Playing with the dead:transmedia narratives and the Walking Dead games

This chapter discusses the theory and practice of transmedia narratives within the storyworld created by Robert Kirkman, Tony Moore and Charlie Adlard’s comics series The Walking Dead. It examines key aspects from the comics series and AMC’s adaptive television franchise to consider how both have been utilized and adapted for games. Particular focus will be paid to Telltale Games’ The Walking Dead, Gamagio’s The Walking Dead Assault and Terminal Reality’s The Walking Dead: Survival Instinct. The chapter explains the core concepts of transmedia narratives as they relate to The Walking Dead, places the games in the context of both the comics and television franchise, examines the significance of commercial and grassroot extensions and considers the role gaming and interactive narratives have within rich storyworlds. In examining The Walking Dead as a transmedia property, the authors demonstrate how vast narratives are adopted, modified and transformed in contemporary popular culture

Agency Conflicts, Financial Distress, and Syndicate Structure: Evidence from Japanese Borrowers

We examine how borrower firm characteristics affect the size structure in the Japanese syndicated loan market for the 1999-2003 period. Consistent with the view by Lee and Mullineaux (2004), we find that syndicates are smaller when borrowers have higher credit risk, while firms with greater information asymmetry are associated with larger syndicates in Japan. These results are primarily driven by nonkeiretsu (non-business group) firms. This suggests that the role of enhanced monitoring and facilitated renegotiation is especially useful for banks participating in Japanese syndicated loan for non-keiretsu firms. On the other hand, information problems seem to be less severe for keiretsu (business group) firms which tend to have easier access to syndicated loan via the intermediation of in-house banks in the relevant syndicate. Finally, we find that keiretsu (non-keiretsu) firms have less (more) fraction of loan by their agent banks as the maturity rises. It appears that main banks of keiretsu firms with informational advantage are likely to retain less of the loan and form a more dispersed syndicate to "signal' that the loan is of high quality with increased maturity. This further confirms the view that information problems are less severe in the keiretsu firms.

Effects of Flight Speed upon Muscle Activity in Hummingbirds

Hummingbirds have the smallest body size and highest wingbeat frequencies of all flying vertebrates, so they represent one endpoint for evaluating the effects of body size on sustained muscle function and flight performance. Other bird species vary neuromuscular recruitment and contractile behavior to accomplish flight over a wide range of speeds, typically exhibiting a U-shaped curve with maxima at the slowest and fastest flight speeds. To test whether the high wingbeat frequencies and aerodynamically active upstroke of hummingbirds lead to different patterns, we flew rufous hummingbirds (Selasphorus rufus, 3 g body mass, 42 Hz wingbeat frequency) in a variable-speed wind tunnel $(\textrm{0–10 m s}^{-1})$. We measured neuromuscular activity in the pectoralis (PECT) and supracoracoideus (SUPRA) muscles using electromyography (EMG, $N=4$ birds), and we measured changes in PECT length using sonomicrometry ($N=1$). Differing markedly from the pattern in other birds, PECT deactivation occurred before the start of downstroke and the SUPRA was deactivated before the start of upstroke. The relative amplitude of EMG signal in the PECT and SUPRA varied according to a U-shaped curve with flight speed; additionally, the onset of SUPRA activity became relatively later in the wingbeat at intermediate flight speeds $(\textrm{4 and 6 m s}^{−1})$. Variation in the relative amplitude of EMG was comparable with that observed in other birds but the timing of muscle activity was different. These data indicate the high wingbeat frequency of hummingbirds limits the time available for flight muscle relaxation before the next half stroke of a wingbeat. Unlike in a previous study that reported single-twitch EMG signals in the PECT of hovering hummingbirds, across all flight speeds we observed 2.9±0.8 spikes per contraction in the PECT and 3.8±0.8 spikes per contraction in the SUPRA. Muscle strain in the PECT was 10.8±0.5%, the lowest reported for a flying bird, and average strain rate was 7.4±0.2 muscle lengths $s^{−1}$. Among species of birds, PECT strain scales proportional to body mass to the 0.2 power $(\infty M_b^{0.2})$ using species data and $\infty M_b^{0.3}$ using independent contrasts. This positive scaling is probably a physiological response to an adverse scaling of mass-specific power available for flight.Organismic and Evolutionary BiologyOther Research Uni

Activity Log

https://digitalcommons.otterbein.edu/bewell/1024/thumbnail.jp

Wallet Photos

https://digitalcommons.otterbein.edu/bewell/1025/thumbnail.jp

Idaho 1

https://digitalcommons.otterbein.edu/bewell/1037/thumbnail.jp

Exhibition Card for Be Well Out Here Collection

This exhibition is a collection of words and images from a 7-month, 24,000-mile journey through the Northern Rockies of the American West. Its intention is to promote the connection between the Natural Environment and Wellness.https://digitalcommons.otterbein.edu/bewell/1010/thumbnail.jp

Washington 1

https://digitalcommons.otterbein.edu/bewell/1033/thumbnail.jp

South Dakota 2

https://digitalcommons.otterbein.edu/bewell/1030/thumbnail.jp

Montana 1

https://digitalcommons.otterbein.edu/bewell/1031/thumbnail.jp