Design of a videogame to explore morality

A number of video games involve moral narratives or require the player to make moral decisions and research from psychologists has helped to understand the effects video game content can have on how individuals behave. Recent research has started to examine the role of morality in video games: however, there are many inconsistencies in the findings. We propose that some of these inconsistencies could be due to using commercial video games for research purposes, which contain biases such as familiarity with the game and favourite characters. The process of playing video games requires consideration of Human Computer Interaction (HCI); i.e., how the game is designed and then how it is received by the player. The aim of this poster is to highlight the work being conducted to design a game in order to investigate how moral decisions are made in video games. The design of video games usually draws on an understanding of HCI to produce play that is entertaining and engaging for the player. The game development process in this research draws on a fusion of psychology and HCI, and by drawing on theories of morality the design of the game will be grounded in psychology, as well as entertainment. Through fusing video game design principles, HCI and psychology, this work is novel in terms of a methodological as well as theoretical contribution to the area

Influence of intense multidisciplinary follow-up and orlistat on weight reduction in a primary care setting

BACKGROUND: Obesity is the most common health problem in developed countries. Recently, several physicians' organizations have issued recommendations for treating obesity to family physicians, including instructions in nutrition, physical activity and medications. The aim of this study was to examine if effective weight-reducing treatment can be given by a family physician. It compares regular treatment with intensive treatment that include close follow-up and orlistat treatment. METHODS: The study was conducted in three primary care clinics. 225 patients were divided into three groups according to their choice. Group A received a personal diet with fortnightly meetings with the family physician and dietitian and orlistat treatment. Group B received a general diet, monthly meetings with the family physician only and orlistat treatment. Group C received a personal diet, monthly meetings with the dietitian only and no drug treatment. The primary endpoint was reduction of at least 5% of the initial weight during the study period. RESULTS: A greater percentage of patients in group A achieved their weight reduction goals than in other groups (51%, 13% and 9% in groups A, B and C, respectively, p < 0.001). There was a significant reduction in triglycerides in all groups, a significant reduction of low density lipids (LDL) in groups A and B and no significant difference in high density lipids (HDL) in any group. CONCLUSIONS: Significant weight reduction was obtained in a family physician setting. Further research is needed to evaluate if, by providing the family physician with the proper tools, similar success can be achieved in more clinics

Measurement of the weak mixing angle with the Drell-Yan process in proton-proton collisions at the LHC

This is the Pre-Print version of the Article - Copyright @ 2011 APSA multivariate likelihood method to measure electroweak couplings with the Drell-Yan process at the LHC is presented. The process is described by the dilepton rapidity, invariant mass, and decay angle distributions. The decay angle ambiguity due to the unknown assignment of the scattered constituent quark and antiquark to the two protons in a collision is resolved statistically using correlations between the observables. The method is applied to a sample of dimuon events from proton-proton collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV collected by the CMS experiment at the LHC, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 1.1 inverse femtobarns. From the dominant u-ubar, d-dbar to gamma*/Z to opposite sign dimuons process, the effective weak mixing angle parameter is measured to be sin^2(theta[eff]) = 0.2287 +/- 0.0020 (stat.) +/- 0.0025 (syst.). This result is consistent with measurements from other processes, as expected within the standard model