Population Dynamics and Behaviour in Two Microtus Voles: Effects of Interspecific Competition and Multiple Predators

Siirretty Doriast

Enhancing player experience in MMORPGs with mobile features

In this paper, we explore how current MMORPGs (Massively Multi-player Online Role-Playing Games) can use mobile phones in order to enhance player experience. We identify five different categories of how this can be done, and review our findings with MMORPG developers. This is continuing research, and we are working in IPERG [1] (Integrated Project of Pervasive Games) project with our partners on creating prototypes that will demonstrate some of these issues. There are several signs that in the near future the virtual worlds of MMORPGs can be accessed in ways other than with a PC or console platform. Currently, some MMORPGs have been ported to mobile phones, but mobile players and PC players have not yet shared a common game world and there has been no possible interaction between players who are playing on different platforms. Some MMORPGs have enabled accessing in-game chat with a mobile or separate web browser client and even enabled alerts for certain game events. Gordon Walton of Sony Online Entertainment argued in his speech in Game Developers Conference 2004 that one of the requirements for the future MMORPGs is that they need to support mobility [2]. When mobile phones are used for enhancing MMORPGs that are normally played on a PC, we need to consider what makes the mobile phone a good device for doing this: First of all, the mobile phone is a device that people use for communicating and socializing with each other; Secondly, the mobile phone is always with the player and it is always connected to the wireless network so it can be used for increasing pervasiveness of a game; And lastly, the real-life context, for instance location, of a mobile player can be used for creating interesting gameplay. There are also several challenges [3], of which latency and problems with inputting and outputting text or graphical information are the most important ones when considering game design. Our categorization is based on how the player can interact with or influence the virtual game world, and other players, by using his mobile phone. The categories we have identified are: Communication, Management and setting-up, Synchronous player-to-player interaction in MMORPG world, Server push, and Passive participation. These categories are explained in the following text. Enabling communication in the same game world is rather easy to implement since it does not necessarily require any changes to game mechanics or story. Players of Anarchy Online and Dark Age of Camelot can access in-game chat when not logged into the game with the PC game client. Communication does not need to be limited to chat only: things like enabling players to view game forums or getting news or community messages from the game to their mobile phones would allow the players to participate in community even when they cannot access their PC. It can be argued though if this is necessarily a good thing for a player, and players definitely need to have tools for controlling when they can be contacted. In some cases, using voice rather than text on mobile platform makes sense since mobile phone is not ideal for typing or reading text. Also, if the player is on move and needs his eyes for viewing his real-life environment, using voice instead of text can be a better option. Enabling management and set-up tasks on the mobile phone allows players to access their MMORPG game world in a way that does not require real-time communication with the game server. However, these tasks need to be implemented in a way that the client application is never trusted [4] in order to prevent exploiting the game. These tasks can range from setting up one’s equipment to adding new items for sale in one’s in-game shop. Synchronous player-to-player interaction in MMORPG world is the most difficult one of these categories to implement since it often requires changing the game mechanics or story. Players who use different platforms for playing the same game need also to be equal, and this means that the gameplay cannot be the same on a mobile platform and a typical PC MMORPG that requires real-time actions. Latency in the mobile networks is simply too high and irregular and it continues to be so in third generation mobile networks [5]. However, we show in our paper that there are several ways of enabling interaction between mobile players and PC players. For instance, mobile players can control autonomous intelligent agents with indirect control, play the game with their persistent game character in a different kind of game mode, player’s location can be used for creating events or objects in the game world. By Server push we mean that player can be contacted by the game anywhere and anytime. For instance, the game can send an alert to the player if there is a certain kind of change in the game state or NPCs (Non-Player Characters) can contact the player when he is not playing the game. To some players, this can feel too intrusive, and players need to be able to control their availability. However, MMORPGs are to many players more like a life style than just a game – average players are reported to play these games 10-40 hours in week [6] – and for these kinds of players increased pervasiveness can be beneficial. If it really is, is an important topic for further research. Our last category is Passive participation. By this we mean that the player can observe the game world or influence the game by voting or rating with his mobile phone. Allowing observation can be also used for promoting the game if people who are not yet players of that game are allowed to observe. The identified strengths of the mobile phone are used in all of these categories. Communication and socialization features are used mostly in our Communication category. The pervasiveness of the mobile phone is used in especially in Server Push category but also in all of the other categories. Context sensitivity of the mobile phone is utilized in Synchronous player-to-player interaction in MMORPG world category. Footnotes: [1] http://iperg.sics.se/ [2] http://www.gdconf.com/archives/2004/walton_gordon.ppt [3] e.g. http://www.gamasutra.com/resource_guide/20030916/palm_01.shtml [4] Jessica Mulligan and Bridgette Patrovsky: Developing Online Games. New Riders 2003. [5] e.g. http://www.cs.tut.fi/~lina/palm_koivisto.pdf [6] http://www.nickyee.com/daedalus/archives/000758.ph

Possible benefits of gamification for improving surgical patients' quality of care

´This paper considers the potential benefits of gamification from the perspective of surgical patients' quality of care. There is little published data on gamifying the work of healthcare professionals even though the use of serious games in healthcare has been growing. Literature on the quality of care shows that patients are often satisfied with the care they have received. However, research indicates that deficiencies exist in patient education, in patients' opportunities to participate in and have impact on decision making regarding their care, and in prevention and management of complications. Workplace culture is significantly connected with the incidence of patient complications. Gamification of healthcare workers' daily work routines could have positive effects on nurses' ownership and the meaningfulness of their work, and on the prevention and management of complications, which would in turn improve the quality of care for surgical patients. In this paper, a hypothetical gamification case is presented and directions for future research are discussed.Peer reviewe

Negotiating stigmas: Contributions from the narrative approach

Objective of the study The broad aim of this research is to understand how consumers construct their identity through biographical consumption narratives. Accordingly, I will explore how people tell stories of consumption and how those stories reflect on their past/current/future life meanings. In particular, I aim to understand how consumers use consumption as a resource to create continuity in their life-stories in the face of stigmatization. Existing consumer research on this topic has studied how individuals manage their stigmatization experiences through practices of self-empowerment and well-being, building a broad taxonomy of remedial responses using content-analysis. In addition, the secondary aim of this study is to explore the role and importance of consumption in identity creation. As this research is interpretive by nature its objective is to gain a better understanding of the phenomenon in question rather than produce generalizations. Research method In order to shed light on this complex phenomenon, I gathered data utilizing life-story-interviews. I analyzed this data through employing the method of narrative analysis which involves configuring the shattered data elements into a coherent story that unites and gives meaning to the data as contributors to a goal or a purpose. Findings A narrative approach enabled me to gain an in-depth holistic understanding of the biographical meanings in the interviews. Indeed, this research hopes to extend our knowledge on the consumer coping responses to stigmatization through its in-depth analysis of biographical narrative. This more holistic approach has allowed the grasping of stigmatization in the context of biographical narrative, and thus, produced a novel interpretation of these coping practices. This research proposes a model of compensatory consumption whereby identity lies in the life-story and the author aims to construct a complete and coherent narrative through compensatory consumption. In a narrative context, stigma is reflected as a lack of meaning, and compensation is, then, a process through which individuals negotiate this lack of meaning by using consumption as a resource for a variety of remedying strategies. This proposed model enables me to demonstrate how the application of such remedies can be examined in an in-depth manner through a focus the modalities of agency and communion. As higher order concepts, these two notions help to understand how an individual is able to create broader coherence in the face of stigmatization. Finally, the thesis also explores the relation of identity construction and consumption. It is concluded that consumption is not used to construct identity per se, but rather reflects identity through its role in the individual’s broader sense-making – namely via the told life-story. Nevertheless, consumption has a significant role in the process of ‘selfing’ as a resource. Keywords Narrative, identity, stigmatization, narrative analysis, consumption, consumers, consumer research, life-story intervie

Miten muotoillaan kestävä pakkaus?

Nykyinen lineaarinen talous ja kestämätön kehitys ovat luoneet tarpeen muutokselle kohti kestä-vämpää yhteiskuntaa. Kestävä kehitys ja kiertotalous ovat kaksi tunnetuinta paradigmaa sen saa-vuttamiseksi. Pakkauksella on oma osansa kestävässä tuotannossa ja kiertotaloudessa sekä sitä kautta osansa kehityksessä kohti kestävää yhteiskuntaa. Tutkielman tavoitteena on ollut selvittää, millainen on kestävän kehityksen mukainen pakkaus eli kestävä pakkaus, ja millaisia ominaisuuksia sen suunnittelun metodilla on. Tutkielma on osa feno-menologishermeneuttista laadullisen tutkimuksen perinnettä. Aineistona olen käyttänyt teema-haastatteluja ja kirjallista aineistoa, joka pääasiassa on ollut tutkimusartikkeleita. Aineistoa on ana-lysoitu sisällönanalyysilla. Kirjallisen aineiston perusteella kestävästä pakkauksesta muodostui hyvin yhtenäinen kuva, eikä haastatteluaineistokaan ollut vahvasti ristiriidassa sen kanssa, joskin jälkimmäinen oli suppeampi. Aineistoni perusteella kestävälle pakkaukselle eli kestävän kehityksen mukaiselle pakkaukselle tär-keintä on pakkauksen ja tuotteen yhdessä suunnitteleminen, arviointi sekä tuotehävikin vähentä-minen. Muita tärkeitä ominaisuuksia ovat puhdas tuotanto, tehokkuus, kiertävyys, taloudellisuus, sosiaaliset puolet ja turvallisuus. Kestävän pakkauksen suunnittelumetodin määrittelemiseen aineistoni oli liian suppea, sillä meto-dille ei löytynyt varmoja ja yhtenäisiä ominaisuuksia. Sen voi kuitenkin todeta, että metodilla on suhde kestävän pakkauksen määritelmään, joka sen suunnittelun taustalla on vaikuttanut ja sen tu-lisi tähdätä kestävän kehityksen mukaiseen pakkaukseen. Metodin määrittelemiseen tarvitaan lisää tutkimusta.Current linear economy and unsustainable development have made more sustainable society nec-essary. Sustainable development and circular economy are best known paradigms to achieve it. Packaging has its own part in sustainable production and circular economy and therefore it is a part of transition into sustainable society. The target of the thesis has been to find out what is sustainable packaging and what kind of charac-teristics its design methods have. This thesis is phenomenologist-hermeneutic quolitative research. As material I have used semi-structured interviews and written material, which mostly are research articles. Material has been analysed with content analysis. Based on written material I formed very consist approach that interviews didn’t strongly disagree with, although they had narrower view. Based on my material most important to sustainable pack-aging is to design and evaluate packaging and product together and reduce product loss. Other im-portant attributes are clean production, efficiency, circularity, economic efficiency, social consider-ations and safety. I didn’t have enough material to define a method for designing sustainable packaging, because I couldn’t find clear and consistent qualities for the method. One could still say that it is in relation with the definition of sustainable packaging, which affects the design. The method should aim at designing sustainable packaging, but the definition needs more research

Nuorisotyöntekijöiden kokemuksia seksuaalisen houkuttelun ennalta ehkäisemisestä

Tiivistelmä. Tässä pro gradu -tutkielmassa tavoitteenani on selvittää nuorisotyöntekijöiden kokemuksia seksuaalisen houkuttelun ennalta ehkäisemisestä nuorisotyössä. Tutkielmassa avaan, miten seksuaalinen houkuttelu näyttäytyy nuorten kokemuksista nuorisotyöntekijöille, miten siitä kerrotaan ja miten sitä voidaan ennaltaehkäistä. Tämän lisäksi tarkastelen seksuaalisen houkuttelun ennaltaehkäisyyn liittyviä haasteita nuorisotyössä. Laadullisen tutkielman aineisto muodostuu nuorisotyöntekijöiden (n=21) vastauksista, jotka kerättiin sähköisellä kyselylomakkeella helmikuun 2020 aikana. Kysely perustuu avoimiin kysymyksiin, joiden vastauksista muodostin aineiston. Tutkielma perustuu fenomenologis-hermeneuttiseen tieteenfilosofiaan, joka toimii minun, tutkijan, toimintaa ohjaavana otteena. Analyysissa hyödynsin aineistolähtöistä sisällönanalyysiä. Tutkielman tuloksista ilmeni, että seksuaalisen houkuttelun ennaltaehkäisy muotoutuu tiedon ja toiminnan ympärille. Seksuaaliseen houkutteluun liittyvä tieto on oleellinen osa ennaltaehkäisyä: sen tulee olla helposti saatavissa, sitä tulee tuoda esiin keskusteluissa ja myös ammattilaisten tulee lisätä omaa tietouttaan aiheesta, jotta he voivat toimia työssään ennaltaehkäisevästi. Toiminnalla tässä tutkielmassa tarkoitetaan sitä, miten nuoret itse toimivat, jos huomaavat joutuneensa seksuaalisen houkuttelun uhriksi. Esteenä asiasta kertomiselle on esimerkiksi usein häpeä ja syyllisyys sekä pelko aikuisen reaktiosta. Nuori kertoo usein asiasta turvalliselle ja luotettavalle aikuiselle. Toiminnallisuus ilmeni aineistosta myös siinä, miten nuorisotyöntekijät toimivat toteuttaessaan ennaltaehkäisevää työotetta. Tutkielmani perusteella voidaan päätellä, että nuorisotyön haasteena seksuaalisen houkuttelun ennaltaehkäisyssä ovat resurssipula, nuorten tapa mainita asiasta vitsaillen tai ohimennen sekä puuttuvat toimintamallit tilanteisiin, kun nuori kertoo joutuneensa seksuaalisen houkuttelun uhriksi. Nuorisotyössä kohdataan lapsia ja nuoria päivittäin, jonka myötä seksuaalisen houkuttelun puheeksi ottaminen ja esillä pitäminen on tärkeää. Tiedon lisääminen seksuaalisesta houkuttelusta niin lasten, nuorten kuin aikuisten parissa on tärkeää. Nuorisotyöntekijät jakavat tietoa eri keinoin: sosiaalisessa mediassa ja erilaisissa tapahtumissa sekä pyrkivät ottamaan asiaa puheeksi toiminnassaan tarttuen ohimennen mainittuihin asioihin

Ylisukupolvisuus ja sosiaalityö: Onnistumisia lastensuojelutyön arjessa

Tämän Pro gradu -tutkielman aiheena on sosiaalisten ongelmien ylisukupolvisuuden ilmiö lastensuojelussa. Aihepiiriä lähestytään onnistumisen näkökulmasta. Tutkielmassa tarkastellaan sitä, miten ylisukupolvisuus määrittyy lastensuojelussa ja millaisia onnistumisia lastensuojelun avohuollon sosiaalityöntekijät ja perhetyöntekijät löytävät ylisukupolvisten asiakkuuksien kanssa työskennellessään. Tutkielma on tehty osana Tampere Praksis -kehittämishanketta. Tutkielma on kvalitatiivinen ja sen viitekehys on kontekstuaalisen sosiaalisen konstruktionismin mukainen. Kyseessä on tapaustutkimus, jonka aineisto muodostuu kolmesta fokusryhmäkeskustelusta ja yhdeksästä työntekijöiden kertomasta asiakkuuden tarinasta. Ryhmäkeskustelut on analysoitu teemoittelemalla ja tarinat narratiivisella analyysimenetelmällä. Aineisto on koottu syksyllä 2013. Ensimmäinen tulosluku käsittelee ylisukupolvisuuden ilmiötä lastensuojelussa viiden teeman alla. Ensimmäinen teema kuvaa ylisukupolvisten sosiaalisten ongelmien ilmenemistä monimuotoisina, kasautuvina ja muuttuvina. Toinen ja kolmas teema tuovat esille sosiaalisten ongelmien siirtymämekanismeja yksilö- ja yhteisötasolla, kuvaten perheen vuorovaikutus- ja sosialisaatio-prosessien sekä perheen käytössä olevien verkostoresurssien merkitystä. Neljäs teema osoittaa yhteiskunnallisten muutosten ja rakenteellisten tekijöiden vaikutuksia sosiaalisten ongelmien ylisukupolvisuuteen. Viides teema käsittelee ylisukupolvisuuden ilmiötä lastensuojelun työskentelyn näkökulmasta. Toinen tulosluku muodostuu kolmesta onnistumisen tarinasta, jotka on nimetty kertomuksen onnistumista keskeisimmin määrittävän ytimen mukaan: nopean intervention tarinaksi, arjen kannattelun tarinaksi ja huostaanoton tarinaksi. Tarinoiden perusteella onnistumiset näyttäytyvät erilaisina asiakasprosessin vaiheesta riippuen, mutta niitä yhdistävät erityisesti sosiaalista pääomaa heijastavat verkostoihin, luottamukseen ja asiakkaan toimijuuden mahdollisuuksiin liittyvät tekijät. Tutkielman perusteella voidaan todeta, että ylisukupolviset sosiaaliset ongelmat tuovat lastensuojelutyöhön ja asiakkaina olevien perheiden arkeen kompleksisia ja monella elämän alueella esiintyviä haasteita. Näihin haasteisiin on mahdollista vaikuttaa, mutta se edellyttää onnistuneen sosiaalityön ohella perheen kokonaisvaltaista huomioimista muualla palvelujärjestelmässä sekä yhteiskuntapoliittisella tasolla tehtäviä ratkaisuja, joilla voidaan puuttua laajamittaisesti hyvinvoinnin eroihin. Intergenerationalism and social work: successes in the everyday child welfare work Abstract The purpose of this Master’s Thesis is to study the phenomenon of intergenerational social problems in child welfare. The topic is approached from the point of view of succeeding. This thesis studies how intergenerational transmission is defined in child welfare and what kind of successes social workers and family workers from community care child welfare find when working with intergenerational clients. This thesis has been made as a part of Tampere Praksis Project. This study is qualitative and the theoretical framework used is according to contextual constructionism. This thesis is a case study where the study material consists of three focus group discussions and nine client stories told by social and family workers. The focus group discussions have been analyzed by themes and the stories with narrative analysis method. The materials have been collect during fall 2013. The first result chapter studies the intergenerational phenomenon in child welfare under five themes. The first theme describes intergenerational social problems manifesting as multiform, cumulative and variable. The second and third themes bring forth the transition mechanisms of social problems in individual and society levels and by doing so also reveal the meaning of interaction and socialization processes and the network resources available to the family. The fourth theme proves the effect of society and structural changes to the intergenerationalism of social problems. The fifth theme reveals the protective aspects and risk factors and the effect of intergenerationalism to client work. The second result chapter named ‘Onnistumisen tarinat’ consists of three stories: the story of fast intervention, the story of supporting everyday life and the story of taking into care. These stories describe how the successes of child welfare work show in different clients in different stages in very different ways and which factors are contributing to these successes. They also describe the special aspects that intergenerational problems bring to child welfare work. In these stories the intergenerational transmission appears as different kinds of piled underprivilegedness. The central factors that define successes are counted as the clients own actorship, confidentiality, clients’ networks and correctly targeted and timed services. Based on this study it can be said that intergenerational social problems bring complex and variable challenges to the child welfare work and to the everyday life of the client families. It is possible to affect these challenges but in addition to social work it requires comprehensively paying attention to the family in the service system and decisions made on the social political level that can be applied to intervene welfare differences on a large scale

Reproductive responses of birds to experimental food supplementation: a meta-analysis

Introduction Food availability is an important environmental cue for animals for deciding how much to invest in reproduction, and it ultimately affects population size. The importance of food limitation has been extensively studied in terrestrial vertebrate populations, especially in birds, by experimentally manipulating food supply. However, the factors explaining variation in reproductive decisions in response to food supplementation remain unclear. By performing meta-analyses, we aim to quantify the extent to which supplementary feeding affects several reproductive parameters in birds, and identify the key factors (life-history traits, behavioural factors, environmental factors, and experimental design) that can induce variation in laying date, clutch size and breeding success (i.e., number of fledglings produced) in response to food supplementation. Results Food supplementation produced variable but mostly positive effects across reproductive parameters in a total of 201 experiments from 82 independent studies. The outcomes of the food effect were modulated by environmental factors, e.g., laying dates advanced more towards low latitudes, and food supplementation appeared not to produce any obvious effect on bird reproduction when the background level of food abundance in the environment was high. Moreover, the increase in clutch size following food addition was more pronounced in birds that cache food, as compared to birds that do not. Supplementation timing was identified as a major cause of variation in breeding success responses. We also document the absence of a detectable food effect on clutch size and breeding success when the target species had poor access to the feed due to competitive interactions with other animals. Conclusions Our findings indicate that, from the pool of bird species and environments reviewed, extra food is allocated to immediate reproduction in most cases. Our results also support the view that bird species have evolved different life-history strategies to cope with environmental variability in food supply. However, we encourage more research at low latitudes to gain knowledge on how resource allocation in birds changes along a latitudinal gradient. Our results also emphasize the importance of developing experimental designs that minimise competition for the supplemented food and the risk of reproductive bottle-necks due to inappropriate supplementation timings. &nbsp;</p