Playing in the dark with online games for girls

Pregnant Rapunzel Emergency is part of a series of online free games aimed at young girls (forhergames.com or babygirlgames.com), where dozens of characters from fairy tales, children’s toys and media feature in recovery settings, such as ‘Barbie flu’. The range of games available to choose from includes not only dressing, varnishing nails or tidying messy rooms, but also rather more troubling options such as extreme makeovers, losing weight, or a plethora of baby showers, cravings, hospital pregnancy checks, births (including caesarean), postnatal ironing, washing and baby care. Taking the online game Pregnant Rapunzel Emergency as an exemplar of a current digital trend, the authors explore the workings of ‘dark digital play’ from a number of perspectives – one by each named author. The game selected has (what may appear to adults) several disturbing features in that the player is invited to treat wounds of the kind of harm that might usually be associated with domestic violence towards women

Playful Tarot: Adaptations of Tarot In, Through, and Across Games.

The magical practice of divination through tarot emanates from the sacred, ritualistic power of play. Long before tarot accretes esoteric symbolism as a divinatory tool, Italians played it as the parlour game tarrochi. Extending this history, many games implement tarot as a mechanical framework and a source of visual imagery. Yet, not all implementations of tarot are equally successful artistically and spiritually. Ludic tarot is often mechanistic (just another way to think about buffs and stats) or superficially thematic (visual imagery without underlying semiotic content). In this paper, we will unravel the intertwined history of games and tarot, exploring its relationship to other cartomantic practices, including the dark Gnostic “Game of Saturn” decoded by Peter Mark Adams in the Sola-Busca deck, the pragmatically cryptic Lenormand deck, and the divinatory use of standard 52-card playing decks in folk witchcraft. Building upon this historical insight, we will then analyse three related tabletop games as case studies: Chalice (in which tarot generates narratives of a failed Grail quest), Alas Vegas (which resolves conflict and generates narrative through tarot-driven blackjack), and Invisible Sun (which reinvents tarot through the circular Sooth deck driving its magic system). All three of these games weave resonant connections between the imagery and mechanics of cards and fictional gameworlds, thereby investing tarot with an eerie sense of meaningful coincidence or synchronicity. Understanding the techniques that create a more resonant experience of tarot can open the way for a deeper implementation of tarot in game development, as well as enable playful reflection and insight within the magical practice. Specifically, insights into non-digital ludic implementations of tarot can pave the way for richer and more resonant digital tarot applications, building upon and deepening the recent use of tarot in videogames (such as Tanya X. Short’s Cartomancy anthology and Adam Malone’s VR tarot)

Abolishing user fees for children and pregnant women trebled uptake of malaria-related interventions in Kangaba, Mali.

Malaria is the most common cause of morbidity and mortality in children under 5 in Mali. Health centres provide primary care, including malaria treatment, under a system of cost recovery. In 2005, Médecins sans Frontieres (MSF) started supporting health centres in Kangaba with the provision of rapid malaria diagnostic tests and artemisinin-based combination therapy. Initially MSF subsidized malaria tests and drugs to reduce the overall cost for patients. In a second phase, MSF abolished fees for all children under 5 irrespective of their illness and for pregnant women with fever. This second phase was associated with a trebling of both primary health care utilization and malaria treatment coverage for these groups. MSF's experience in Mali suggests that removing user fees for vulnerable groups significantly improves utilization and coverage of essential health services, including for malaria interventions. This effect is far more marked than simply subsidizing or providing malaria drugs and diagnostic tests free of charge. Following the free care strategy, utilization of services increased significantly and under-5 mortality was reduced. Fee removal also allowed for more efficient use of existing resources, reducing average cost per patient treated. These results are particularly relevant for the context of Mali and other countries with ambitious malaria treatment coverage objectives, in accordance with the United Nations Millennium Development Goals. This article questions the effectiveness of the current national policy, and the effectiveness of reducing the cost of drugs only (i.e. partial subsidies) or providing malaria tests and drugs free for under-5s, without abolishing other related fees. National and international budgets, in particular those that target health systems strengthening, could be used to complement existing subsidies and be directed towards effective abolition of user fees. This would contribute to increasing the impact of interventions on population health and, in turn, the effectiveness of aid

A programmable two-qubit quantum processor in silicon

With qubit measurement and control fidelities above the threshold of fault-tolerance, much attention is moving towards the daunting task of scaling up the number of physical qubits to the large numbers needed for fault tolerant quantum computing. Here, quantum dot based spin qubits may offer significant advantages due to their potential for high densities, all-electrical operation, and integration onto an industrial platform. In this system, the initialisation, readout, single- and two-qubit gates have been demonstrated in various qubit representations. However, as seen with other small scale quantum computer demonstrations, combining these elements leads to new challenges involving qubit crosstalk, state leakage, calibration, and control hardware which provide invaluable insight towards scaling up. Here we address these challenges and demonstrate a programmable two-qubit quantum processor in silicon by performing both the Deutsch-Josza and the Grover search algorithms. In addition, we characterise the entanglement in our processor through quantum state tomography of Bell states measuring state fidelities between 85-89% and concurrences between 73-80%. These results pave the way for larger scale quantum computers using spins confined to quantum dots

In Vivo Systems Analysis Identifies Spatial and Temporal Aspects of the Modulation of TNF-α-Induced Apoptosis and Proliferation by MAPKs

Cellular responses to external stimuli depend on dynamic features of multipathway network signaling; thus, cell behavior is influenced in a complex manner by the environment and by intrinsic properties. Methods of multivariate systems analysis have provided an understanding of these convoluted effects, but only for relatively simplified examples in vitro. To determine whether such approaches could be successfully used in vivo, we analyzed the signaling network that determines the response of intestinal epithelial cells to tumor necrosis factor–α (TNF-α). We built data-driven, partial least-squares discriminant analysis (PLSDA) models based on signaling, apoptotic, and proliferative responses in the mouse small intestinal epithelium after systemic exposure to TNF-α. The extracellular signal–regulated kinase (ERK) signaling axis was a critical modulator of the temporal variation in apoptosis at different doses of TNF-α and of the spatial variation in proliferation in distinct intestinal regions. Inhibition of MEK, a mitogen-activated protein kinase kinase upstream of ERK, altered the signaling network and changed the temporal and spatial phenotypes consistent with model predictions. Our results demonstrate the dynamic, adaptive nature of in vivo signaling networks and identify natural, tissue-level variation in responses that can be deconvoluted only with quantitative, multivariate computational modeling. This study lays a foundation for the use of systems-based approaches to understand how dysregulation of the cellular network state underlies complex diseases.National Institute of General Medical Sciences (U.S.) (Grant R01-GM088827)National Cancer Institute (U.S.) (Grant U54-CA112967

Spectrum of the Hermitian Wilson-Dirac Operator for a Uniform Magnetic Field in Two Dimensions

It is shown that the eigenvalue problem for the hermitian Wilson-Dirac operator of for a uniform magnetic field in two dimensions can be reduced to one-dimensional problem described by a relativistic analog of the Harper equation. An explicit formula for the secular equations is given in term of a set of polynomials. The spectrum exhibits a fractal structure in the infinite volume limit. An exact result concerning the index theorem for the overlap Dirac operator is obtained.Comment: 8 pages, latex, 3 eps figures, minor correction

Caudate lobe resections: a single-center experience and evaluation of factors predictive of outcomes

BACKGROUND: Despite the increasing frequency of liver resection for multiple types of disease, caudate lobe resection remains a rare surgical event. The goal of this study is to review our experience and evaluate possible predictors of adverse outcomes in patients undergoing caudate lobectomy. METHODS: We reviewed a 1,900-patient prospective hepato-pancreatico-biliary database from January 2000 to December 2011, identifying 36 hepatectomy patients undergoing caudate lobe resection. Clinicopathologic characteristic and outcome data were compared using chi-square, T-test, ANOVA, Kaplan-Meier, and Cox regression analysis. Primary endpoints were the incidence and severity of complications, and secondary endpoints were blood loss, hospital stay, and transfusion requirements. Patients were also divided in two groups with group A being patients operated on before December 2007 and group B after 2007. We compared the demographics, risk factors, complication rates, and operative details between the two groups. RESULTS: Thirty-six patients underwent caudate lobe resection for cholangiocarcinoma (47.2%), metastatic colorectal cancer (36.1%), hepatocellular carcinoma (8.3%), or benign disease (8.3%). Nine patients (29%) had additional liver resection. Median overall survival (OS) was 21 months. Complications occurred in 52.7% (19/36) of patients with a median grade of 2. Tobacco abuse was associated with an increased risk of operative complications (73.3% vs. 38.9%, p = 0.03). Prior history of cardiac disease was associated with a higher complication rate (87% vs. 42%, p = 0.03). Neoadjuvant chemotherapy, biliary procedures, hepatitis, and prior major abdominal surgery were not predictive of complications. Major complication was also predicted by the volume of RBC transfusion (2.7 vs. 4.1 units, p = 0.003). In our subgroup analysis of the patients undergoing surgery before and after 2007, the two groups were well matched based on age, comorbidities, and risk factors. The complication rates and rates of high-grade complications were similar, but blood loss (600 ml vs. 400 ml, p = 0.03), inflow occlusion time (Pringle time 12.6 vs. 6, p = 0.00), and hospital stay (9.5 vs. 7 days, p = 0.01) were significantly lower in group B. CONCLUSIONS: With appropriate patient selection, caudate lobe resection is an effective component of surgery for hepatic disease. Tobacco use and prior cardiac history increase the risk of complications

Relativistic quantum measurement

Does the measurement of a quantum system necessarily break Lorentz invariance? We present a simple model of a detector that measures the spacetime localization of a relativistic particle in a Lorentz invariant manner. The detector does not select a preferred Lorentz frame as a Newton-Wigner measurement would do. The result indicates that there exists a Lorentz invariant notion of quantum measurement and sheds light on the issue of the localization of a relativistic particle. The framework considered is that of single-particle mechanics as opposed to field theory. The result may be taken as support for the interpretation postulate of the spacetime-states formulation of single-particle quantum theory.Comment: 9 pages, no figures: Revision: references adde