All games are potentially transformative experiences because they engage the player in dynamic action. When repurposed in an educational context, even highly popular casual games played online to pass the time can engage players in a way that deepens learning. Games as Transformative Experiences for Critical Thinking, Cultural Awareness, and Deep Learning: Strategies & Resources examines the learning value of a wide variety of games across multiple disciplines. Organized just like a well-made game, the book is divided into four parts highlighting classroom experiences, community and culture, virtual learning, and interdisciplinary instruction. The author crosses between the high school and college classroom and addresses a range of disciplines, both online and classroom practice, the design of curriculum, and the transformation of assessment practices. In addition to a wealth of practical exercises, resources, and lesson ideas, the book explains how to use a wide and diverse range of games from casual to massively multiplayer online games for self-improvement as well as classroom situations.

Japanese Role-playing Games: Genre, Representation, and Liminality in the JRPG examines the origins, boundaries, and transnational effects of the genre, addressing significant formal elements as well as narrative themes, character construction, and player involvement. Contributors from Japan, Europe, North America, and Australia employ a variety of theoretical approaches to analyze popular game series and individual titles, introducing an English-speaking audience to Japanese video game scholarship while also extending postcolonial and philosophical readings to the Japanese game text. In a three-pronged approach, the collection uses these analyses to look at genre, representation, and liminality, engaging with a multitude of concepts including stereotypes, intersectionality, and the political and social effects of JRPGs on players and industry conventions. Broadly, this collection considers JRPGs as networked systems, including evolved iterations of MMORPGs and card collecting "social games" for mobile devices. Scholars of media studies, game studies, Asian studies, and Japanese culture will find this book particularly useful.

Fully updated and compliant with Excel 2013, this clearly explains the basic calculations for mathematical finance, backed up with simple templates for further use and development, and a workbook with exercises and solutions at the end of each chapter. The examples used are relevant to both managers and students in the UK and overseas. New to this edition Updated glossary of key terms Functions list in English and Euro languages Continuity check on all formats, layouts and charts More worked examples Additional exercises at the end of each chapter to help build models Templates and models available online

"If mathematical modeling is the process of turning real phenomena into mathematical abstractions, then numerical computation is largely about the transformation from abstract mathematics to concrete reality. Many science and engineering disciplines have long benefited from the tremendous value of the correspondence between quantitative information and mathematical manipulation." -from the Preface Fundamentals of Numerical Computation is an advanced undergraduate-level introduction to the mathematics and use of algorithms for the fundamental problems of numerical computation: linear algebra, finding roots, approximating data and functions, and solving differential equations. The book is organized with simpler methods in the first half and more advanced methods in the second half, allowing use for either a single course or a sequence of two courses. The authors take readers from basic to advanced methods, illustrating them with over 200 self-contained MATLAB functions and examples designed for those with no prior MATLAB experience. Although the text provides many examples, exercises, and illustrations, the aim of the authors is not to provide a cookbook per se, but rather an exploration of the principles of cooking. Professors Driscoll and Braun have developed an online resource that includes well-tested materials related to every chapter. Among these materials are lecture-related slides and videos, ideas for student projects, laboratory exercises, computational examples and scripts, and all the functions presented in the book.

It's time for a brand new Minecraft guide! How to Beat Minecraft is the independent and unofficial guide with everything a player could possibly need to finish the game in survival mode. Starting from the very first moment you begin the game in a completely new world, the book will show you the best methods for mining, crafting and creating a shelter, then lead you through farming, making enchanted objects, interacting with villagers, and exploring. Finally, you'll learn how to enter the dangerous world of the Nether and survive there, and how to beat the Ender Dragon and complete the game. It's packed full of info on the very latest completely new elements in Minecraft, including pillagers, pandas, shipwrecks and more. This epic book has everything that a player needs to beat Survival Mode and become a Minecraft champion!

1) This book presents a comprehensive overview of the exponential increase in the use of technology in business operations. 2) With case studies from India and Sudan, it showcases the use of data analytics and data mining techniques in business operations. 3) This book will be of interest to departments of business analytics and business management in UK.

Multimedia information retrieval focuses on the tools of processing and searching that are applicable to the content-based management of new multimedia documents. It has recently expanded to encompass newly devised techniques that will further its performance and growing importance. Image Retrieval and Analysis Using Text and Fuzzy Shape Features: Emerging Research and Opportunities is a critical scholarly resource that explores methods and strategies related to multimedia information retrieval systems. Featuring coverage on a broad range of topics including content-based image retrieval, text-based image retrieval, fuzzy object shape features, encoding, and indexing, this book is geared towards library science specialists, information technology specialists, and researchers seeking current information on the integration of new information retrieval technologies.

Over his four-decade career, Sid Meier has produced some of the world's most popular video games, including Sid Meier's Civilization, which has sold more than 51 million units worldwide and accumulated more than one billion hours of play. Sid Meier's Memoir! is the story of an obsessive young computer enthusiast who helped launch a multi-million-pound industry. Writing with warmth and ironic humour, Meier describes the genesis of his influential studio, MicroProse, founded in 1982 after a trip to a Las Vegas arcade, and recounts the development of landmark games, from vintage classics like Pirates! and Railroad Tycoon, to Civilization and beyond. Articulating his philosophy that a videogame should be "a series of interesting decisions", Meier also shares his perspective on the history of the industry, the psychology of gamers and fascinating insights into the creative process, including his ten rules of good game design.

Direct3D 11 offers such a wealth of capabilities that users can sometimes get lost in the details of specific APIs and their implementation. While there is a great deal of low-level information available about how each API function should be used, there is little documentation that shows how best to leverage these capabilities. Written by active members of the Direct3D community, Practical Rendering and Computation with Direct3D 11 provides a deep understanding of both the high and low level concepts related to using Direct3D 11. The first part of the book presents a conceptual introduction to Direct3D 11, including an overview of the Direct3D 11 rendering and computation pipelines and how they map to the underlying hardware. It also provides a detailed look at all of the major components of the library, covering resources, pipeline details, and multithreaded rendering. Building upon this material, the second part of the text includes detailed examples of how to use Direct3D 11 in common rendering scenarios. The authors describe sample algorithms in-depth and discuss how the features of Direct3D 11 can be used to your advantage. All of the source code from the book is accessible on an actively maintained open source rendering framework. The sample applications and the framework itself can be downloaded from http://hieroglyph3.codeplex.com By analyzing when to use various tools and the tradeoffs between different implementations, this book helps you understand the best way to accomplish a given task and thereby fully leverage the potential capabilities of Direct3D 11. Key Features Presents the high level concepts used to design algorithms Describes the nuts and bolts of how to implement the algorithms Explains each of the major components of the Direct3D 11 library Shows how Direct3D 11 can be used in a variety of real-world situations Provides source code and sample programs on a supplementary website

Recently, nature has stimulated many successful techniques, algorithms, and computational applications allowing conventionally difficult problems to be solved through novel computing systems. ""Nature-Inspired Informatics for Intelligent Applications and Knowledge Discovery: Implications in Business, Science, and Engineering"" provides the latest findings in nature-inspired algorithms and their applications for breakthroughs in a wide range of disciplinary fields. This defining reference collection contains chapters written by leading researchers and well-known academicians within the field, offering readers a valuable and enriched accumulation of knowledge.

Analyses a variety of approaches to development and publishing, across a multitude of platforms and genres, to provide a new vision for the next twenty years of game development. Considers technical advances in adjacent markets and how they will impact the games industry over the next twenty years. Includes insightful interviews from leading game and entertainment industry figures.

Including the latest Microsoft 365 features and enhanced support for Mac users, Cengage's Illustrated Series (R) Collection, Microsoft (R) Office 365 (R) & PowerPoint (R) 2021 Comprehensive, 2nd edition, helps you quickly master the nuances of Microsoft (R) Office. Its concise, student-friendly approach uses a proven two-page layout that allows you to work through an entire task without turning the page. Each module begins with a brief overview of the principles covered while large, full-color screen images illustrate what you see on your computer. Module Learning Objectives are mapped to Microsoft Office Specialist (MOS) certification objectives, and module scenarios are based on Burning Glass market insights data -- helping you sharpen the critical skills you need for real-world success. In addition, MindTap and SAM (Skills Assessment Manager) online resources help maximize your study time -- and results.

Esports have attracted considerable attention over the past few years and become an industry that is projected to continue to increase rapidly. Intersecting with the esports industry are organizations and businesses that develop and support the esports game experience. Included is the entrepreneurial spirit of gamers, who are interested in creating their own career paths through capturing and posting gaming microassists on different public venues that are driven by advertising dollars, invitational competition monetary winnings, and other forms of marketing their expertise for financial gain. All these organizations and industries form satellites of career opportunities as well as opportunities for research and enhanced forward-leaning study. Such career opportunities can be explicitly addressed within the structure of university degree and micro-credential certificate programs, some of which have begun to offer esports-directed degrees, but most of which have not yet moved from esports clubs into a recognition of the business and industry monetization of esports. The Handbook of Research on Pathways and Opportunities Into the Business of Esports addresses the intersection of esports gaming and the business and industry of esports, rather than an exploration of the video games themselves. It is the supporting and intersecting industry driven by esports and the vast opportunities this brings that are the foci of this book. Covering topics including digital learning, esport marketing curriculum, and gaming culture, this text is essential for business professionals, industry analysts, entrepreneurs, managers, coaches, marketers, advertisers, brand managers, university and college administrators, faculty and researchers, students, professors, and academicians.

Role-play as a Heritage Practice is the first book to examine physically performed role-enactments, such as live-action role-play (LARP), tabletop role-playing games (TRPG), and hobbyist historical reenactment (RH), from a combined game studies and heritage studies perspective. Demonstrating that non-digital role-plays, such as TRPG and LARP, share many features with RH, the book contends that all three may be considered as heritage practices. Studying these role-plays as three distinct genres of playful, participatory and performative forms of engagement with cultural heritage, Mochocki demonstrates how an exploration of the affordances of each genre can be valuable. Showing that a player's engagement with history or heritage material is always multi-layered, the book clarifies that the layers may be conceptualised simultaneously as types of heritage authenticity and as types of in-game immersion. It is also made clear that RH, TRPG and LARP share commonalities with a multitude of other media, including video games, historical fiction and film. Existing within, and contributing to, the fiction and non-fiction mediasphere, these role-enactments are shaped by the same large-scale narratives and discourses that persons, families, communities, and nations use to build memory and identity. Role-play as a Heritage Practice will be of great interest to academics and students engaged in the study of heritage, memory, nostalgia, role-playing, historical games, performance, fans and transmedia narratology.

Architecture for the Commons dives into an analysis of how the tectonics of a building is fundamentally linked to the economic organizations that allow them to exist. By tracing the origins and promises of current technological practices in design, the book provides an alternative path, one that reconsiders the means of achieving complexity through combinatorial strategies. This move requires reconsidering serial production with crowdsourcing and user content in mind. The ideas presented will be explored through the design research developed within Plethora Project, a design practice that explores the use of video game interfaces as a mechanism for participation and user design. The research work presented throughout the book seeks to align with a larger project that is currently taking place in many different fields: The Construction of the Commons. By developing both the ideological and physical infrastructure, the project of the Commons has become an antidote to current economic practices that perpetuate inequality. The mechanisms of the production and governance of the Commons are discussed, inviting the reader to get involved and participate in the discussion. The current political and economic landscape calls for a reformulation of our current economic practices and alternative value systems that challenge the current market monopolies. This book will be of great interest not only to architects and designers studying the impact of digital technologies in the field of design but also to researchers studying novel techniques for social participation and cooperating of communities through digital networks. The book connects principles of architecture, economics and social sciences to provide alternatives to the current production trends.

For one-semester courses in Introduction to Business Statistics. The gold standard in learning Microsoft Excelfor business statistics Statistics for Managers Using Microsoft (R) Excel (R), 9th Edition, Global Edition helps students develop the knowledge of Excel needed in future careers. The authors present statistics in the context of specific business fields, and now include a full chapter on business analytics. Guided by principles set forth by ASA's Guidelines for Assessment and Instruction (GAISE) reports and the authors' diverse teaching experiences, the text continues to innovate and improve the way this course is taught to students. Current data throughout gives students valuable practice analysing the types of data they will see in their professions, and the authors' friendly writing style includes tips and learning aids throughout.

By the end of this book, the reader will understand: the difficulties of finding a needle in a haystack; creative solutions to address the problem; unique ways of engineering features and solving the problem of the lack of data (e.g. synthetic data). Additionally, the reader will be able to: avoid mistakes resulting from a lack of understanding; search for appropriate methods of feature engineering; locate the relevant technological solutions within the general context of decision-making.

This book offers the first comprehensive study of the many interfaces shaping the relationship between comics and videogames. It combines in-depth conceptual reflection with a rich selection of paradigmatic case studies from contemporary media culture. The editors have gathered a distinguished group of international scholars working at the interstices of comics studies and game studies to explore two interrelated areas of inquiry: The first part of the book focuses on hybrid medialities and experimental aesthetics "between" comics and videogames; the second part zooms in on how comics and videogames function as transmedia expansions within an increasingly convergent and participatory media culture. The individual chapters address synergies and intersections between comics and videogames via a diverse set of case studies ranging from independent and experimental projects via popular franchises from the corporate worlds of DC and Marvel to the more playful forms of media mix prominent in Japan. Offering an innovative intervention into a number of salient issues in current media culture, Comics and Videogames will be of interest to scholars and students of comics studies, game studies, popular culture studies, transmedia studies, and visual culture studies.

This book covers using R for doing optimization, a key area of operations research, which has been applied to virtually every industry. The focus is on linear and mixed integer optimization. It uses an algebraic modeling approach for creating formulations that pairs naturally with an algebraic implementation in R. With the rapid rise of interest in data analytics, a data analytics platform is key. Working technology and business professionals need an awareness of the tools and language of data analysis. R reduces the barrier to entry for people to start using data analytics tools. Philosophically, the book emphasizes creating formulations before going into implementation. Algebraic representation allows for clear understanding and generalization of large applications, and writing formulations is necessary to explain and convey the modeling decisions made. Appendix A introduces R. Mathematics is used at the level of subscripts and summations Refreshers are provided in Appendix B. This book: * Provides and explains code so examples are relatively clear and self-contained. * Emphasizes creating algebraic formulations before implementing. * Focuses on application rather than algorithmic details. * Embodies the philosophy of reproducible research. * Uses open-source tools to ensure access to powerful optimization tools. * Promotes open-source: all materials are available on the author's github repository. * Demonstrates common debugging practices with a troubleshooting emphasis specific to optimization modeling using R. * Provides code readers can adapt to their own applications . This book can be used for graduate and undergraduate courses for students without a background in optimization and with varying mathematical backgrounds.

This book explores hybrid play as a site of interdisciplinary activity-one that is capable of generating new forms of mobility, communication, subjects, and artistic expression as well as new ways of interacting with and understanding the world. The chapters in this collection explore hybrid making, hybrid subjects, and hybrid spaces, generating interesting conversations about the past, current and future nature of hybrid play. Together, the authors offer important insights into how place and space are co-constructed through play; how, when, and for what reasons people occupy hybrid spaces; and how cultural practices shape elements of play and vice versa. A diverse group of scholars and practitioners provides a rich interdisciplinary perspective, which will be of great interest to those working in the areas of games studies, media studies, communication, gender studies, and media arts.

The Paradox of Transgression in Games looks at transgressive games as an aesthetic experience, tackling how players respond to game content that shocks, disturbs, and distresses, and how contemporary video games can evoke intense emotional reactions. The book delves into the commercial success of many controversial videogames: although such games may appear shocking for the observing bystander, playing them is experienced as deeply rewarding for the player. Drawing on qualitative player studies and approaches from media aesthetics theory, the book challenges the perception of games as innocent entertainment, and examines the range of emotional, moral, and intellectual experiences of players. As they explore what players consider transgressive, the authors ask whether there is something about the gameplay situation that works to mitigate the sense of transgression, stressing gameplay as an aesthetic experience. Anchoring the aesthetic game experience both in play studies as well as in aesthetic theory, this book will be an essential resource for scholars and students of game studies, aesthetics, media studies, philosophy of art, and emotions.