Never Playing Alone: The Social Contextures of Digital Gaming

Digital game studies does not quite have the same legacy of metaphors as Internet studies does and to some extent we find ourselves borrowing the idea that there is the concrete material place of the user/player on the one hand and the more abstract representational space of the game on the other. If the game is online then that space (given its properties of shared visual verisimilitude, interactivity and immersion) seems in fact more cyber-spatial (in the terms described by Neal Stephenson or William Gibson) than most Internet researchers could ever imagine. It is in this sense, that massively multiplayer online games like Everquest, Star Wars Galaxies or even the Sims Online, more so than websites, MUDs or even spatially intensive games like Myst, are commonly described in terms similar to how one might describe travelling to another country. Indeed, it would seem that the more immersive the game the greater this sense of transportation becomes

How Luhmann’s systems theory can inform gambling studies

Gambling and problem gambling studies tend to be characterised by individual-based approaches both theoretically and methodologically, while sociological approaches remain underutilised or even marginal. In this study, we discuss the potential of Niklas Luhmann’s systems theory in the analysis of gambling. As opposed to positivist or individualistic approaches, Luhmann’s work is strongly constructivist: neither systems nor their components are seen to be made up of individuals. Using systems theory in informing gambling research distances the research interests from individuals and directs it towards societal mechanisms, structures, and processes. Therefore, a systems theoretical approach can offer novel tools to study gambling, but also the paradigm of gambling research itself. This paper demonstrates how systems theory can critically inform gambling research through five operationalisations: gambling as a system, the gambling experience, the regulation of gambling economies, gambling providers as organisations, and systems theory as a methodological program. These five operationalisations can serve as an important window to widen perspectives on gambling.Peer reviewe

The Logic within the Logic Reinterpretation of Boolean algebra from Transcurssive Logic

In the introduction of Boole’s "Mathematical Analysis of Logic" of 1847, he approaches one of the operative foundations of Transcurssive Logic. He tells us that "those who are familiar with the theory of symbolic algebra, know that the validity of their analysis does not depend on the interpretation of the symbols, but only on the laws of their combination." This statement makes very clear the preponderance that Boole gives to relationships. In response to this interest in the relational, we proposed to try to understand, how it was that Boole gave an algebraic form to logic. To carry out this task, we decided to use the principles that govern Transcurssive Logic (TL). The analysis of the categorical propositions was initiated: universal affirmative, universal negative, particular affirmative and particular negative. In analyzing the latter, we discovered that a whole universe could be described only from it. That is, not only told us that, for example, "some a is not b", but also could tell us: that there is "a which are not b", that there is "b that is not a", that there is "a which is b", and that in the rest of the universe there is "something" that "is not a nor is b". Then, from the TL it was inquired about the relationships that link these contents to try to determine how this algebraic structure could be generated. After some steps, four elements that resulted from this inquiry were given an entity; by relating them, they formed an algebraic structure called the permutation group or Galois group. The structure that constitutes the "universal language" in which the TL is written. In the analysis of the basic principles on which Boole's algebra is based, we have discovered that some aspects of reality that are revealed when we approach it from the subjective hidden between its values of truth and functions. That is, there is an 'implicit logic' underlying the Boolean binary proposal, a logic that we have called 'transcurssive' because it leaves evidence of a particular evolution over time, of what affects an observer. Among the findings, are: a) the existence of a complex system based, not on its constituent elements and a specific purpose, but on the interrelations that link its components. b) a systemic complexity that enables an adaptive dynamic response in front of the demands (inputs). c) the possibility of analyzing through the discovered structure, the relational situation of several binary systems, simultaneously (heterarchical distribution of hierarchical systems). d) the functional non-dependence of the structure concerning the observer ( measurement process), as it is the case with any situation that is objectively addressed, and e) the advantage of being able to consider situations where more than two states are at stake, even if they are exclusive. From the transcurssive perspective, an interesting panorama opens up of possible applications of this way of observing reality

Object-Oriented Ontogenesis: biosentience and being

How is it that a cell knows? Why do brains exist to begin with? Gyration never ends and genes are just the beginnin

Civil Society Constitutionalism: the Power of Contract Law

This article argues that the vision of a social law of contract is exhibited in the judgment of the Swiss Federal Court in Post v. Verein gegen Tierfabriken ( VgT ). The judgment is one of a law of contract that interacts with a community of the subjects instead of the individual subjects of a community. This paper contends that law today has the task of providing for the areas of social autonomy from which civil society is built up and in which, at the same time, the increasing social fragmentation can be overcome piecemeal. The article argues that conceiving contract law as civil society constitutionalism, as the constitution not of the state but of society, is the jurisprudential task for our time. Governing Contracts – Public and Private Perspectives, Symposium. Osgoode Hall Law School, Toronto, November 9-10, 200

An examination and confirmation of a macro theory of conversations through a realization of the protologic Lp by microscopic simulation

This thesis was submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy and awarded by Brunel University.Conversation Theory is a theory of interaction. From interaction (the theory asserts) arises all individuals and all concepts. Interaction, if it is to allow for evolution, must perforce contain conflict, and, if concepts and individuals are to endure, resolution of conflict. Conversation Theory as developed by Pask led to the protologic called Lp which describes the interaction of conceptual entities. Lp contains injunctions as to how entities can and may interact, including how they may conflict and how their conflict may be resolved. Unlike existing software implementations based on Conversation Theory, Lp in its pure form is a logic of process as well as coherence and distinction. The hypothesis is that a low-level simulation of Lp, that of an internal and microscopic level in which topics are influenced by "forces" that are exerted by the topology of the conceptual space, would, in its activation as a dynamic process of appropriate dimension, produce as a result (and hence be a confirmation of) the macroscopically-observed behaviour of the system manifest as conflict and resolution of conflict. Without this confirmation, the relationships between Conversation Theory and Lp remain only proposed; with it, their mutual consistencies and validity as a model of cognition, are affirmed. The background of Conversation Theory and Lp necessary to support the thesis is presented a long with a comparison of other software approaches to related problems. A description of THOUGHTSTICKER, a current embodiment of Lp at the macro level, provides a detailed sense of the Lp operations. Then a computer program (developed to provide a proof by demonstration of the thesis) is described, in which a microscopic simulation of Lp processes confirms the macroscopic behaviour predicted by Conversation Theory. Conversation Theory thereby gains support f or its use as a valid observer's language for every-day experience owing to this confirmation and its protologic as a basis for psychological phenomena in the interaction of conceptual entities of mind

Modern interpretation of FengShui in contemporary sustainable residential design

The FengShui practice, through its core philosophy, has for centuries embraced sustainability in the design of traditional living environments and natural settlements in China. There are many encounters of sustainable FengShui manifestations in the ancient Chinese settlements, some of which have been studied in this research and interpreted from the theoretical, environmental, ecological, socio-cultural and economic perspectives. Based on the research findings and their contemporary interpretation, the link between the research and practice has been formed via undertaking the residential development design study on location in Shanghai. The results of the study thus far are reported in this paper in terms of their urban and design resolution, focusing on the pursuance of the balance between three main aspects – energy, environment and ecology. The unification between circulation of Qi and environmental elements is reflected in its modern context and represented in terms of master planning on the macro scale and consideration of shelter environmental qualities on the micro scale

Spatial immunoprofiling of the intratumoral and peritumoral tissue of renal cell carcinoma patients

While the abundance and phenotype of tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes are linked with clinical survival, their spatial coordination and its clinical significance remain unclear. Here, we investigated the immune profile of intratumoral and peritumoral tissue of clear cell renal cell carcinoma patients (n = 64). We trained a cell classifier to detect lymphocytes from hematoxylin and eosin stained tissue slides. Using unsupervised classification, patients were further classified into immune cold, hot and excluded topographies reflecting lymphocyte abundance and localization. The immune topography distribution was further validated with The Cancer Genome Atlas digital image dataset. We showed association between PBRM1 mutation and immune cold topography, STAG1 mutation and immune hot topography and BAP1 mutation and immune excluded topography. With quantitative multiplex immunohistochemistry we analyzed the expression of 23 lymphocyte markers in intratumoral and peritumoral tissue regions. To study spatial interactions, we developed an algorithm quantifying the proportion of adjacent immune cell pairs and their immunophenotypes. Immune excluded tumors were associated with superior overall survival (HR 0.19, p = 0.02) and less extensive metastasis. Intratumoral T cells were characterized with pronounced expression of immunological activation and exhaustion markers such as granzyme B, PD1, and LAG3. Immune cell interaction occurred most frequently in the intratumoral region and correlated with CD45RO expression. Moreover, high proportion of peritumoral CD45RO+ T cells predicted poor overall survival. In summary, intratumoral and peritumoral tissue regions represent distinct immunospatial profiles and are associated with clinicopathologic characteristics.Peer reviewe