http://hdl.handle.net/10012/11987 Mon, 10 Jul 2017 07:40:20 GMT 2017-07-10T07:40:20Z http://hdl.handle.net/10012/12057 Membership Retention in Scout Troops Morland, Liam Factors affecting membership retention in Scout troops were examined. Scout meetings were unobtrusively observed and program information questionnaires were completed for 17 urban Scouts Canada Scout troops (age range 11–14) in Waterloo Region, Ontario. Thirty Scouters (adult leaders) completed written questionnaires. The study found that many Scouts remain in the program for only one year. Scouts who achieved badges are more likely to stay and continue to the Venturer program (ages 14–17). Troops with more outdoor activities and which give more autonomy to the Scouts have higher rates of membership retention. The Scout uniform is examined from a symbolic interactionist perspective. Scout culture is discussed. Includes description of Scouting with brief history. 23 tables. Thu, 16 Aug 2001 00:00:00 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/10012/12057 2001-08-16T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/10012/11998 Quantum Indefinite Spacetime Jia, Ding We combine the principle of superposition from quantum theory and the principle of dynamical causal structure from general relativity to attack fundamental questions in quantum gravity. We generalize the concept of entanglement to parties whose causal relation is quantum indefinite. The generalized notion of entanglement gives meaning to timelike and more generally spacetime entanglement in quantum theory both with and without indefinite causal structure. Using this generalization, we identify quantum gravitational uctuations of causal structure as a possible mechanism that regularizes the otherwise divergent entanglement. We give the name "quantum indefinite spacetime" to the model of spacetime incorporating quantum gravitational causal uctuations. Quantum indefinite spacetime sheds new light on black hole information problem as we argue that quantum gravitational causal uctuations allow positive information communication capacity to the outside of the black holes. The new generalized notion of entanglement offers additional support from the black hole thermodynamics perspective. Towards the end of the thesis we make a preliminary proposal that the quantum uctuating entanglement regularization may explain the apparent accelerated expansion of the universe without introducing dark energy or cosmological constant. All these results and proposals are obtained on the basis of jointly applying quantum and general relativistic principles, but without making tentative postulates about the microscopic degrees of freedom of quantum spacetime. We hope to convey the message that this more conservative approach can offer firrm answers to several questions in quantum gravity. Moreover, other approaches to quantum gravity should incorporate features of quantum indefinite spacetime if they assume the same principles. Sun, 01 Jan 2017 00:00:00 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/10012/11998 2017-01-01T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/10012/10830 Byron and Swinburne: Propagandists of the Risorgimento - The Manipulation of Historical Sources in Twin Dramatizations of Doge Faliero and Venetian Republicanism in 19th Century Italy Damyanovich, Michael This essay will argue that Lord Byron manipulated historical sources on his fourteenth-century protagonist, Doge Faliero (died 1355), in order to write his historical drama, Marino Faliero: Doge of Venice (published 1821), as a piece of republican propaganda in support of Italy’s nation-building process (the Risorgimento), and that Algernon Swinburne’s rewrite of Byron’s drama, Marino Faliero (published 1885), perpetuated Byron’s manipulation of historical sources for the same purpose. This argument will proceed as follows: In writing his historical drama, Marino Faliero: Doge of Venice, Lord Byron covertly manipulated his supporting historical sources under the pretence of adhering to strict historicity. Byron did so in order to characterize Doge Faliero as a hero of Venetian Republicanism. In so doing, Byron dramatized the necessity of a people’s revolution in parallel visions of fourteenth- and early nineteenth-century Venice. Then, in rewriting Byron’s historical drama for late nineteenth-century Venice and post-unification Italy (after 1870), Algernon Swinburne developed Byron’s heroization of Faliero and updated the drama’s political representations. Swinburne did so in order to remodel Faliero after Giuseppe Mazzini (died 1872), the foremost Risorgimento leader of the effort to make the newly united Italy into a republic. Byron’s and Swinburne’s twin a-historic historical dramas about Doge Faliero served as republican propaganda throughout the Risorgimento, and they reflect more than a century of Venice’s major role therein. The Independent Studies program closed in 2016. This thesis was one of 25 accepted by Library for long-term preservation and presentation in UWSpace. Fri, 01 Jan 2016 00:00:00 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/10012/10830 2016-01-01T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/10012/10829 Game Design Concepts Bishop, Orin The term “game design” is not well defined; it is used to mean many different things which oftentimes are only peripherally related to the actual design process, and many books purportedly on the subject do not adequately cover the core concepts of game design proper. The purpose of this thesis is to explore the more formal aspects of game design separate from other aspects of games such as art, production, audio, and programming. My objective is to flesh out a set of guidelines that can be applied across all types and media including both digital and non-digital games, and touch upon various difficulties and challenges that a game designer is likely to face in each stage of the design process from initial concept to playtesting and tweaking. Along the way I provide specific examples of how formal gameplay might be altered by specific changes to internal logic and mathematics, and how this might affect the experience for the players. The focus is on games as formal, mathematical systems, and I examine games from their basic elements outwards, though I also explore such topics as the incorporation of theme and narrative into formal gameplay. Throughout the thesis I present a number of different ways of looking at and thinking about gameplay, with the hope that the reader may emerge with a clearer vision of the underlying formal systems of all games. The Independent Studies program closed in 2016. This thesis was one of 25 accepted by Library for long-term preservation and presentation in UWSpace. Thu, 01 Jan 2009 00:00:00 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/10012/10829 2009-01-01T00:00:00Z