“Tap, tap, flap, flap.” Ludic Seriality, Digitality, and the Finger

This article tries to answer the question, “What is ‘digital’ about digital media?” Building on the concept of ludic seriality as proposed by Shane Denson and Andreas Jahn-Sudmann and taking as an example the popular mobile Game Flappy Bird, it discusses the serial character of gameplay, in particular the intra-ludic serialization of in-game and operator actions. The article argues that the principle of digitality relates to the fingers of the human hand and the corresponding cultural techniques, from the ancient art of finger-counting which brought forth the abstract number concept to our current every day use of buttons and keys to operate digital devices

Phases of supersymmetric O(N) theories

We perform a global renormalization group study of O(N) symmetric Wess-Zumino theories and their phases in three euclidean dimensions. At infinite N the theory is solved exactly. The phases and phase transitions are worked out for finite and infinite short-distance cutoffs. A distinctive new feature arises at strong coupling, where the effective superfield potential becomes multi-valued, signalled by divergences in the fermion-boson interaction. Our findings resolve the long-standing puzzle about the occurrence of degenerate O(N) symmetric phases. At finite N, we find a strongly-coupled fixed point in the local potential approximation and explain its impact on the phase transition. We also examine the possibility for a supersymmetric Bardeen-Moshe-Bander phenomenon, and relate our findings with the spontaneous breaking of supersymmetry in other models.Comment: 23 pages, 18 figure

Entropy-driven phase transition in a polydisperse hard-rods lattice system

We study a system of rods on the 2d square lattice, with hard-core exclusion. Each rod has a length between 2 and N. We show that, when N is sufficiently large, and for suitable fugacity, there are several distinct Gibbs states, with orientational long-range order. This is in sharp contrast with the case N=2 (the monomer-dimer model), for which Heilmann and Lieb proved absence of phase transition at any fugacity. This is the first example of a pure hard-core system with phases displaying orientational order, but not translational order; this is a fundamental characteristic feature of liquid crystals

Mid-adolescent ethnic variations in overweight prevalence in the UK Millennium Cohort Study

BACKGROUND: There are stark ethnic inequalities in the prevalence of UK childhood obesity. However, data on adolescent overweight in different ethnic groups are limited. This study assessed ethnic inequalities in overweight prevalence during mid-adolescence using body mass index (BMI) and explored the contribution of socioeconomic and behavioural factors. METHODS: We analyzed data from 10 500 adolescents aged between 13 and 15 years who participated in sweep six of the Millennium Cohort Study. Ethnic inequalities in overweight and mean BMI were assessed using multiple regression models. Results were stratified by sex and adjusted for socioeconomic and behavioural factors. RESULTS: Black Caribbean males had significantly higher BMI than White males after full adjustment [excess BMI 2.94, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.70-5.19] and were over three times more likely to be overweight [odds ratio (OR): 3.32, 95% CI 1.95-5.66]. Black Africans females had significantly higher BMI compared with White females (excess BMI 1.86, 95% CI 0.89-2.83; OR for overweight 2.74, 95% CI 1.64-4.56), while Indian females had significantly lower BMI compared with White females (reduced BMI -0.73, 95% CI -1.37 to -0.09). Socioeconomic and behavioural factors often considered to be associated with overweight were more prevalent in some ethnic minority groups (lower socioeconomic position, lack of breakfast consumption, low fruit and vegetable intake, high sugar-sweetened beverage and fast-food consumption, and infrequent physical activity), but adjustment for these factors did not fully explain ethnic differences in overweight/BMI. CONCLUSION: Ethnic inequalities in overweight prevalence are evident in mid-adolescence and vary according to sex. Differences in overweight/BMI between ethnic groups were not fully accounted for by socioeconomic or behavioural factors

The role of oral health-related quality of life in the association between dental caries and height, weight and BMI among children in Bangladesh

Objectives: To examine whether oral health-related quality of life (OHRQoL) explained the negative associations between dental caries and anthropometric measures of child growth among a sample of 5- to 9-year-old children in Dhaka, Bangladesh, while taking potential confounding factors (maternal education, family income, study setting, child's birth weight and childhood diseases) into account. In addition, to test whether specific oral impacts had a role in explaining these associations. Methods: Data collection was conducted via a cross-sectional survey among children and their parents from both hospital and school settings in Dhaka. Dental caries and severe consequences of dental caries (defined here as dental sepsis) were the exposure variables, and age- and sex-adjusted height-z-scores (HAZ), weight-z-scores (WAZ) and BMI-z-scores (BAZ) were the outcome variables. OHRQoL was measured using the Bengali version of the Scale of Oral Health Outcomes for 5-year-old children (SOHO-5). First, associations between oral impacts (prevalence of overall impacts and specific items of the SOHO-5) and outcome measures were assessed. Multiple linear regression was used to assess associations between caries and anthropometric measures, adjusted for potential confounders. Oral impacts were then added to test whether their inclusion attenuated the associations between exposures and outcomes. To further investigate potential mediating role of oral impacts, structural equation modelling (SEM) was used to test the hypothesis that dental caries and sepsis were associated with the outcomes directly and also indirectly via oral impacts in general. A similar approach was used to investigate mediation by specific SOHO-5 items. Results: The sample consisted of 715 children, 73.1% of whom had dental caries, 37.5% presented with sepsis, and 57.3% reported at least one oral impact (SOHO-5 score ≥1). Prevalence of overall oral impacts and also the impact on ‘eating difficulty’ (a specific item of SOHO-5) were negatively associated with all three outcomes. Dental caries and sepsis was associated with lower HAZ, WAZ and BAZ, and adjustment for overall oral impacts considerably attenuated the associations between ‘severe dental caries’ and outcomes, and dental sepsis and outcomes. Using SEM, we found significant indirect associations between caries and sepsis and anthropometric measures via oral impacts (except for dental caries and HAZ). Considering specific oral impacts, eating difficulties explained about 44% and 65% of the associations between caries and anthropometric outcomes, and dental sepsis and anthropometric outcomes, respectively. Conclusions: Oral impacts, in particular eating difficulties, appear to mediate associations between caries and markers of child growth among this population