Interactive Narratives: Processes and Outcomes in User‐Directed Stories

Interactive narratives are stories that allow readers to determine the direction of the plot, often at key decision points. Unanswered questions remain about the types of psychological processes evoked by these “Choose Your Own Adventure” style narratives, as well as the relative persuasive influence of interactive narratives compared to traditional narratives. The current paper reviews the existing literature and provides a theoretical framework to guide future research on interactive narratives, particularly as a tool for entertainment‐education efforts. Specifically, we highlight increased user control and looser narrative structure as key elements of interactive narratives, and discuss possible effects of these differences on engagement variables (e.g., transportation, identification, perceived realism), self‐related variables (responsibility), and outcomes (e.g., enjoyment, attitude change, health behaviors).     

It's Okay to Shoot a Character: Moral Disengagement in Violent Video Games

What makes virtual violence enjoyable rather than aversive? Two 2×2 experiments tested the assumption that moral disengagement cues provided by a violent video game's narrative and game play lessen users' guilt and negative affect, which would otherwise undermine players' enjoyment of the game. Experiment 1 found that users' familiarity with the violent game reduced guilt and negative affect, and enhanced enjoyment, whereas opponents' nonhuman outer appearance and blameworthiness had no effect. Experiment 2 found that fighting for a just purpose, perceiving less mayhem, and framing the overall situation as “just a game” or “just an experiment” reduced guilt and negative affect, whereas the distorted portrayal of consequences did not. Effects on game enjoyment were mixed and suggest that moral disengagement cues may both foster and diminish game enjoyment.     

Fictional Narratives Cultivate Just-World Beliefs

Cultivation research has identified several misrepresentations on television and has shown that the more people watch television, the more their beliefs correspond to the television world. In recent years, experimental research has demonstrated that fictional narratives are powerful means to change audience beliefs. Theories on the narrative structure of fictional narratives and disposition-based theories of media enjoyment suggest that televised fictional narratives tend to portray the world as a just place. We propose that the amount of fiction watched on television predicts the belief in a just world (BJW). Further, we assume this effect to be compatible with the television use/mean-world relationship expressed by cultivation theory. Two cross-sectional studies with N = 128 participants (German sample) and N = 387 (Austrian sample) corroborate our assumptions. The self-reported frequency of watching fiction on television was positively related to the BJW, whereas the general amount of television viewing was positively related to mean- and scary-world beliefs. In the German sample, mean-world beliefs were also affected by viewing tabloid-style (infotainment) television news.     

Moral Judgment and Crime Drama: An Integrated Theory of Enjoyment

The article proposes a theoretical framework in which moral reasoning about mediated crime and punishment is defined and combined with existing, affect-driven entertainment theory to yield an integrated theory of enjoyment. The authors analyze how crime dramas serve as statements about justice and then address how moral deliberation about the propriety of those statements impacts enjoyment. The authors report research findings to support the analysis of cognitive processing during crime dramas distinct from affective processing. The article also suggests future means by which the integrated theory of enjoyment can be examined.     

Testing a Dual‐Process Model of Media Enjoyment and Appreciation

This article presents a dual‐process model of media entertainment representing 2 psychological appraisal processes, and examines how these processes evoke appreciation or enjoyment as a function of the presence/absence of cognitive conflict. The first process (which characterizes experiences of appreciation) is deliberative and slow, and results from cognitive conflict. The second process (which characterizes experiences of enjoyment) is automatic and fast, and occurs when cognitive conflict is inconsequential. Both appraisal processes result from the same underlying framework of intuitive preferences. 2 studies vary narrative conflict among sets of intuitive moral domains to test dual‐process predictions regarding slow/fast response times and the association of the presence/absence of conflict with self‐reported experiences of appreciation/enjoyment. Discussion examines theoretical implications for entertainment research.     

Media Enjoyment as Need Satisfaction: The Contribution of Hedonic and Nonhedonic Needs

Most early research on entertainment defines media enjoyment in functional terms as the satisfaction of hedonic needs. Two studies demonstrate the value of including nonhedonic and hedonic need satisfaction in defining enjoyment. Both studies find support for a need‐satisfaction model showing that hedonic (arousal and affect) and nonhedonic (competence and autonomy) need satisfaction account for unique variance in enjoyment experienced during video game play. Study 2 extends the findings of Study 1 to account for noninteractive media entertainment enjoyment. Results show hedonic and nonhedonic need satisfaction to be distinct but complementary components of media enjoyment. Discussion focuses on the advantage of a needs‐based approach for understanding positive valuations of media and offers a new perspective on the enjoyment–appreciation distinction.     

Microstructural Control of Charge Transport in Organic Blend Thin‐Film Transistors

The charge‐transport processes in organic p‐channel transistors based on the small‐molecule 2,8‐difluoro‐5,11‐bis(triethylsilylethynyl)anthradithiophene (diF‐TES ADT), the polymer poly(triarylamine)(PTAA) and blends thereof are investigated. In the case of blend films, lateral conductive atomic force microscopy in combination with energy filtered transmission electron microscopy are used to study the evolution of charge transport as a function of blends composition, allowing direct correlation of the film's elemental composition and morphology with hole transport. Low‐temperature transport measurements reveal that optimized blend devices exhibit lower temperature dependence of hole mobility than pristine PTAA devices while also providing a narrower bandgap trap distribution than pristine diF‐TES ADT devices. These combined effects increase the mean hole mobility in optimized blends to 2.4 cm²/Vs – double the value measured for best diF‐TES ADT‐only devices. The bandgap trap distribution in transistors based on different diF‐TES ADT:PTAA blend ratios are compared and the act of blending these semiconductors is seen to reduce the trap distribution width yet increase the average trap energy compared to pristine diF‐TES ADT‐based devices. Our measurements suggest that an average trap energy of <75 meV and a trap distribution of <100 meV is needed to achieve optimum hole mobility in transistors based on diF‐TES ADT:PTAA blends.     

Curious learning, cultural bias, and the learning curve

Today's interactive installations are characterized by simplistic feedback mechanisms, limited underlying databases of content, and very little autonomous intelligence. Yet even these rudimentary systems provide great opportunities for curious learning, surprise, and serendipitous discovery. They also serve as a social nexus. The interpersonal, back-channel communications and ancillary activities of the audience, which currently remain largely unsensed and unprocessed, can be just as important as the primary authored experience. The key to accessing and communicating larger perceptions in the digital age may well lie in the collective social activities that occur within the context of shared narratives. The exchanges and experiences of group exploration and discovery, communal curious learning promises rewards far beyond the mere enjoyment of story and the instant gratifications of an individual's remote control     

Embracing and Resisting Romantic Fantasies as the Rhetorical Vision on a SeniorNet Discussion Board

A fantasy theme analysis of a SeniorNet discussion board found participants simultaneously embracing and resisting the relationships constructed in traditional romance narratives. The rhetorical vision that emerged illustrates how life-span conditions facilitate talk about romantic relationships. Three fantasies coalesced to construct the rhetorical vision "good men are hard to find": the knight in shining armor, searching for a bargain, and fishing for men. Through these fantasies, the rhetorical community resisted female subordination found in traditional romance narratives while embracing the need for love, partnership, and physical intimacy. As the heroines in these fantasies, women were constructed as independent, vital, and fulfilled, yet wanting to find heterosexual partnerships. The heroes upheld this construction of "woman," while the villains infringed upon females' valued independence. In this way, narratives that evidenced the struggle over the meaning of romance were tools for the participants' empowerment.     

Entertainment and Expanding Boundaries of the Self: Relief From the Constraints of the Everyday

The temporarily expanding boundaries of the self (TEBOTS) model identifies challenges faced by the self as a fundamental impetus for engagement with mediated narratives. To test how everyday pressures on the self influence enjoyment, appreciation, and immersion into narrative worlds, this study used self‐affirmation to alleviate the everyday demands of self‐concept maintenance, in an experimental design. When self‐affirmed, people experienced less narrative engagement, consistent with the TEBOTS argument that the demands of self‐concept maintenance motivate narrative engagement. Additionally, the study developed a boundary expansion scale that measured the processes described by TEBOTS. Finally, search for meaning in life was found to moderate effects, and the new boundary expansion measure mediated effects when search for meaning in life was high.     

Twisted Crystalline Organic Semiconductor Photodetectors

Optoelectronic properties of anisotropic crystals vary with direction requiring that the orientation of molecular organic semiconductor crystals is controlled in optoelectronic device active layers to achieve optimal performance. Here, a generalizable strategy to introduce periodic variations in the out-of-plane orientations of 5,11-bis(triisopropylsilylethynyl)anthradithiophene (TIPS ADT) crystals is presented. TIPS ADT crystallized from the melt in the presence of 16 wt.% polyethylene (PE) forms banded spherulites of crystalline fibrils that twist in concert about the radial growth direction. These spherulites exhibit band-dependent light absorption, photoluminescence, and Raman scattering depending on the local orientation of crystals. Mueller matrix imaging reveals strong circular extinction (CE), with TIPS ADT banded spherulites exhibiting domains of positive or negative CE signal depending on the crystal twisting sense. Furthermore, orientation-dependent enhancement in charge injection and extraction in films of twisted TIPS ADT crystals compared to films of straight crystals is visualized in local conductive atomic force microscopy maps. This enhancement leads to 3.3- and 6.2-times larger photocurrents and external quantum efficiencies, respectively, in photodetectors comprising twisted crystals than those comprising straight crystals.     

Causes of State Hostility and Enjoyment in Player Versus Player and Player Versus Environment Video Games

Video games have been under scholarly study since the 1980s, but few studies have blended the research areas of video games and aggression and video game enjoyment. This article seeks to determine how certain game play factors affect hostility, enjoyment, and the relationship between the 2 variables. A total of 289 students played games in player‐versus‐player (PvP) and player‐versus‐environment (PvE) situations. Findings indicate that outcome, competitive situation, and genre interact in their influence on state hostility and enjoyment. Results suggest that in some cases, game players are able to enjoy games despite negative experiences, such as losing, but players in PvP situations experience enjoyment‐reducing levels of hostility, contrary to P. Vorderer et al.'s (2004) complex entertainment model.     

Mediated Martyrs of the Arab Spring: New Media,Civil Religion,and Narrative in Tunisia and Egypt

This article analyzes the emergence of nationalist martyr narratives and their dissemination via new media as forces for social mobilization and political change. Situating them in the religio‐historical contexts of North Africa, we trace martyr narratives in Tunisia and Egypt back to pre‐Islamic periods and compare them to the contemporary stories of Mohamed Bouazizi and Khaled Saeed. This reveals the impact of new media on the region, evident in “virtual reliquaries,” and the role that martyr narratives play as catalysts in social mobilization. The trajectory of the martyr narrative from the traditional religious context to the state‐driven concept of civil religion allows for the political dimension of narratives resident within the religious context to surface in the contemporary discursive moment.     

Thermal parametric imaging in the evaluation of skin burn depth

The aim of this paper is to determine the extent to which infrared (IR) thermal imaging may be used for skin burn depth evaluation. The analysis can be made on the basis of the development of a thermal model of the burned skin. Different methods such as the traditional clinical visual approach and the IR imaging modalities of static IR thermal imaging, active IR thermal imaging and active-dynamic IR thermal imaging (ADT) are analyzed from the point of view of skin burn depth diagnostics. In ADT, a new approach is proposed on the basis of parametric image synthesis. Calculation software is implemented for single-node and distributed systems. The properties of all the methods are verified in experiments using phantoms and subsequently in vivo with animals with a reference histopathological examination. The results indicate that it is possible to distinguish objectively and quantitatively burns which will heal spontaneously within three weeks of infliction and which should be treated conservatively from those which need surgery because they will not heal within this period.     

Room‐Temperature Self‐Organizing Characteristics of Soluble Acene Field‐Effect Transistors

We report on the room‐temperature self‐organizing characteristics of thin films of the organic small‐molecule semiconductor triethylsilylethynyl‐anthradithiophene (TES‐ADT) and its effect on the electrical properties of TES‐ADT‐based field‐effect transistors (FETs). The morphology of TES‐ADT films changed dramatically with time, and the field‐effect mobility of FETs based on these films increased about 100‐fold after seven days as a result of the change in molecular orientation from a tilted structure in the as‐prepared film to a well‐oriented structure in the final film. We found that the molecular movement is large enough to induce a conformational change to an energetically stable state in spin‐coated TES‐ADT films, because TES‐ADT has a low glass‐transition temperature (around room temperature). Our findings demonstrate that organic small‐molecule semiconductors that exhibit a low crystallinity immediately after spin‐coating can be changed into highly crystalline structures by spontaneous self‐organization of the molecules at room temperature, which results in improved electrical properties of FETs based on these semiconductors.     

Defining Media Enjoyment as the Satisfaction of Intrinsic Needs

This article presents a model of enjoyment rooted in self‐determination theory ( Deci & Ryan, 1985 ) that includes the satisfaction of three needs related to psychological well‐being: autonomy, competence, and relatedness. In an experiment designed to validate this conceptualization of enjoyment, we manipulate video game characteristics related to the satisfaction of these needs and examine their relative effects on enjoyment. The validated model explains 51% of the variance in enjoyment, even without including needs usually studied in relation to enjoyment such as pleasure seeking. Results indicate the utility of defining enjoyment as need satisfaction. These results are discussed in terms of a broader conceptualization of enjoyment represented as the satisfaction of a comprehensive set of functional needs.     

复合高斯杂波下距离扩展目标的自适应检测

 研究了复合高斯杂波下的距离扩展目标自适应检测问题.基于辅助数据,利用采样协方差矩阵(SCM)和迭代(RE)估计矩阵,建立了自适应检测器AMSDD和基于动态阈值的ADT检测器,并分析了检测器的恒虚警率(CFAR)特性.理论分析表明,基于SCM的检测器只能保持对杂波协方差矩阵结构的自适应特性;而基于RE的检测器能同时获得对杂波协方差矩阵结构和纹理分量的CFAR特性.性能分析表明,对于AMSDD和ADT来说,与采用SCM估计器相比,采用RE估计器能使检测器获得更好的CFAR特性和检测性能.另外,基于RE的ADT检测器在目标散射点个数失配时具有很好的鲁棒性.     

Optimal design for step-stress accelerated degradation tests

Today, many products are designed to function for a long period of time before they fail. For such highly-reliable products, collecting accelerated degradation test (ADT) data can provide useful reliability information. However, it usually requires a moderate sample size to implement an ADT. Hence, ADT is not applicable for assessing the lifetime distribution of a newly developed or very expensive product which only has a few available test units on hand. Recently, a step-stress ADT (SSADT) has been suggested in the literature to overcome the above difficulty. However, in designing an efficient SSADT experiment, the issue about how to choose the optimal settings of variables was not discussed, such as sample size, measurement frequency, and termination time. In this study, we first use a stochastic diffusion process to model a typical SSADT problem. Next, under the constraint that the total experimental cost does not exceed a predetermined budget, the optimal settings of these variables are obtained by minimizing the asymptotic variance of the estimated 100p/sup th/ percentile of the product's lifetime distribution. Finally, an example is used to illustrate the proposed method.     

四温控点监控器在TM-240塑封压机上的应用

多功能芯片ADT14既是一种输出逻辑电平控制信号的多点温度监控器,又是一种输出模拟电压信号的温度传感器,可广泛应用于各种嵌入控制系统中。介绍了ADT14的特点和在TM-240压机上的应用。