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Archive for the ‘science and technology’ Category

For anyone that enjoys playing computer games, a career and computer game design would be a dream come true. What could possibly the more enjoyable and rewording then designing your own computer game and actually being paid for it? Some designers are paid very, very well indeed. Every fan of computer games has no doubt at least occasionally fantasized having a career in computer game design, as a gamer myself, I have thought about how cool that would be myself.

If you are dreaming of a job in the computer game design industry, the good news is it’s a huge industry and there are loads of jobs available and it pays remarkably well if you should happen to come up with a hot seller. The bad news is that it is very difficult to learn the requisite programming skills that are required. Getting a degree in computer science is a solid beginning, but there’s nothing easy about achieving that either. Of the six friends I had in college that were computer science majors, only one of them has the fortitude to see it through and actually get a degree. It is a grueling major filled with advanced mathematics classes and tedious programming exercises. You really have to be smart, and you really have to be motivated.

If these things sound like something you could handle that a computer game design career may be something you could do. You will definitely need a deep abiding affection for computer games, but that’s pretty obvious isn’t it? My college friend that got his computer science degree is currently working for a well knowing game design company, and absolutely loves it. He will tell you though, that it is nowhere near the fun and games that he first imagined it would be.

Computer games today have absolutely huge amounts of complex code and can take years to complete. In the infancy of the game industry, computer game design teams often consisted of just a few people. Nowadays, a lot of the games have many different production teams all working simultaneously on a project, with each working in their own field of expertise.

For the really skilled programmers, there is no limit to what you can achieve. Experienced programmers with a proven track record under their belts can not only command a large salary but can have a lot of creative input over the direction of the game.

There are some other job in the computer game design industry and programming does not interest you. Generally, programmers are the most sought after, but good graphic artists and writers can be attractive employees to say game design producers. They may not be paid as well, but they most certainly still make an excellent living in the ever burgeoning industry of computer game design.

One of the big hurdles to anyone’s weight management plan is feeling hungry. So what do you do? If you do eat, you’re probably consuming calories and unbalancing your diet, but if you don’t eat, you feel miserable.

Research

Psychologists have investigated the causes of the feeling of hunger and its opposite, satiety. The body uses several different mechanisms to determine how much you should eat. The first is blood-sugar level. If your blood-sugar is low, that is a factor that will lead to hunger. After eating, when your blood sugar rises to normal, or above normal, you will no longer feel hungry. The second mechanism is the slight stretching of your stomach. Your stomach is slightly stretchy, so when it is full it takes up a little more room than when it is empty. There are stretch receptors, little nerves, around your stomach that will signal your brain that you are full. Finally, and most importantly, there are several hormones that travel between your gastrointestinal tract and your central nervous system when you start digesting to signal your brain that you have eaten enough.

So, what practical weight loss advice can be derived from this research?

Take Your Time

First, the release of hormones and the raising of your blood-sugar are not instantaneous. They both depend on your system starting to digest the food you’ve eaten. Everyone is different, and it may differ depending on the food you decide to eat, but the general guideline is that the feeling of fullness will happen about 15 – 20 minutes after you start eating. In other words, if you eat quickly, you can consume a lot of food before your chemical cues can alert you that you’ve eaten enough. On the other hand, if you eat slowly and make your meal last about 15 minutes, that will be an accurate gauge of whether you’ve truly eaten enough.

Carbs, Not Fat

Secondly, your body breaks down nutrients info glucose (blood-sugar) in a certain order. It prefers carbohydrates to convert into energy first because that is their only use. The body prefers to use protein to build and repair muscle and other tissues, but if you don’t get enough carbs to raise your blood-sugar, then it will break down protein for energy. Fats are turned into energy last because it is easier to store for future use than to convert it into blood-sugar. So, in general you will feel fuller faster on carbs because they will be immediately used to raise your blood-sugar level. Also remember the opposite end of the spectrum: you can consume a dangerously high amount of fat before feeling full.

If you decide to try a high-protein diet, never try to eliminate carbs altogether because your body will be using protein for energy instead of using it to keep you healthy, and you may be eating too much fat if you’re hungry.

Bulky Food

Finally, if you can activate the stretch receptors in your stomach without consuming too many calories, then you’ll also feel full. This means that foods that take up a lot of space are good for satiety. Popcorn and ricecakes are excellent examples. You can eat a lot of them without consuming very many calories, and they will expand your stomach enough to make you feel full. Of course, these foods do not contain any significant levels of any nutrients, so they should only be used for snacking, not meal replacement. High fiber foods tend to be bulky, and fiber is non-caloric, so they are an excellent choice for meals (read my article on Fiber, click here). Seeds and nuts are therefore good snack foods. But the best “bulky” low cal food is water. It cannot be compressed or broken down, and it contains no calories. So drink plenty of water to feel fuller without any negative side-effects (see my article on Water, it is amazing what simple water can do.)

New Research

Researchers have put all of this together in a Satiety Index. They ranked every food they could test for the actual fullness felt by human subjects. The categories of macronutrients (protein, carbohydrates and fats) followed the pattern described above: foods high in carbs scored highest, proteins next, and fats last. Look into the Index yourself, and you may find some surprising results. You’ll find that foods that are mostly carbohydrates, like fruits, have differences within the group, so that the same weight of apple or orange is more filling than the same weight of banana, or that gram-for-gram oatmeal is more filling than museli.

There has been recent research into the hormones that trigger satiety, and a pill is being developed to mimic the feeling of fullness. This may work for those who have low levels of these hormones, but not for those who have developed an immunity to their effect. For normal people, it is easier, more healthy (and cheaper) to eat a balanced diet than to trick your body into feeling full, because you will still suffer the ill effects of starvation dieting (see my article on Adaptation, a theory that will change your life.)

In closing, satiety is a natural way for your body to regulate itself. But you have to give it a chance to work properly by eating slowly. A diet high in protein, low in fat, but without sacrificing carbs is a great way to stay in great shape and generally feel full most of the time. Snack on foods that take up a lot of room for few calories, especially water. If you want to lose weight but still feel full, choose foods from the Satiety Index that score higher, you’ll find that high-fiber equals high-satiety.

3D scanner: 3D scanning implies analyzing the real-world environment or objects for collecting data on their appearance, i.e. color and shape. Digital 3D models can be constructed from the data collected. Such devices are being used by the amusement industry extensively for producing video games and movies. This technology is more widely used in reverse engineering, industrial design, prototyping, keeping records of cultural artifacts, and computer vision. A number of technologies have been used for building the three-dimensional scanning devices. Every technology has limitations, costs, and advantages.

Functionality: The idea behind using a three-dimensional scanner is creating a Point Cloud of the Geometric Samples on the subject’s surface. The subject’s shape can then be extrapolated by using these points. If information regarding color is gathered at every juncture, the determination of colors on subject’s surface can be easily done. 3D scanners share analogy with cameras. If one tries to define a Spherical Coordinate System wherein the origin would be the scanner and vector would be drawn from front of it such that θ=0 and ¢=0, then every point in picture would be associated with θ and ¢. Combined with distance that corresponds to r component 3D position of every point in picture is described by the spherical coordinates.

Technology: 3D scanners consist of two types- non-contact and contact. Non-contact three-dimensional scanners could be divided further into 2 major categories- passive and active scanners.

Non-Contact Active: Some light or radiation is always emitted by active scanners. It is advised to detect the reflection of this light, as it would help in locating environment or an object. The kinds of emission possibly used include x-ray, ultrasound, or light.

Contact: Contact three-dimensional scanners locate the subject by the way of physical touch. The best example of contact three-dimensional scanner is a CMM (Coordinate Measuring Machine). It is widely used in manufacturing processes due to its precision. However, it has a disadvantage that contact with object to be scanned is required. The target object might get modified or damaged by scanning. Historical artifacts, in particular, have to be specially taken care of.

3D Prototyping: 3D prototyping is the subset of rapid prototyping. The basic advantage of 3D prototyping is that numerous materials can be used as base materials. It involves taking of virtual designs through CAD (computer-aided design) or Animation Modeling software, transforming them into virtual, thin, and horizontal cross sections, and then creating every cross-section in the physical space, 1 by 1 till the model gets completed.

It should be noted that STL File Format is the interface between machines and CAD software. This interface carries out the approximation of shape of an assembly or part by making use of triangular facets. Surfaces of a superior quality are produced by smaller facets. 3D prototyping is believed to be the ‘next level’ equipment by most of the experts of this field. Pioneer companies are striving to master the technique. The conservative prototyping machines cost around 25000 pounds, as per the study conducted in the year 2005.