Recent years have seen a rapid proliferation of mass-market consumer software that takes inspiration from video games. Usually summarized as "gamification", this trend connects to a sizeable body of existing concepts and research in human-computer interaction and game studies, such as serious games, pervasive games, alternate reality games, or playful design. However, it is not clear how "gamification" relates to these, whether it denotes a novel phenomenon, and how to define it. Thus, in this paper we investigate "gamification" and the historical origins of the term in relation to precursors and similar concepts. It is suggested that "gamified" applications provide insight into novel, gameful phenomena complementary to playful phenomena. Based on our research, we propose a definition of "gamification" as the use of game design elements in non-game contexts.

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From game design elements to gamefulness: defining "gamification"

In this book, Andrew Harvey sets out to provide a unified and comprehensive theory of structural time series models. Unlike the traditional ARIMA models, structural time series models consist explicitly of unobserved components, such as trends and seasonals, which have a direct interpretation. As a result the model selection methodology associated with structural models is much closer to econometric methodology. The link with econometrics is made even closer by the natural way in which the models can be extended to include explanatory variables and to cope with multivariate time series. From the technical point of view, state space models and the Kalman filter play a key role in the statistical treatment of structural time series models. The book includes a detailed treatment of the Kalman filter. This technique was originally developed in control engineering, but is becoming increasingly important in fields such as economics and operations research. This book is concerned primarily with modelling economic and social time series, and with addressing the special problems which the treatment of such series poses. The properties of the models and the methodological techniques used to select them are illustrated with various applications. These range from the modellling of trends and cycles in US macroeconomic time series to to an evaluation of the effects of seat belt legislation in the UK.

Forecasting, Structural Time Series Models and the Kalman Filter

The American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) is an independent organization devoted to the development of standards.

American Society for Testing and Materials

This paper reviews peer-reviewed empirical studies on gamification. We create a framework for examining the effects of gamification by drawing from the definitions of gamification and the discussion on motivational affordances. The literature review covers results, independent variables (examined motivational affordances), dependent variables (examined psychological/behavioral outcomes from gamification), the contexts of gamification, and types of studies performed on the gamified systems. The paper examines the state of current research on the topic and points out gaps in existing literature. The review indicates that gamification provides positive effects, however, the effects are greatly dependent on the context in which the gamification is being implemented, as well as on the users using it. The findings of the review provide insight for further studies as well as for the design of gamified systems.

/pdf/does-gamification-work-a-literature-review-of-empirical-3d9hukqa8z.pdf

Does Gamification Work? -- A Literature Review of Empirical Studies on Gamification

Climate change 2014 - Synthesis Report

Dietary proteins are known to carry a wide range of nutritional, functional and biological properties. Nutritionally, the proteins are a source of energy and amino acids, which are essential for growth and maintenance. Functionally, the proteins contribute to the physicochemical and sensory properties of various protein-rich foods. Furthermore, many dietary proteins possess specific biological properties which make these components potential ingredients of functional or health-promoting foods. Many of these properties are attributed to physiologically active peptides encrypted in protein molecules. Particularly rich sources of such peptides are milk and egg, but they are also found in meat of various kinds as well as many plants. These peptides are inactive within the sequence of parent protein and can be released during gastrointestinal digestion or food processing. Depending on the amino acid sequence, these peptides may exert a number of different activities in vivo, affecting, e.g., the cardiovascular, endocrine, immune and nervous systems in addition to nutrient utilization. There is increasing commercial interest in the production of bioactive peptides from various sources. Industrial-scale production of such peptides is, however, hampered by the lack of suitable technologies. Bioactive peptides can also be produced from milk proteins through fermentation of milk, by starters employed in the manufacture of fermented milks or cheese. In particular, antihypertensive peptides have been identified in fermented milk, whey and ripened cheese. A few of these peptides have been commercialised in the form of fermented milks. There is a need to develop technologies which retain or even enhance the activity of bioactive peptides in food systems. Also, it is essential to study the optimum utilization of such peptides during passage through the gastrointestinal tract.

Food-derived bioactive peptides - opportunities for designing future foods

The aim of this study was to identify whey-derived peptides with angiotensin I-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitory activity. The bovine whey proteins α-lactalbumin and β-lactoglobulin were hydrolysed with pepsin, trypsin, chymotrypsin, pancreatin, elastase or carboxypeptidase alone and in combination. The total hydrolysates were fractionated in a two step ultrafiltration process, first with a 30 kDa membrane and then with a 1 kDa membrane. Inhibition of ACE was analysed spectrophotometrically. The peptides were isolated by chromatography and identified by mass and sequencing analysis. The most potent inhibitory peptides were synthesized by the 9-fluorenylmethoxycarbonyl solid phase method. Inhibition of ACE was observed after hydrolysis with trypsin alone, and with an enzyme combination containing pepsin, trypsin and chymotrypsin. Whey protein digests gave a 50 % inhibition (IC50) of ACE activity at concentration ranges within 345–1733 μg/ml. The IC50 values for the 1–30 kDa fractions ranged from 485 to 1134 μg/ml and for the <1 kDa fraction from 109 to 837 mg/ml. Several ACE-inhibitory peptides were isolated from the hydrolysates by reversed-phase chromatography, and the potencies of the purified peptide fractions had IC50 values of 77–1062 μM. The ACE-inhibitory peptides identified were α-lactalbumin fractions (50–52), (99–108) and (104–108) and β-lactoglobulin fractions (22–25), (32–40), (81–83), (94–100), (106–111) and (142–146).

Angiotensin I-converting enzyme inhibitory properties of whey protein digests: concentration and characterization of active peptides.

Angiotensin I converting enzyme inhibitory peptides derived from bovine milk proteins

Proteins are fundamental and integral food components, both nutritionally and functionally. Nutritionally, they are a source of energy and amino acids, which are essential for growth and maintenance. Functionally, they affect the physicochemical and sensory properties of various proteinaceous foods. In addition, many dietary proteins possess specific biological properties which make these components potential ingredients of functional or health-promoting foods. These proteins may also affect the technological functionality of the intended end-products. On the other hand, it is essential to apply or develop technologies which retain or even enhance the activity of bioactive components in food systems. This review article focuses on the effects of processing on the properties of bioactive proteins derived from various sources. A special emphasis is given to milk proteins as their physiological and technological functionality has been studied extensively.

Impact of processing on bioactive proteins and peptides

Expert evaluation is a widely used method for evaluating the usability of software products. When evaluating games, traditional usability heuristics lack comprehension and cannot be directly applied. In this paper, we introduce playability heuristics that are specifically designed for evaluating mobile games. Heuristics form a core model that can be used in any mobile game evaluation. The model consists of three modules: Game Usability, Mobility, and Gameplay. The mobile context has some unique characteristics, which require special attention during the evaluation. These characteristics are described in mobility heuristics. Mobile devices also set some of their own requirements for general usability and these issues are described along with game usability heuristics. These heuristics have been developed by using an iterative design process of a mobile game. In addition, we have validated the heuristics and evaluated five mobile games by using them with the expert evaluation method. The results indicate that playability problems, which violate game usability or mobility heuristics, are quite easy to identify. Gameplay problems are harder to find, but gameplay heuristics help in evaluation and focus on different aspects of the gameplay.

Hannu Korhonen

Papers

Food-derived bioactive peptides - opportunities for designing future foods

Angiotensin I-converting enzyme inhibitory properties of whey protein digests: concentration and characterization of active peptides.

Angiotensin I converting enzyme inhibitory peptides derived from bovine milk proteins

Impact of processing on bioactive proteins and peptides

Playability heuristics for mobile games