, unlike ascidians but like vertebrates, posterior cell division is required in amphioxus to generate full notochord length, thereby suggesting this might be an ancestral chordate trait secondarily lost in ascidians. Altogether, our novel approach reveals that an unexpectedly complex scheme of notochord morphogenesis might have been present in the first chordates.

Cable-Stayed Bridge Loads Caused by Traffic Congestion on the Deck Measured with Bridge Monitoring System

Structural safety of a bridge depends, among other things, on the number of vehicles passing on its deck, their weights and distribution of loads to their axes. A large number of vehicles can accumulate on the bridge in a controlled state, i.e., during an acceptance test including load testing, and during traffic congestion on the bridge, which is a fortuitous event addressed in this paper. The paper deals with the analysis of load intensity on one bridge carriageway when it is fully and randomly filled during traffic congestion. The influence functions of the forces in the cables are used to determine the effects of loads exerted by the vehicles moving at very low speed. Effects of such loads are studied considering an exemplary cable-stayed bridge. Since the measurement basis was limited, the iterative algorithm was used. It consists in shortening the girder sections under analysis to the area appropriate for determining the load in each successive step of iteration. Ineffectiveness of the traditional algorithm, where the determined system of equations is resolved, is an important premise for using such algorithm. The results of numerical analysis show that the load intensity caused by traffic congestion is relatively high. It has been demonstrated that the matrix method may be successfully used to determine the real load of bridges on the basis of selected parameters measured in the bridge structure, also for complex scheme bridges, including the cable-stayed bridges.

Cable-Stayed Bridge Loads Caused by Traffic Congestion on the Deck Measured with Bridge Monitoring System

Structural safety of a bridge depends, among other things, on the number of vehicles passing on its deck, their weights and distribution of loads to their axes. A large number of vehicles can accumulate on the bridge in a controlled state, i.e., during an acceptance test including load testing, and during traffic congestion on the bridge, which is a fortuitous event addressed in this paper. The paper deals with the analysis of load intensity on one bridge carriageway when it is fully and randomly filled during traffic congestion. The influence functions of the forces in the cables are used to determine the effects of loads exerted by the vehicles moving at very low speed. Effects of such loads are studied considering an exemplary cable-stayed bridge. Since the measurement basis was limited, the iterative algorithm was used. It consists in shortening the girder sections under analysis to the area appropriate for determining the load in each successive step of iteration. Ineffectiveness of the traditional algorithm, where the determined system of equations is resolved, is an important premise for using such algorithm. The results of numerical analysis show that the load intensity caused by traffic congestion is relatively high. It has been demonstrated that the matrix method may be successfully used to determine the real load of bridges on the basis of selected parameters measured in the bridge structure, also for complex scheme bridges, including the cable-stayed bridges.

Numerical determination of the singularity order of a system of differential equations

We consider moving singular points of systems of ordinary differential equations. A review of Painlevé’s results on the algebraicity of these points and their relation to the Marchuk problem of determining the position and order of moving singularities by means of finite difference method is carried out. We present an implementation of a numerical method for solving this problem, proposed by N. N. Kalitkin and A. Al’shina (2005) based on the Rosenbrock complex scheme in the Sage computer algebra system, the package CROS for Sage. The main functions of this package are described and numerical examples of usage are presented for each of them. To verify the method, computer experiments are executed (1) with equations possessing the Painlevé property, for which the orders are expected to be integer; (2) dynamic Calogero system. This system, well-known as a nontrivial example of a completely integrable Hamiltonian system, in the present context is interesting due to the fact that coordinates and momenta are algebraic functions of time, and the orders of moving branching points can be calculated explicitly. Numerical experiments revealed that the applicability conditions of the method require additional stipulations related to the elimination of superconvergence points.

Numerical determination of the singularity order of a system of differential equations

We consider moving singular points of systems of ordinary differential equations. A review of Painlevé’s results on the algebraicity of these points and their relation to the Marchuk problem of determining the position and order of moving singularities by means of finite difference method is carried out. We present an implementation of a numerical method for solving this problem, proposed by N. N. Kalitkin and A. Al’shina (2005) based on the Rosenbrock complex scheme in the Sage computer algebra system, the package CROS for Sage. The main functions of this package are described and numerical examples of usage are presented for each of them. To verify the method, computer experiments are executed (1) with equations possessing the Painlevé property, for which the orders are expected to be integer; (2) dynamic Calogero system. This system, well-known as a nontrivial example of a completely integrable Hamiltonian system, in the present context is interesting due to the fact that coordinates and momenta are algebraic functions of time, and the orders of moving branching points can be calculated explicitly. Numerical experiments revealed that the applicability conditions of the method require additional stipulations related to the elimination of superconvergence points.