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

Diabetes Type II Quality Improvement Using the My Own Health Report

Diabetes Mellitus Type II Quality Improvement Using the My Own Health Report Lynn Bennett McMorrow Rationale: To maintain Primary Care Medical Home status, Cold Hollow Family Practice (CHFP) is mandated to perform continuous quality improvement for chronically ill patients. To achieve this goal at CHFP, a formal quality improvement (QI) process using a validated health risk assessment tool, My Own Health Report (MOHR) was used to engage patients with Type 2 Diabetes (T2D) in dialogue regarding self change behaviors. The goal was to improve patient self-care management as evidenced by decreased HbA1c readings or weight as compared to non-participating patients, over a six-month period. From 1980 through 2012, the number of adults with diagnosed diabetes in the United States nearly quadrupled, from 5.5 million to 21.3 million and 1.7 million more persons over 20 years of age are diagnosed each year. The estimated direct medical costs in 2012 were 176 billion and the indirect costs (lost wages, disability and death) for the same time frame were 69 billion. Individualized patient care, as the corner stone of evidence based practice, is vital to improve self-management in patients who have Type 2 Diabetes (T2D). Methods: The QI process began with 27 patients. We had 10 patients who did not participate and 17 who did the MOHR as administered by the medical assistant. The provider reviewed the MOHR summary and used motivational interviewing to discuss the results with each patient scheduled for a T2D visit, for willingness to discuss or change modifiable life styles. Quantitative analysis was done with Fisher’s Exact Test comparing those who were in the MOHR group to those not participating. Qualitative analysis was not done secondary to time and EHR constraints. Results: Comparison of the MOHR group to the non-MOHR group, 47% improved both weight and HbA1c whereas the non-MOHR group had 0% improvement (P=0.01). Using the same comparison in HbA1c only, the MOHR group decreased by 58% compared to 10% for the non-MOHR group (P= 0.02). Conclusions: Generalizability is limited by a number of factors: a small group study of 27 patients and provider use of motivational interviewing and historical patient/provider relationships. Furthermore, it was a self-selected group that may have been ready to change. Without randomization, motivational interviewing, and requiring that the MOHR be completed we cannot absolutely determine the impact of the MOHR on T2D disease marker improvements. Further study using the MOHR report with motivational interviewing is needed to support these findings. Keywords: Diabetes Type 2, MOHR, HbA1

Experiments with ceramic coatings

Report describes the procedures and techniques used in the application of a ceramic coating and the evaluation of test parts through observation of the cracks that occur in this coating due to loading

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

Regional differences in intelligence and per capita income in Portugal

Regional differences in IQ and per capita incomes are presented for five regions of Portugal: North, North Central, Lisbon-Central, Lisbon-Suburb, and South. Regional IQs were calculated from a representative sample of 4548 Portuguese school students from 5th to 12th grades. The average IQ and average incomes are highest in Central Lisbon. The results show a positive association between IQs and average regional incomes, as it has been observed in other countries

Longitudinal Polarization at future e+e−e^+e^- Colliders and Virtual New Physics Effects

The theoretical merits of longitudinal polarization asymmetries of electron-positron annihilation into two final fermions at future colliders are examined, using a recently proposed theoretical description. A number of interesting features, valid for searches of virtual effects of new physics, is underlined, that is reminiscent of analogous properties valid on top of $Z$ resonance. As an application to a concrete example, we consider the case of a model with triple anomalous gauge couplings and show that the additional information provided by these asymmetries would lead to a drastic reduction of the allowed domain of the relevant parameters.Comment: 18 pages and 1 figure. e-mail: [email protected]

Maternal Factors Related to Parenting Young Children with Congenital Heart Disease

The purpose of this study was to compare the early child-rearing practices between mothers of young children with congenital heart disease (CHD) and mothers of healthy children. In addition, maternal stress, parental developmental expectations, and the early behavioral and emotional development of their children were explored. Maccoby’s (1992) socialization theory emphasizing the reciprocal nature of mother-child interactions provided the framework for this study. Findings from quantitative self-report measures and videotaped parent-child interactions showed a remarkable similarity between mothers of children with CHD and mothers of healthy children. In contrast, qualitative data revealed important differences with mothers of CHD children reporting high levels of vigilance with their children. The important role of promoting the principle of normalization among mothers of children with CHD and ensuring a sufficient support system is discussed

IMPACTS OF GLOBALIZATION ON AGRICULTURAL COMPETITIVENESS: THE CASE OF NAFTA

Major components of agricultural competitiveness, including definitions, factors, and indicators of competitiveness, are discussed, The case of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) is used to illustrate how factors have influenced the competitive position of the NAFTA countries. Traditional neoclassical trade theory is used to evaluate the impact of currency exchange rate fluctuations and trade preferences on agricultural competitiveness. Pre- and post-NAFTA market shares are evaluated for five agricultural commodities of importance to the southern United States. The results of these evaluations are compared with theoretical expectations and discussed with special emphasis on implications for future trade negotiations.agricultural competitiveness, exchange rates, international trade, NAFTA, International Relations/Trade, F14, Q17, Q18,

DISCUSSION: FINANCIAL CRISIS IN AGRICULTURE, A SOUTHERN PERSPECTIVE

Agricultural Finance,