Do we need permission to play in public? The design of participation for social play video games at play parties and ‘alternative’ games festivals

Play is a fundamental to being Human. It helps to make sense of the self, to learn, to be creative and to relax. The advent of video games challenged traditional notions of play, introducing a single player experience to what had primarily been a communal social activity. As technology has developed, communal play has found both online and real-world spaces within video games. Online streaming, multiplayer games and built-in spectator modes within games underpin online communal play experiences, whilst ‘alternative’ games festivals, play parties and electronic sports, provide real world spaces for people to meet, play and exchange knowledge relating to both playing and making video games. This article reports the study of social play events which bring people together in the same space to explore video games making and playing. Expert interviews with curators, and event facilitators provides qualitative data from which design processes are formalised into a ‘model of participation’ of social play. Four key areas of balance are proposed as core considerations in supporting participation in event design. The study of these events also suggests that their design and fostering of participation has the potential to evoke cultural change in game making and playing practices

Nuclear halo structure from quasielastic charge-exchange reactions

Neutron and proton densities in the nuclear periphery are investigated within (p,n) charge-exchange isobar transitions. For this purpose we have developed parameter-free optical potentials with a detailed treatment of the in-medium $t_{\tau}$ part of the effective interaction. Non local coupled-channel Lane equations are solved to obtain the scattering observables. The use of conventional proton and neutron densities significantly underestimates Fermi (forward-angle) cross-sections in agreement with findings by various other groups. However, we have found model-independent densities which provide a remarkable improvement in the description of the quasielastic scattering data.The densities obtained are consistent with recent measurements at CERN in studies of the neutron-to-proton halo factor f(r)=Z$\rho_n/N\rho_p$ with antiprotons. These findings provide an alternative way to investigate the nuclear periphery, and may also help to solve the long-standing puzzle of the underestimated Fermi cross section in (p,n) charge-exchange phenomena.Comment: 5 pages and 2 figs. Presented at the Baryons-04 Conference (Palaiseau, France, Oct 2004). To appear in Nucl. Phys.

An in-medium full-folding model approach to quasielastic (p,n) charge-exchange reactions

A microscopic description of the quasielastic (p,n) charge-exchange reaction (here, charge-exchange scattering between analogue states) is presented and discussed. Emphasis is focused on the spin-isospin structure of the projectile-target coupling. The model is a coupled-channel extension of the full-folding optical model approach (OMP) developed for nucleon elastic scattering, where emphasis is placed on retaining the genuine off-shell behavior of realistic effective interactions in the nuclear medium. The resulting non-local optical potentials are applied to the calculation of (p,n) differential cross sections, with particular emphasis on small-angle Fermi ($\Delta S=0$) cross-sections to isobaric analog states. These parameter-free results provide a reasonable description of the $^{14}$C(p,n)-data at proton energies above $\sim$100 MeV, but deteriorate for heavier targets. These shortcomings are analyzed and possible ways to correct them are discussed.Comment: 20 pages plus 10 figures. Accepted for publication in Phys. Rev.

A three person poncho and a set of maracas:designing Ola De La Vida, a co-located social play computer game

Events that bring people together to play video games as a social experience are growing in popularity across the western world. Amongst these events are ‘play parties,’ temporary social play environments which create unique shared play experiences for attendees unlike anything they could experience elsewhere. This paper explores co-located play experience design and proposes that social play games can lead to the formation of temporary play communities. These communities may last for a single gameplay session, for a whole event, or beyond the event. The paper analyses games designed or enhanced by social play contexts and evaluates a social play game, Ola de la Vida. The research findings suggest that social play games can foster community through the design of game play within the game itself, through curation which enhances their social potential, and through design for ‘semi-spectatorship’, which blurs the boundaries between player and spectator thus widening the game’s magic circle

DOES PRIVATE LABEL OWNERSHIP AND PRICING STRUCTURE MATTER?

This article provides an analysis of the two-stage game between manufacturers and retailers. Response functions showing how prices are set are derived for the case of a manufacturer producing one and multiple goods and for a retailer selling multiple goods. The functions are expressed in terms of elasticities, budget shares, and variable production costs. An application using ready-to-eat cereals is conducted to investigate the pricing structure and ownership of private label cereals.Demand and Price Analysis,

Aerolastic tailoring and integrated wing design

Much has been learned from the TSO optimization code over the years in determining aeroelastic tailoring's place in the integrated design process. Indeed, it has become apparent that aeroelastic tailoring is and should be deeply embedded in design. Aeroelastic tailoring can have tremendous effects on the design loads, and design loads affect every aspect of the design process. While optimization enables the evaluation of design sensitivities, valid computational simulations are required to make these sensitivities valid. Aircraft maneuvers simulated must adequately cover the plane's intended flight envelope, realistic design criteria must be included, and models among the various disciplines must be calibrated among themselves and with any hard-core (e.g., wind tunnel) data available. The information gained and benefits derived from aeroelastic tailoring provide a focal point for the various disciplines to become involved and communicate with one another to reach the best design possible

A STRATEGIC RATIONALE FOR CAPTIVE SUPPLIES

Partial backward integration is prevalent in many agricultural and natural resource processing industries. A strategic rationale for partial backward integration is developed for a dominant firm with a competitive fringe purchasing from competitive input suppliers. A partially backward integrated dominant firm potentially can increase profit through production efficiency gains and through a lower price for externally purchasing input. The optimal degree of backward integration results when the dominant firm's profit from exerting monopsony market power in the external spot market equals its profit from producing raw input internally, less the incremental cost of acquiring internal raw input production capacity. Comparative statics results are consistent with recent empirical studies of the beef packing industry.Agribusiness,

The IT performance evaluation in the construction industry

To date there has been limited published work in the construction management and engineering literature that has provided empirical evidence to demonstrate that IT can improve organizational performance. Without an explicit understanding about how IT can be effectively used to improve organizational performance, its justification will remain to be weak for managers. To ensure the continuous increase in IT based applications in the construction industry, sufficient evidence has to be provided for management in various professions of the construction industry to evaluate, allocate and utilize appropriate IT systems. In an attempt to explore the relationship between IT and productivity, an empirical investigation of 60 Professional Consulting Firms (PCF) from the Hong Kong construction industry was undertaken. A model for determining the organizational productivity of IT is proposed, and the methodology used to test the model is described. The findings are analyzed and a cross-profession comparison of the results indicated the differences in the use of IT. The research findings are discussed with similarities being drawn. The limitations of the research are then presented and discussed. The implications of the findings and conclusions then fully presented