Presence at history: Toward an expression of authentic historical content as game rules and play

This paper seeks to address the theme of the 2018 conference by examining the significant role game developers now have in mediating our understanding and engagement with history by placing players in historical events/scenarios thick with faithfully rendered artefacts, architecture, styles, and social encounters. In doing so, we argue for a new wave of historical games in which developers are no longer merely translating established scholarly perspectives on the past, but operating as historians through their practice-led research that attempts to bridge representational learning with more direct experience by historicizing the player’s experience, gameplay, and interactions. This paper principally illustrates its argument via a range of contemporary game titles that demonstrate a proclivity for creating authentic living socio-cultural systems, game mechanics, themes, and goals that invite players to learn about the past, distinct from games that employ uchronic times, alternate histories, or simply use history as window-dressing

Cdc42 and Tinman march to the same beat

Study describes a conserved genetic network that regulates heart function in flies and mammals

Rats, plagues, and children, Oh My! Multimodal representations of the past in historical games

Since their inception, Game Studies and its sub-discipline Historical Game Studies have stressed the pedagogical potential of (historical) games for learning. Today, popular off-the-shelf historical digital games such as Assassin’s Creed: Origins (2017), Total War: Three Kingdoms (2019), and Red Dead Redemption (2010) have achieved period-faithful and authentic interactive representations of elements of history that possess pedagogical value distinct from written accounts. To substantiate this claim, the authors forward a multimodal account of the varied ways in which historical knowledge is present in both game design and the gameplay experience. Their approach is illustrated with an under-investigated (yet valuable) mode of historical exploration – ‘Imaginative History.’ Using video and/or screen captures from several sequences of recorded game footage taken from A Plague Tale: Innocence, the authors present a case example from the game’s fantastical portrayal of the Black Death plague. The game’s value for teaching and learning is examined in relation to its re-mediation and subversion of past pre-modern folklore imaginations and beliefs concerning the Black Death. The authors also account for the relevance of the way games achieve a specific mode of engagement that is experientially based and structured within gamepla

Operator Calculus Algorithms for Multi-Constrained Paths

Classical approaches to multi-constrained routing problems generally require construction of trees and the use of heuristics to prevent combinatorial explosion. Introduced here is the notion of constrained path algebras and their application to multi-constrained path problems. The inherent combinatorial properties of these algebras make them useful for routing problems by implicitly pruning the underlying tree structures. Operator calculus (OC) methods are generalized to multiple non-additive constraints in order to develop algorithms for the multi constrained path problem and multi constrained optimization problem. Theoretical underpinnings are developed first, then algorithms are presented. These algorithms demonstrate the tremendous simplicity, flexibility and speed of the OC approach. Algorithms are implemented in Mathematica and Java and applied to a problem first proposed by Ben Slimane et al. as an example

Operator Calculus Algorithms for Multi-Constrained Paths

Abstract Classical approaches to multi-constrained routing problems generally require construction of trees and the use of heuristics to prevent combinatorial explosion. Introduced here is the notion of constrained path algebras and their application to multi-constrained path problems. The inherent combinatorial properties of these algebras make them useful for routing problems by implicitly pruning the underlying tree structures. Operator calculus (OC) methods are generalized to multiple non-additive constraints in order to develop algorithms for the multi constrained path problem and multi constrained optimization problem. Theoretical underpinnings are developed first, then algorithms are presented. These algorithms demonstrate the tremendous simplicity, flexibility and speed of the OC approach. Algorithms are implemented in Mathematica and Java and applied to a problem first proposed by Ben Slimane et al. as an example

Recombinant tandem of pore-domains in a Weakly Inward rectifying K+ channel 2 (TWIK2) forms active lysosomal channels

Recombinant TWIK2 channels produce weak basal background K+ currents. Current amplitudes depend on the animal species the channels have been isolated from and on the heterologous system used for their re-expression. Here we show that this variability is due to a unique cellular trafficking. We identified three different sequence signals responsible for the preferential expression of TWIK2 in the Lamp1-positive lysosomal compartment. Sequential inactivation of tyrosine-based (Y(308)ASIP) and di-leucine-like (E266LILL and D(282)EDDQVDIL) trafficking motifs progressively abolishes the targeting of TWIK2 to lysosomes, and promotes its functional relocation at the plasma membrane. In addition, TWIK2 contains two N-glycosylation sites (N(79)AS and N(85)AS) on its luminal side, and glycosylation is necessary for expression in lysosomes. As shown by electrophysiology and electron microscopy, TWIK2 produces functional background K+ currents in the endolysosomes, and its expression affects the number and mean size of the lysosomes. These results show that TWIK2 is expressed in lysosomes, further expanding the registry of ion channels expressed in these organelles

Estimating Cross-Country Differences in Product Quality,”

Abstract We develop a methodology for decomposing countries' observed export product prices into quality versus quality-adjusted-price components. In contrast to the standard approach of equating export price with quality, our methodology accounts for cross-country variation in product prices induced by factors other than quality, e.g. comparative advantage or currency misalignment. Even though variation in quality-adjusted prices is unobserved, it can be inferred from countries' trade balances with the rest of the world. Holding observed export prices constant, for example, countries exhibiting trade surpluses must be offering higher quality (i.e., lower quality-adjusted prices) than countries running trade deficits. We implement the methodology by estimating the evolution of manufacturing product quality among the United States' top 45 trading partners. Preliminary results reveal substantial cross-sectional variation in product quality growth between 1980 and 1997 that is not apparent in export prices alone. China and Ireland, in particular, experience relatively rapid gains in manufacturing quality

Genetic association study of QT interval highlights role for calcium signaling pathways in myocardial repolarization.

The QT interval, an electrocardiographic measure reflecting myocardial repolarization, is a heritable trait. QT prolongation is a risk factor for ventricular arrhythmias and sudden cardiac death (SCD) and could indicate the presence of the potentially lethal mendelian long-QT syndrome (LQTS). Using a genome-wide association and replication study in up to 100,000 individuals, we identified 35 common variant loci associated with QT interval that collectively explain ∼8-10% of QT-interval variation and highlight the importance of calcium regulation in myocardial repolarization. Rare variant analysis of 6 new QT interval-associated loci in 298 unrelated probands with LQTS identified coding variants not found in controls but of uncertain causality and therefore requiring validation. Several newly identified loci encode proteins that physically interact with other recognized repolarization proteins. Our integration of common variant association, expression and orthogonal protein-protein interaction screens provides new insights into cardiac electrophysiology and identifies new candidate genes for ventricular arrhythmias, LQTS and SCD

Intrinsic monitoring of learning success facilitates memory encoding via the activation of the SN/VTA-Hippocampal loop

Humans constantly learn in the absence of explicit rewards. However, the neurobiological mechanisms supporting this type of internally-guided learning (without explicit feedback) are still unclear. Here, participants who completed a task in which no external reward/feedback was provided, exhibited enhanced fMRI-signals within the dopaminergic midbrain, hippocampus, and ventral striatum (the SN/VTA-Hippocampal loop) when successfully grasping the meaning of new-words. Importantly, new-words that were better remembered showed increased activation and enhanced functional connectivity between the midbrain, hippocampus, and ventral striatum. Moreover, enhanced emotion-related physiological measures and subjective pleasantness ratings during encoding were associated with remembered new-words after 24 hr. Furthermore, increased subjective pleasantness ratings were also related to new-words remembered after seven days. These results suggest that intrinsic-potentially reward-related-signals, triggered by self-monitoring of correct performance, can promote the storage of new information into long-term memory through the activation of the SN/VTA-Hippocampal loop, possibly via dopaminergic modulation of the midbrain