«Cristo en la cruz» o la última tentación de Borges.

Sin resume

Anderson Imbert y la grandeza de lo diminuto.

Sin resume

The expressive power of the Possible Worlds Theory in video games: when narratives become interactive and fictional spaces

The philosophical concept of possible worlds (Lenzen, 2004; Lewis, 1986) has been used in literary studies and narratology (Dolezel, 1998; Eco, 1979) to define the way in which we conceive different narrative possibilities inside the fictional world. In Game Studies, some authors have used this concept to explore the relationship between game design and game experience (Kücklich, 2003; Maietti, 2004; Ryan, 2006), while Jesper Juul (2005) has studied the fictional world evoked by the connection between rules and fiction. In this paper we propose a new approach to video games as ludofictional worlds - a set of possible worlds which generates a game space based on the relationship between fiction and game rules. In accordance with the concepts of minimal departure (Ryan, 1991) and indexical term (Lewis, 1986), the position of the player character determines his/her actual world and the next possible or necessary world. Lastly, we use this model to analyse the video game The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim and show that the possible worlds perspective provides a useful, flexible and modular framework for describing the internal connections between ludofictional worlds and the interactive nature of playable game spaces

El videojuego como marco expresivo : estética, reglas y mundos de referencia

El auge del ocio electrónico reclama juegos cada vez más complejos desde el punto de vista técnico y narrativo. El presente artículo parte de una concepción del videojuego como vivencia narrativa para estudiar y proponer una tipología del juego centrada en la enmarcación de un mundo de referencia dado. A través del framing, la estética y las reglas, se construyen distintos tipos de mundos de juego que oscilan entre la mímesis lúdica y la subversión persuasiva del mundo de referencia.The summit of the electronic leisure claims games increasingly complex from the technical and narrative point of view. The present article departs from a conception of the video game as a narrative experience to study and to propose a typology of the game centred on framing a concrete world of reference. Across framing, the aesthetics and the rules, different types of game worlds are constructed that range from the playful mimesis up to the persuasive subversion of the world of reference

La emergencia de los Game Studies como disciplina propia: investigando el videojuego desde las metodologías de la Comunicación

Both games and video games have been ignored for years from communication faculties worldwide. However, the latest research and university degrees programs focused on Game Studies have managed to redevelop them both in the Spanish and in the international context. Therefore, the present study analyzes the historical journey of this new discipline, its impact on game conception and its future as a potential teaching and research tool.Los juegos y videojuegos han sido ignorados durante años desde las facultades de comunicación de todo el mundo. No obstante, las más recientes investigaciones y los planes de estudios centrados en los Game Studies han conseguido revalorizarlos tanto en el contexto internacional como español. Por ello, en la presente investigación se analiza el recorrido histórico de esta nueva disciplina, su impacto en la concepción del juego y su potencial futuro como herramienta docente e investigadora

Effect of 8-week of dietary micronutrient supplementation on gene expression in elite handball athletes

Purpose: A study was made of the changes in gene expression in elite handball athletes, comparing gene modulation before, after and in the absence of an 8-week nutritional intervention with multivitamin/mineral supplements. Methods: Thirteen elite handball athletes (aged 22.9 ± 2.7 years) and 13 sedentary controls (aged 20.9 ± 2.8 years) were included. Three timepoints were established: T0 (baseline conditions); T8 (after 8 weeks of supplementation with a multivitamin/mineral complex); and T16 (after 8 weeks in the absence of supplementation). The expressions of a total 112 of genes were evaluated by RT-qPCR analysis with the QuantStudioTM 12K Flex Real-Time PCR System. Results: The analysis revealed different gene regulation profiles of genes implicated in cell communication, cell energy metabolism, inflammation and the immune system, oxidative stress and muscle function in athletes compared to sedentary controls under resting conditions (upregulated genes: effect size &#61; large, &#414;2 &#61; 1.011 to 1.398, p < 0.05; downregulated genes: effect size &#61; large, &#414;2 &#61; 0.846 and 1.070, p < 0.05, respectively). The nutritional intervention encouraged gene upregulation in elite athletes (p < 0.05). In a follow-up investigation, the IRAK1, CD81, ITGB1, ACADS PDHA2 and GPX1 genes were downregulated in athletes, with a moderate main effect for time-by-group interaction (etaP2 &#61; 0.099 to 0.133; p < 0.05). Additionally, nutritional genes such as MTHFR and THTPA revealed a moderate effect over all the timepoints and group interaction in the study (etaP2 &#61; 0.070 to 0.092; p < 0.05). Conclusions: Elite handball athletes showed a different expression profile in reference to key genes implicated in several sports performance-related functions compared to the sedentary controls, in addition to modulation of gene expression after multivitamin/mineral supplementation.J.M.L was supported by the Spanish Ministry of Education (grant number AP2009-3701) and E.P was supported by the FIS Project PI10/1993 form the Carlos III Health Institute. The authors thank the study subjects for their participation, and the Institute of Tropical Diseases and Public Health of the Canary Islands at the University of La Laguna for supplying the equipment for the gene expression measurements