ToDIGRA diversity workshop special issue:introduction

The inaugural DiGRA DiversityWorkshop, “Gaming the System”, was held at The University of Melbourne on 2nd July 2017; we thank and acknowledge the Wurundjeri people as Traditional Custodians of this land. The Workshop was an initiative of the Diversity Working Group that first met in 2015. The event drew together five formal papers (four of which have proceeded to peer review and appear in this special issue) followed by a general discussion. The aim of the Workshop was to critically interrogate what it would mean for Game Studies to be diverse, and to invite presentations that could expand our ideas about diversity. This included questioning whether ‘diversity’ is an unalloyed good, the nature of the non-diverse ‘norm’ from which it putatively offers a departure, and the function of diversity as a discourse operative within the contemporary academy

Hacking NHS Pacemakers: A Feasibility Study

Pacemakers are common types of implants, in recent years there have been growing concerns around the security within these devices. This paper was created with the assistance of the NHS staff at NGH, it attempts to answer the question of if it is feasible to hack current models of NHS pacemakers. The experiments performed were done so in the mindset of an average hacker, not a team of experts with access to the required knowledge and equipmen

Music and Architecture

Often, both music and architecture reflect a certain zeitgeist of the era in which they were created; the underlying ideas and changing social principles are reflected in the art forms these societies create. This thesis identifies the underlying ideas of three case studies and analyzes the ways in which themes manifest themselves in architectural and musical form. Each of the buildings provides valuable insight into the societies that built, occupied, and composed music for them

The Frequency of Interval Surveillance in the Adult Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplant Survivor

Cancer treatments for hematologic malignancies can include radiation, chemotherapy, immunosuppression, stem cell transplant, and targeted biological therapies. These therapies can cause long-term side effects that may negatively affect quality of life. Many of these late effects are modifiable when a proactive systematic plan of prevention and surveillance is implemented. This plan is most effective when factors such as past treatments, chromosomal prognostic factors, comorbid health conditions, and lifestyle behaviors are considered. A survivorship care plan specific for cancer survivors who have undergone a hematopoietic stem cell transplant (HSCT) would enhance the ability of clinicians to monitor for these late effects. The Center for International Blood and Marrow Transplant Research, the European Group for Blood and Marrow Transplantation, and the American Society for Blood and Marrow Transplant have recommended that a HSCT-specific survivorship care plan include 6-month, 12-month, and annual assessments of physical and psychosocial well-being including preventive screenings unique to the HSCT survivor. This quality improvement study described the frequency of documentation of the recommended cancer survivorship guidelines by oncology clinicians in the medical records of adult HSCT survivors at 12 and 24 months post-transplant in one comprehensive cancer center. This retrospective chart review found that only three of the 29 recommended guidelines were documented as being completed in more than 50% of the charts at 12 and 24 months. Furthermore, the data indicated that the remaining indicators were documented in less than 50% of the charts at both 12 and 24 months. These findings were used to inform the oncology clinicians of the need for adherence to recommended guidelines and in the planning of a hematology and transplant survivorship clinic for individuals who have completed the acute phase of their cancer treatment.No embarg

CEO Inside Debt and Firm Debt

Purpose: This paper aims to examine jointly the CEO inside debt and firm debt to further investigate the compensation incentives on risky decision-making and the resulting financial policy decisions concerning the debt structure of the firm. Design/methodology/approach: Using S&P 1500 data from CRSP, Compustat, Execucomp and Capital IQ between 2006 and 2011, statistical analysis and regression models are used to determine potential correlations between the variable of interest, inside debt and debt control variables, including specialization. Findings: Firms with high inside debt specialize in commercial loans and drawn credit lines. Larger firms diversify their debt holdings among commercial instruments and senior bonds. As firm size increases with inside debt, the effects are counteracted. Larger firms with high CEO inside debt have lower interest rates on these debt instruments and shorter maturities, suggesting a more conservative financing policy with regards to debt. Research limitations/implications: Debt diversification is partially affected by compensation in the form of inside debt. Future studies of debt diversification should include CEO compensation controls. Practical implications: For struggling companies or for those that want to return to a conservative financial policy, they can influence the CEO to make this decision by deferring his compensation to retirement. Originality/value: This paper considers debt policy through the lens of a key decision maker, the CEO, and uses compensation as an incentive to determine what choices are made concerning debt

The Effects of Rewards in Reading Incentive Programs on Reading Motivation, Attitude and Participation in Middle School Students

Literacy is an essential part of the curriculum in education today. Educators strive to influence students to read and gain more experience as readers. There are several reasons why literacy in the classroom is so important to the education of 21st century students. In the workplace today, jobs are requiring that students have a greater ability to read and write fluently (The Time, Learning, and Afterschool Taskforce, 2007). The bar of expectation that the corporate sector has for workers has been raised. It is the job of the school system and educators to motivate, instruct and cultivate literacy in the classroom, so that the future workforce will be prepared (Bottoms, 2003). There is also a need for students to be prepared to not only be fluent readers in fiction, but in nonfiction like technical readings and in technology formats (The Time, Learning, and Afterschool Taskforce, 2007). If a student has difficulty reading, it can affect his or her future earning potential and the ability to gain a post-secondary education. There are several instructional practices that students can participate in that will raise literacy scores and make students better readers. The main practice for adolescents in middle grades is to simply read. Reading for at least an hour a day and at least eleven books per year will raise reading achievement (Bottoms, 2003). Students who read at least eleven books per year scored thirty points higher on performance assessments (Bottoms, 2003)