267 research outputs found
From NES-4021 to moSMB3.wmv: Speedrunning the Serial Interface
Although play is irreducible, games repeat. Beyond the serial repetition that characterizes industrial forms of mechanical reproduction like newspapers, comics, novels, and films, in the case of videogames the microtemporal speed of serial interfaces and massive scale of serial distribution operate both below and above the horizon of conscious experience. As such, the serial operations of videogames structure, enclose, and ultimately alienate the technical processes of play from the conscious knowledge of the player. In their essay, âDigital Seriality: On the Serial Aesthetics and Practice of Digital Games,â Shane Denson and Andreas Jahn-Sudmann characterize the diachronic sequencing of serial interfaces and synchronic consumption of videogames as âdigital seriality.â This essay explores digital seriality through the history and practice of tool-assisted speedrunning, a form of metagaming that stages a ludic intervention at the level of serial interfacing and subsequently disrupts the collective serialization of videogames as a mass medium. From the operations of the NES-4021, a parallel-to-serial shift register that governs controller input in Nintendo Entertainment System, to the history of moSMB.wmv, an early speedrunning video by Morimoto that went viral in 2003, tool-assisted speedruns transform twitch-based platform games into turn-based puzzles and single player experiences into massively multiplayer online games by playing the serial interface
Du recrutement au lobbying: une Ă©tude de l'utilisation du marketing politique par les groupes d'intĂ©rĂȘt au QuĂ©bec
Lâobjectif de ce mĂ©moire est double. Dâune part, il vise Ă proposer un cadre
dâanalyse novateur permettant dâĂ©tendre le modĂšle du marketing politique,
traditionnellement limitĂ© au cas des partis politiques, en lâappliquant aux stratĂ©gies
de recrutement (en amont) et de lobbying (en aval) des groupes dâintĂ©rĂȘt. Dâautre
part, il a pour but de donner un nouveau souffle Ă lâĂ©tude des groupes dâintĂ©rĂȘt en
tant que sous-champ de la science politique en situant leur action dans une
perspective dynamique et stratégique.
De façon plus spĂ©cifique, cette recherche vise Ă Ă©valuer, Ă lâaide de deux
hypothĂšses, le degrĂ© de dĂ©ploiement global de lâapproche marketing chez les groupes
dâintĂ©rĂȘt au QuĂ©bec et Ă comparer son niveau de pĂ©nĂ©tration spĂ©cifique au sein des
différentes organisations. La premiÚre hypothÚse avance que le degré de déploiement
global du marketing politique auprĂšs des groupes dâintĂ©rĂȘt quĂ©bĂ©cois sâavĂšre
relativement faible en raison dâun certain nombre de facteurs contextuels qui ont
historiquement limité son intégration au sein de leurs stratégies de recrutement et de
lobbying. La seconde hypothÚse affirme pour sa part que le niveau de pénétration
spĂ©cifique de lâapproche marketing est limitĂ© Ă certaines organisations et varie en
fonction de certains facteurs qui peuvent sâavĂ©rer contradictoires. Les donnĂ©es
recueillies lors dâentrevues menĂ©es auprĂšs de douze des principaux groupes dâintĂ©rĂȘt
actifs Ă lâĂ©chelle du QuĂ©bec tendent Ă confirmer les deux hypothĂšses.The goal of this paper is twofold. On the one hand, it aims to offer an
innovative analytical framework for extending the model of political marketing,
traditionally limited to the case of political parties, by applying it to the recruitment
(upstream) ad lobbying (downstream) strategies of interest groups. On the other
hand, it aims to give new impetus to the study of interest groups as a subfield of
political science by placing their actions in a dynamic and strategic perspective.
In more specific terms, this research aims to assess, with two hypotheses, the
overall level of deployment of the marketing approach among interest groups in
Quebec and compare its specific level of penetration within the various
organizations. The first hypothesis argues that the degree of penetration of global
marketing policy with interest groups in Quebec is relatively low due to a number of
contextual factors that have historically limited its integration within their
recruitment strategies and lobbying. The second hypothesis assumes for his part that
the level of deployment of specific marketing approach is limited to certain
organizations and varies depending on certain factors which may be contradictory.
The data gathered during interviews with twelve key interest groups active
throughout the Quebec tend to confirm the two hypotheses.Fonds québécois de recherche sur la société et la cultur
An "Inefficient Fin" Non-Dimensional Parameter to Measure Gas Temperatures Efficiently
A gas containment vessel that is not in thermal equilibrium with the bulk gas can affect its temperature measurement. The physical nature of many gas dynamics experiments often makes the accurate measurement of temperature a challenge. The environment itself typically requires that the thermocouple be sheathed, both to protect the wires and hot junction of the instrument from their environment, and to provide a smooth, rigid surface for pressure sealing of the enclosure. However, that enclosure may also be much colder than the gas to be sensed, or vice-versa. Either way, the effect of such gradients is to potentially skew the temperature measurements themselves, since heat may then be conducted by the instrument. Thermocouple designers traditionally address this problem by insulating the sheath from the thermocouple leads and hot junction as much as possible. The thermocouple leads are typically packed in a ceramic powder inside the sheath, protecting them somewhat from temperature gradients along the sheath, but there is no effective mechanism to shield the sheath from the enclosure body itself. Standard practice dictates that thermocouples be used in installations that do not present large thermal gradients along the probe. If this conduction dominates heat transfer near the tip of the probe, then temperature measurements may be expected to be skewed. While the same problem may be experienced in the measurement of temperature at various points within a solid in a gradient, it tends to be aggravated in the measurements of gas temperature, since heat transfer dependent on convection is often less efficient than conduction along the thermocouple. The proposed solution is an inefficient fin thermocouple probe. Conventional wisdom suggests that in many experiments where gas flows through an enclosure (e.g., flow in pipe, manifold, nozzle, etc.), the thermocouple be introduced flush to the surface, so as not to interfere with the flow. In practice, however, many such experiments take place where the flow is already turbulent, so that a protruding thermocouple probe has a negligible effect on the flow characteristics. The key question then becomes just how far into the flow should a thermocouple protrude in order to properly sense the gas temperature at that point. Modeling the thermocouple as an "inefficient fin" directly addresses this question. The appropriate assumptions in this case are: one-dimensional conduction along the fin; steady-state, constant, and homogeneous thermal conductivity; negligible radiation; and a uniform, constant heat transfer coefficient over the probe surface. It is noted that the nature of the ceramic-filled probe makes the key assumption of homogeneous thermal conductivity that much more conservative
Carotenoids as biomarkers of fruit and vegetable intake in men and women
High fruit and vegetable (FAV) intake is associated with a lower prevalence of chronic diseases. Identifying the ideal number of FAV servings needed to reduce chronic disease risk is, however, difficult because of biases inherent to common self-report dietary assessment tools. The aim of our study was to examine the associations between daily FAV intake and plasma carotenoid concentrations in men and women enrolled in a series of fully controlled dietary interventions. We compiled and analysed data from a group of 155 men and 109 women who participated in six fully controlled dietary interventions and compared post-intervention fasting plasma carotenoid (a-carotene, Ă-carotene, Ă-cryptoxanthin, lutein, lycopene, zeaxanthin) concentrations with regard to the daily FAV servings consumed by the participants. We found that plasma Ă-cryptoxanthin, lutein and zeaxanthin concentrations were positively associated with daily FAV servings (P=0·005). However, daily FAV intake was negatively associated with plasma a-carotene (P<0·0005) and lycopene (P<0·0001) concentrations, whereas no association was noted with plasma Ă-carotene. When men and women were analysed separately, we found that for any given number of FAV servings consumed women had higher circulating lutein concentrations compared with men (P<0·01). Significant sexĂFAV (P<0·0001) and sexĂdietary Ă-cryptoxanthin (P<0·0005) interactions were also noted favouring higher plasma Ă-cryptoxanthin concentrations in women than in men for a given FAV consumption. Results from these fully controlled dietary feeding studies indicate that plasma Ă-cryptoxanthin and lutein concentrations can be used as robust biomarkers of FAV consumption. They also suggest the existence of sex differences influencing circulating Ă-cryptoxanthin and lutein concentrations following FAV consumption
The metabolic signature associated with the Western dietary pattern : a cross-sectional study
Background: Metabolic profiles have been shown to be associated to obesity status and insulin sensitivity. Dietary
intakes influence metabolic pathways and therefore, different dietary patterns may relate to modifications in metabolic
signatures. The objective was to verify associations between dietary patterns and metabolic profiles composed of amino
acids (AAs) and acylcarnitines (ACs).
Methods: 210 participants were recruited in the greater Quebec City area between September 2009 and December 2011.
Dietary patterns had been previously derived using principal component analysis (PCA). The Prudent dietary pattern was
characterised by higher intakes of vegetables, fruits, whole grain products, non-hydrogenated fat and lower intakes
of refined grain products, whereas the Western dietary pattern was associated with higher intakes of refined grain
products, desserts, sweets and processed meats. Targeted metabolites were quantified in 37 participants with the
Biocrates Absolute IDQ p150 (Biocrates Life Sciences AG, Austria) mass spectrometry method (including 14 amino
acids and 41 acylcarnitines).
Results: PCA analysis with metabolites including AAs and ACs revealed two main components explaining the most
variance in overall data (13.8%). PC1 was composed mostly of medium- to long-chain ACs (C16:2, C14:2, C14:2-OH,
C16, C14:1-OH, C14:1, C10:2, C5-DC/C6-OH, C12, C18:2, C10, C4:1-DC/C6, C8:1 and C2) whereas PC2 included certain
AAs and short-chain ACs (xLeu, Met, Arg, Phe, Pro, Orn, His, C0, C3, C4 and C5). The Western dietary pattern
correlated negatively with PC1 and positively with PC2 (r = â0.34, p = 0.05 and r = 0.38, p = 0.03, respectively),
independently of age, sex and BMI.
Conclusion: These findings suggest that the Western dietary pattern is associated with a specific metabolite
signature characterized by increased levels of AAs including branched-chain AAs (BCAAs) and short-chain ACs
An interaction effect between glucokinase gene variation and carbohydrate intakes modulates the plasma triglyceride response to a fish oil supplementation
A large inter-individual variability in the plasma triglyceride (TG) response to fish oil consumption has been observed. The objective was to investigate the gene-diet interaction effects between single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) within glucokinase (GCK) gene and dietary carbohydrate intakes (CHO) on the plasma TG response to a fish oil supplementation. Two hundred and eight participants were recruited in the greater Quebec City area. The participants completed a 6-week fish oil supplementation (5 g fish oil/day: 1.9-2.2 g EPA and 1.1 g DHA). Thirteen SNPs within GCK gene were genotyped using TAQMAN methodology. A gene-diet interaction effect on the plasma TG response was observed with rs741038 and CHO adjusted for age, sex and BMI (p = 0.008). In order to compare the plasma TG response between genotypes according to CHO, participants were divided according to median CHO. Homozygotes of the minor C allele of rs741038 with high CHO >48.59 % had a greater decrease in their plasma TG concentrations following the intake of fish oil (p < 0.05) than C/C homozygotes with low CHO and also than the other genotypes either with high or low CHO. The plasma TG response to a fish oil supplementation may be modulated by gene-diet interaction effects involving GCK gene and CHO
Effects of FADS and ELOVL polymorphisms on indexes of desaturase and elongase activities: results from a pre-post fish oil supplementation
Polymorphisms (SNPs) within the FADS gene
cluster and the ELOVL gene family are believed to influence
enzyme activities after an omega-3 (n-3) fatty acid (FA)
supplementation. The objectives of the study are to test
whether an n-3 supplementation is associated with indexes
of desaturase and elongase activities in addition to verify
whether SNPs in the FADS gene cluster and the ELOVL
gene family modulate enzyme activities of desaturases and
elongases. A total 208 subjects completed a 6-week supplementation period with 5 g/day of fish oil (1.9â2.2 g/day
of EPA ? 1.1 g/day of DHA). FA profiles of plasma
phospholipids were obtained by gas chromatography
(n = 210). Desaturase and elongase indexes were estimated
using product-to-precursor ratios. Twenty-eight SNPs from
FADS1, FADS2, FADS3, ELOVL2 and ELOVL5 were
genotyped using TaqMan technology. Desaturase indexes
were significantly different after the 6-week n-3 supplementation. The index of d-5 desaturase activity increased by
25.7 ± 28.8 % (p\0.0001), whereas the index of d-6
desaturase activity decreased by 17.7 ± 18.2 %
(p\0.0001) post-supplementation. Index of elongase
activity decreased by 39.5 ± 27.9 % (p\0.0001). Some
geneâdiet interactions potentially modulating the enzyme
activities of desaturases and elongases involved in the FA
metabolism post-supplementation were found. SNPs within
the FADS gene cluster and the ELOVL gene family may
play an important role in the enzyme activity of desaturases
and elongases, suggesting that an n-3 FAs supplementation
may affect PUFA metabolism
Correlates of the difference in plasma carotenoid concentrations between men and women
Health professionals consider the evaluation of eating habits to be challenging, given the potential biases of dietary questionnaires based on
self-reported data. Circulating carotenoid concentrations are reliable biomarkers of dietary carotenoid intake and could be useful in the
validation of dietary assessment tools. However, there is a sex difference in circulating carotenoids, with women displaying higher
concentrations compared with men independent of intake. The aim of the present study was to identify the correlates of plasma carotenoid
concentrations among men (n 155) and women (n 110) enrolled in six fully controlled dietary interventions with varying dietary carotenoid
intakes. We looked at the associations of post-intervention fasting plasma carotenoid concentrations (α-carotene, ÎČ-carotene, ÎČ-cryptoxanthin,
lutein, lycopene and zeaxanthin) with physical and metabolic characteristics. We found that increased body weight (r â0·47, P<0·0001) and
waist circumference (r â0·46, P <0·0001) were associated with lower plasma total carotenoid concentrations, while elevated plasma LDLcholesterol (r 0·49, P<0·0001) and HDL-cholesterol (r 0·50, P<0·0001) concentrations were correlated with higher total carotenoids in
plasma. Women had significantly higher plasma total carotenoid concentrations compared with men, despite significantly lower dietary
carotenoid intake. Adjustment of circulating carotenoid concentrations for plasma HDL-cholesterol eliminated sex difference in plasma
carotenoid concentrations. Our results suggest that physical characteristics as well as plasma lipids are associated with circulating carotenoid
concentrations and that these variables should be taken into account when using plasma carotenoids as biomarkers for food intake in men
and women
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