Ultima Thule

Guilds: Communities in Ultima Online

This paper is concerned with the massively multi-player online role-playing game Ultima Online. Because of the large number of players, the evolution of sub-groups, or guilds, are very common. This document contains a general description of Ultima Online and an analysis of a particular guild. I show that the guild can be classified as a virtual community and discuss the importance of its rules ...

Thule-2003 - Investigation of Radioactive Contamination

ULTIMA RATIO - A Visual Language for Argumentation

In the third act of Shakespeare’s Hamlet, the hero is unsure whether to kill Claudius the assassin of Hamlet’s father or not. He argues that if he does kill him, Claudius who is praying at that very moment goes to heaven and if he does not kill him Hamlet’s father is not revenged. A contradiction. Ultima Ratio aims at formalization and visualization of argumentation for agents. An agent is cons...

Renal denervation: ultima ratio or standard in treatment-resistant hypertension.

The term “ultima ratio” has multiple, though related, meanings. The motto “ultima ratio regum,” cast on the cannons of the French army of King Louis XIV, meant that war is the last argument of kings, that is, the one to be used after all diplomatic arguments have failed. Along similar lines, we propose that, given the current evidence, renal denervation should be used as a last resort, after st...

Obesity and inflammatory vasculopathy: a surgical solution as ultima ratio?

Obesity is a growing epidemic. Obesity is not just a cosmetic matter but a serious health problem. Obesity is part of the metabolic syndrome and an established risk factor for type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and, notably, for myocardial infarction.1 Mechanistically, the common denominator underlying the metabolic syndrome, the development and progression of systemic atherosclerosis, an...