Consumer Experience of Animal Crossing: New Horizons Players During Covid-19 Lockdowns

Project of Merit Winner The Consumer Experience of Animal Crossing: New Horizons Players During COVID-19 Lockdowns Raquel Holliday, David Rogers, Dr. Natalie A. Mitchell Abstract Due to COVID-19 global lockdowns in March 2020, Nintendo’s spring release game, Animal Crossing: New Horizons (ACHN), garnered massive popularity and unprecedented sales. The simulation game involves creating a new life on an island. As life events such as high school and college graduations, proms, weddings were cancelled, and consumers experienced anguish due to isolation, consumers took to ACHN to recreate the same life events within a digital world. Instant success led to broad acceptance with consumers sharing examples of replicated life events in gameplay on social media sites. In this study, we investigated the influence of ACHN on culture, how consumers engage and connect with others, and their adjustment to COVID-19 lockdowns through their gameplay as shared on Twitter. These inquiries center around digital virtual consumption, which is heightened during a time of a global pandemic lockdown. The research team used a combined method approach which involved gameplay and a textual analysis of 1,000 Twitter posts to assess insights and images related to ACHN gameplay. Reoccurring themes of real-life simulation, co-creation and extended-self were found in the data. An unexpected finding included a first-ever in-game political campaign and many brand integrations. Insights developed from this research indicates how deprivation and scarcity within a global pandemic yields social connection, and creative, replicated lifestyles within simulated video games, affording players full control of their mediated worlds, despite external factors producing uncertainties

Recognition of plants using a stochastic L-system model

Recognition of natural shapes like leaves, plants, and trees, has proven to be a challenging problem in computer vision. The members of a class of natural objects are not identical to each other. They are similar, have similar features, but are not exactly the same. Most existing techniques have not succeeded in effectively recognizing these objects. One of the main reasons is that the models used to represent them are inadequate themselves. In this research we use a fractal model, which has been very effective in modeling natural shapes, to represent and then guide the recognition of a class of natural objects, namely plants. Variation in plants is accommodated by using the stochastic L-systems. A learning system is then used to generate a decision tree that can be used for classification. Results show that the approach is successful for a large class of synthetic plants and provides the basis for further research into recognition of natural plants

Antibiotic prescriptions upon hospital discharge: A blind spot of antimicrobial stewardship

Background: Transitions of care are a known source of patient vulnerability. The incidence of medication errors during transitions of care is well-documented.1 Discharge from the hospital has proven to be one area where antimicrobial stewardship is absent or lacking and can result in: poor clinical outcomes, adverse drug events, and emergence of multidrug resistant organisms. In one study, 53% of cases reviewed found antibiotics prescribed at discharge were inappropriate.1 Large discrepancies exist between guideline recommendations and antimicrobials prescribed upon hospital discharge.2 At this time, no prior study at OSU Medical Center has analyzed the impact of antimicrobial stewardship at hospital discharge.Methods: This study will be a retrospective chart review based on a report of patients age 18 years and older discharged from OSUMC from 7/1/2018 to 6/30/2019 with CAP or uncomplicated UTI. This data will be used to determine whether optimal antibiotic therapy was prescribed upon hospital discharge. Optimal therapy is defined as: prescription in accordance with nationally-approved guidelines for the management of CAP and UTI; effective and narrowest spectrum of activity; correct dose for indication, organ dysfunction, and medication allergies; and correct duration of therapy. This study will also the assess antibiotic classes most frequently involved in errors, as well as the most commonly occurring types of errors (incorrect drug, dose, or duration). Patients with multiple types of infection will be excluded from the study. Data collected will be organized and evaluated using REDCapTM. The following data will be obtained: date of discharge, days of optimal inpatient antibiotic therapy, discharge antibiotics regimen, infection type (CAP vs. uncomplicated UTI), pertinent laboratory and microbiology data, and bacteria cultured with source and date results finalized.Results: Data collection is still ongoing. At this time, 1402 patient charts have been reviewed, and 168 patient charts met inclusion criteria. Of those included, patients were primarily female (63%) with an average age of 62 (range 21-95), and 43% were discharged on a suboptimal antibiotic regimen. The most common reason for a suboptimal regimen was an inappropriate duration of therapy (92%) followed by an incorrect medication dose (26%).Conclusions: At the time of this writing, duration of therapy far outweighs any other cause for a suboptimal discharge antibiotic regimen. By completing this study, we hope to gain more insight into how we can better serve our institution by educating physicians, reducing errors, and optimizing transitions of care

A follow-up study of vocational agriculture students graduating from Kansas high schools in 1984

Call number: LD2668 .R4 EDAO 1989 H65Master of ScienceEducational Leadershi

Nahý od přírody

Praktiky a diskursy současných západních naturistických hnutí jsou alespoň zčásti ztělesněním konkrétního vztahu k přírodě. Zatímco „veřejné obnažování se“ nemusí být v uvedeném kontextu nutně vázáno na přírodní krajinu či se v ní odehrávat, vývoj a současné projevy naturismu se přesto zhusta soustřeďují kolem „filosofie“, která se cele týká těla v kontextu přírody. Způsoby existence těchto neoblečených těl v kontextu přírody musí být definovány a chápány v konkrétních rámcích, prostřednictvím komplexního vyjednávání mezi diskursy přírody, lidské přirozenosti, přirozené tělesnosti a přírodní krajiny. Toto vyjednávání se možná nejzjevněji projevuje ve způsobech, jakými se naturismus jako způsob jednání vztahuje k erotice, a také v opozici utvářené mezi přírodou (vnímanou pozitivně) a kulturou či civilizací (vnímanými negativně). Naše stať je pokusem o prozkoumání těchto témat. Začneme nastíněním historického vývoje některých západních naturistických hnutí, ve snaze zmapovat jejich ideologické představy o přírodě a „přirozené tělesnosti.“ Zaměříme se též na způsoby, jakými se britská naturistická scéna konce 20. století vymezuje vůči dědictví své minulosti i vůči svému současnému postavení v rámci britské společnosti. Problematický vztah naturismu k sexu, který je pro ukotvení tohoto textu klíčový, nás přivede k uvažování o erotických aspektech přírody a ke krátkému pojednání o s nimi souvisejících praktikách, do nichž je také vtěleno téma přírody. Naturismus jako expresivní tělesná praktika vztahující se k určitému vymezenému prostoru nám tak umožňuje uvažovat o konkrétních tělech, zasazených do konkrétních představ o přírodě

Free-Piston Stirling Power Conversion Unit for Fission Surface Power, Phase I Final Report

This report summarizes the design of a 12 kW dual opposed free-piston Stirling convertor and controller for potential future use in space missions. The convertor is heated via a pumped NaK loop and cooling is provided by a pumped water circuit. Convertor efficiency is projected at 27 percent (AC electrical out/heat in). The controller converts the AC electrical output to 120 Vdc and is projected at 91 percent efficiency. A mechanically simple arrangement, based on proven technology, was selected in which the piston is resonated almost entirely by the working space pressure swing, while the displacer is resonated by planar mechanical springs in the bounce space

Exome resequencing and GWAS for growth, ecophysiology, and chemical and metabolomic composition of wood of Populus trichocarpa.

BackgroundPopulus trichocarpa is an important forest tree species for the generation of lignocellulosic ethanol. Understanding the genomic basis of biomass production and chemical composition of wood is fundamental in supporting genetic improvement programs. Considerable variation has been observed in this species for complex traits related to growth, phenology, ecophysiology and wood chemistry. Those traits are influenced by both polygenic control and environmental effects, and their genome architecture and regulation are only partially understood. Genome wide association studies (GWAS) represent an approach to advance that aim using thousands of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). Genotyping using exome capture methodologies represent an efficient approach to identify specific functional regions of genomes underlying phenotypic variation.ResultsWe identified 813 K SNPs, which were utilized for genotyping 461 P. trichocarpa clones, representing 101 provenances collected from Oregon and Washington, and established in California. A GWAS performed on 20 traits, considering single SNP-marker tests identified a variable number of significant SNPs (p-value < 6.1479E-8) in association with diameter, height, leaf carbon and nitrogen contents, and δ15N. The number of significant SNPs ranged from 2 to 220 per trait. Additionally, multiple-marker analyses by sliding-windows tests detected between 6 and 192 significant windows for the analyzed traits. The significant SNPs resided within genes that encode proteins belonging to different functional classes as such protein synthesis, energy/metabolism and DNA/RNA metabolism, among others.ConclusionsSNP-markers within genes associated with traits of importance for biomass production were detected. They contribute to characterize the genomic architecture of P. trichocarpa biomass required to support the development and application of marker breeding technologies

Ligand-based virtual screening using binary kernel discrimination

This paper discusses the use of a machine-learning technique called binary kernel discrimination (BKD) for virtual screening in drug- and pesticide-discovery programmes. BKD is compared with several other ligand-based tools for virtual screening in databases of 2D structures represented by fragment bit-strings, and is shown to provide an effective, and reasonably efficient, way of prioritising compounds for biological screening

What is the effect of interrupting prolonged sitting with frequent bouts of physical activity or standing on first or recurrent stroke risk factors? A scoping review

The objective of this review was to ascertain the scope of the available literature on the effects of interrupting prolonged sitting time with frequent bouts of physical activity or standing on stroke and recurrent stroke risk factors. Databases Medline, Embase, AMED, CINAHL and Cochrane library were comprehensively searched from inception until 21st February 2018. Experimental trials which interrupted sitting time with frequent bouts of physical activity or standing in adults (≥ 18 years) were included. Comparison to a bout of prolonged sitting and a measure of at least one first or recurrent stroke risk factor was required to be included. Overall, 30 trials (35 articles) were identified to meet the inclusion criteria. Fifteen trials were completed in participants at an increased risk of having a first stroke and one trial in participants at risk of a recurrent stroke. Outcomes of hypertension and dysglycemia were found to be more favourable following predominately light- to moderate-intensity bouts of physical activity or standing compared to sitting in the majority of trials in participants at risk of having a first stroke. In the one trial of stroke survivors, only outcomes of hypertension were significantly improved. These findings are of significant importance taking into consideration hypertension is the leading risk factor for first and recurrent stroke. However, trials primarily focused on measuring outcomes of dysglycemia and without assessing a dose-response effect. Additional research is required on the dose-response effect of interrupting sitting with frequent bouts of physical activity or standing on first and recurrent stroke risk factors, in those high risk population groups

Evidence of specialized resource exploitation by Modern Humans in Western Iberia associated to Pleistocene and Holocene extreme environmental conditions

Throughout prehistory, landscapes were repeatedly subjected to both global and localized climatic fluctuations that changed the regional environments where human groups lived. This instability demanded constant adaptation and, as a result, the functionality of some sites changed over time. In this light, the western coast of Iberia represents an exceptional case study due to the proximity between at least some oceanic cores and archaeological sites, which should facilitate an accurate reconstruction of the relationships between paleoenvironmental conditions and the coeval patterns of human behavior. This region, and in particular the valley of the River Lis, is marked by wide exposed plateaus cut by narrow and deep canyons. In this paper we present the stratigraphic, archaeometric, technological and archaeobotanical record of Poço Rock Shelter, located in one of these canyons, which hints at the human responses to such changes, and discuss the link between its Solutrean and Epipaleolithic occupations to specific activities. During the coldest part of the Last Glacial Maximum, we hypothesize that there was intensive exploitation of a chert outcrop above the roof to produce blades and Solutrean tips. Later, during Bond Event 6, after that outcrop had been exhausted, there was intensive consumption of shellfish gathered between the mouth of the canyon and the sea. We hypothesize that these strikingly different roles demonstrate how hunter-gatherers adapted to local conditions, and exploited specific resources, promising to provide a better understanding about its functional role during specific extreme climate events.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio