“It’s like my life but more, and better!” - Playing with the Cathaby Shark Girls: MMORPGs, young people and fantasy-based social play

This article is available open access through the publisher’s website at the link below. Copyright @ 2011 A B Academic Publishers.Digital technology has opened up a range of new on-line leisure spaces for young people. Despite their popularity, on-line games and Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games in particular are still a comparatively under-researched area in the fields of both Education and more broadly Youth Studies. Drawing on a Five year ethnographic study, this paper considers the ways that young people use the virtual spaces offered by MMORPGs. This paper suggests that MMORPGs represent significant arenas within which young people act out a range of social narratives through gaming. It argues that MMORPG have become important fantasy spaces which offer young people possibilities to engage in what were formally material practices. Although this form of play is grounded in the everyday it also extends material practices and offers new and unique forms of symbolic experimentation, thus I argue that game-play narratives cannot be divorced from the everyday lives of their participants

Presence of Tungsten-Containing Fibers in Tungsten Refining and Manufacturing Processes

In tungsten refining and manufacturing processes, a series of tungsten oxides are typically formed as intermediates in the production of tungsten powder. The present study was conducted to characterize airborne tungsten-containing fiber dimensions, elemental composition and concentrations in the US tungsten refining and manufacturing industry. During the course of normal employee work activities, seven personal breathing zone and 62 area air samples were collected and analyzed using National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) fiber sampling and counting methods to determine dimensions, composition and airborne concentrations of fibers. Mixed models were used to identify relationships between potential determinants and airborne fiber concentrations. Results from transmission electron microscopy analyses indicated that airborne fibers with length >0.5 μm, diameter >0.01 μm and aspect ratios ≥3:1 were present on 35 of the 69 air samples collected. Overall, the airborne fibers detected had a geometric mean length ≈3 μm and diameter ≈0.3 μm. Ninety-seven percent of the airborne fibers identified were in the thoracic fraction (i.e. aerodynamic diameter ≤ 10 μm). Energy dispersive X-ray spectrometry results indicated that airborne fibers prior to the carburization process consisted primarily of tungsten and oxygen, with other elements being detected in trace quantities. Based on NIOSH fiber counting ‘B’ rules (length > 5 μm, diameter < 3 μm and aspect ratio ≥ 5:1), airborne fiber concentrations ranged from below the limit of detection to 0.085 fibers cm−3, with calcining being associated with the highest airborne concentrations. The mixed model procedure indicated that process temperature had a marginally significant relationship to airborne fiber concentration. This finding was expected since heated processes such as calcining created the highest airborne fiber concentrations. The finding of airborne tungsten-containing fibers in this occupational setting needs to be confirmed in similar settings and demonstrates the need to obtain information on the durability and associated health effects of these fibers

Association of pulmonary, cardiovascular, and hematologic metrics with carbon nanotube and nanofiber exposure among U.S. workers: a cross-sectional study

Abstract Background Commercial use of carbon nanotubes and nanofibers (CNT/F) in composites and electronics is increasing; however, little is known about health effects among workers. We conducted a cross-sectional study among 108 workers at 12 U.S. CNT/F facilities. We evaluated chest symptoms or respiratory allergies since starting work with CNT/F, lung function, resting blood pressure (BP), resting heart rate (RHR), and complete blood count (CBC) components. Methods We conducted multi-day, full-shift sampling to measure background-corrected elemental carbon (EC) and CNT/F structure count concentrations, and collected induced sputum to measure CNT/F in the respiratory tract. We measured (nonspecific) fine and ultrafine particulate matter mass and count concentrations. Concurrently, we conducted physical examinations, BP measurement, and spirometry, and collected whole blood. We evaluated associations between exposures and health measures, adjusting for confounders related to lifestyle and other occupational exposures. Results CNT/F air concentrations were generally low, while 18% of participants had evidence of CNT/F in sputum. Respiratory allergy development was positively associated with inhalable EC (p=0.040) and number of years worked with CNT/F (p=0.008). No exposures were associated with spirometry-based metrics or pulmonary symptoms, nor were CNT/F-specific metrics related to BP or most CBC components. Systolic BP was positively associated with fine particulate matter (p-values: 0.015-0.054). RHR was positively associated with EC, at both the respirable (p=0.0074) and inhalable (p=0.0026) size fractions. Hematocrit was positively associated with the log of CNT/F structure counts (p=0.043). Conclusions Most health measures were not associated with CNT/F. The positive associations between CNT/F exposure and respiratory allergies, RHR, and hematocrit counts may not be causal and require examination in other studies