Play Together: How Watching the Cooperative Play of Violent Video Games Can Positively Influence Dyadic Relationships

Media effects research has shown that video games can have both antisocial and prosocial effects, depending on the content of the game. Individuals who play violent video games tend to display more aggressive attitudes and behaviors, while those who play games with prosocial content tend to display more prosocial, or helping, attitudes and behavior. The context in which a video game is played has also been shown to influence media effects, with competitive play leading to increased aggression while cooperative play leads to increased prosociality. However, the existing literature has not examined how these effects might influence the interpersonal relationships between those playing the video game. To test the effects of gaming context on interpersonal relationships, an experiment was conducted that compared two groups of participants exposed to two levels (competitive or cooperative) of a single factor (gaming context). In the competitive condition, participants watched gameplay footage of two individuals playing a video game competitively, while those in the cooperative condition watched gameplay footage of two individuals playing the same game cooperatively. After exposure, five dependent variables were examined to see how they differed between the two groups: state hostility, prosocial score, positive affect change, negative affect change, and change in perceived relationship quality. iii Upon initial analysis, only negative affect change was shown to significantly differ between the two conditions. However, this effect was actually due to an interaction between condition and sex. This study also identified that sex, personality, and media usage habits significantly covaried to some degree with all five dependent variables. These covariates provide evidence for how individual differences might influence the effects that result from watching a video game being played in different multiplayer contexts and, as an extension, how individual differences might influence the effects of gaming context in general

Graphical Support for the Design and Evaluation of Configurable Logic Blocks

Developing a tool supporting humans to design and evaluate CLB-based circuits requires a lot of know-how and research from different fields of computer science. In this work, the newly developed application q2d, especially its design and implementation will be introduced as a possible tool for approaching CLB circuit development with graphical UI support. Design decisions and implementation will be discussed and a workflow example will be given.:1 Introduction 1.1 Forethoughts 1.2 Theoretical Background 1.2.1 Definitions 1.2.2 Expressing Connections between Circuit Elements 1.2.3 Global Context and Target Function 1.2.4 Problem formulation as QBF and SAT 2 Description of the Implemented Tool 2.1 Design Decisions 2.1.1 Choice of Language, Libraries and Frameworks 2.1.2 Solving the QBF Problem 2.1.3 Design of the Internally Used Meta-Model 2.1.4 User Interface Ergonomics 2.1.5 Aspects of Schematic Visualization 2.1.6 Limitations 2.2 Implemented Features 2.2.1 Basic Interaction 2.2.2 User-Defined Components 2.2.3 Generation of Circuit Symbols 2.2.4 Methods for Specifying Functional Behaviour 3 Implementation Details 3.1 Classes Involved in the Component Meta-Model 3.2 The Document Entry Class and its Factory 3.3 Model and View 3.3.1 The Model Element Hierarchy 3.3.2 The Schematics Element Hierarchy 3.4 The Quantor Interface 4 An Example Workflow 4.1 The Task 4.2 A Component Descriptor for Xilinx’ LUT6-2 4.3 Designing the Model 4.4 Computing the Desired Configuration 5 Summary and Outlook 5.1 Achieved Results 5.2 Suggested Improvements References A Acronyms and Glossary B UML Diagram

In Search of Price and Service Competition in Residential Real Estate Brokerage: Breaking the Cartel

This article explores opportunities for price and service competition in residential real estate brokerage. It is designed to give an overview of both the problem and some promising solutions. The article details the home purchase transaction, reviews the market structure of the industry, identifies the trade restraints inhibiting competition, and prescribes comprehensive antitrust remedies to induce greater competition

Clusterorientierte Innovationsförderung – Praxis der InnoRegio FIRM

Im Jahr 1999 wurde vom Bundesministerium für Bildung und Technologie (BMBF) mit dem Programm InnoRegio ein neuartiges, wettbewerbsorientiertes Förderinstrumentarium für die Neuen Bundesländer geschaffen, das insbesondere auf die Stärkung von Kernkompetenzen in den ostdeutschen Regionen zielte und der Erhöhung der Innovationskraft und Wettbewerbsfähigkeit somit einer nachhaltigen Wertschöpfung dienen sollte. Heute wird dieses Programm unter der Dachmarke „Unternehmen Region“ geführt und ist mit weiteren Programmen verbunden, die regionale Kompetenzen mit Innovationspotenzial strategisch, auf hohem technologischem Niveau und nach unternehmerischen Kriterien zu regionalen Clustern entwickeln sollen. Die Umsetzung dieses Konzepts wird weithin als einer der wenigen erfolgreichen Ansätze im „Aufbau Ost“ betrachtet [1]. Die InnoRegio „FIRM“ mit ihrer Geschäftsstelle in den Räumen der Technischen Fachhochschule Wildau ist eine von 23 InnoRegios in den ostdeutschen Ländern, die sich im Jahr 2000 in einem Auswahlverfahren unter mehr als 400 Bewerbern mit ihrem Innovationskonzept durchsetzen konnte. Als Träger hatte hierzu der Verein FIRM e.V. (Gesellschaft zur Förderung der innovativen Region Mittelostbrandenburg e. V.) das Konzept in den Landkreisen Dahme-Spreewald und Oder-Spree entwickelt. Ausgehend von Forschungserfahrungen an der Technischen Fachhochschule Wildau, dem Innovationspotential regionaler Unternehmen und der Verwaltungsexpertise der lokalen Behörden wurde ein Netzwerk konzipiert, das die Entwicklung neuer Hochleistungsmaterialien bei intelligenter Verwertung von Kunststoffabfällen in den Mittelpunkt stellt und insbesondere industrielle Reststoffe im Rahmen einer Kreislaufführung zu neuartigen Materialien umsetzt

Editorial: The role of platinum-based antitumor prodrugs in medicinal inorganic chemistry

Editorial on the research topic "The role of platinum-based antitumor prodrugs in medicinal inorganic chemistry

Mechanistic Studies of Homo- and Heterodinuclear Zinc Phosphoesterase Mimics: What Has Been Learned?

Phosphoesterases hydrolyze the phosphorus oxygen bond of phosphomono-, di- or triesters and are involved in various important biological processes. Carboxylate and/or hydroxido-bridged dizinc(II) sites are a widespread structural motif in this enzyme class. Much effort has been invested to unravel the mechanistic features that provide the enormous rate accelerations observed for enzymatic phosphate ester hydrolysis and much has been learned by using simple low-molecular-weight model systems for the biological dizinc(II) sites. This review summarizes the knowledge and mechanistic understanding of phosphoesterases that has been gained from biomimetic dizinc(II) complexes, showing the power as well as the limitations of model studies

Exploring Patterns of Dynamic Size Changes of Lesions after Hepatic Microwave Ablation in an In Vivo Porcine Model

Microwave ablation (MWA) is a type of minimally invasive cancer therapy that uses heat to induce necrosis in solid tumours. Inter- and post-ablational size changes can influence the accuracy of control imaging, posing a risk of incomplete ablation. The present study aims to explore post-ablation 3D size dynamics in vivo using computed tomography (CT). Ten MWA datasets obtained in nine healthy pigs were used. Lesions were subdivided along the z-axis with an additional planar subdivision into eight subsections. The volume of the subsections was analysed over different time points, subsequently colour-coded and three-dimensionally visualized. A locally weighted polynomial regression model (LOESS) was applied to describe overall size changes, and Student's t-tests were used to assess statistical significance of size changes. The 3D analysis showed heterogeneous volume changes with multiple small changes at the lesion margins over all time points. The changes were pronounced at the upper and lower lesion edges and characterized by initially eccentric, opposite swelling, followed by shrinkage. In the middle parts of the lesion, we observed less dimensional variations over the different time points. LOESS revealed a hyperbolic pattern for the volumetric changes with an initially significant volume increase of 11.6% (111.6% of the original volume) over the first 32 minutes, followed by a continuous decrease to 96% of the original volume (p < 0.05)

Improved Visualization of the Necrotic Zone after Microwave Ablation Using Computed Tomography Volume Perfusion in an In Vivo Porcine Model

After hepatic microwave ablation, the differentiation between fully necrotic and persistent vital tissue through contrast enhanced CT remains a clinical challenge. Therefore, there is a need to evaluate new imaging modalities, such as CT perfusion (CTP) to improve the visualization of coagulation necrosis. MWA and CTP were prospectively performed in five healthy pigs. After the procedure, the pigs were euthanized, and the livers explanted. Orthogonal histological slices of the ablations were stained with a vital stain, digitalized and the necrotic core was segmented. CTP maps were calculated using a dual-input deconvolution algorithm. The segmented necrotic zones were overlaid on the DICOM images to calculate the accuracy of depiction by CECT/CTP compared to the histological reference standard. A receiver operating characteristic analysis was performed to determine the agreement/true positive rate and disagreement/false discovery rate between CECT/CTP and histology. Standard CECT showed a true positive rate of 81% and a false discovery rate of 52% for display of the coagulation necrosis. Using CTP, delineation of the coagulation necrosis could be improved significantly through the display of hepatic blood volume and hepatic arterial blood flow (p < 0.001). The ratios of true positive rate/false discovery rate were 89%/25% and 90%/50% respectively. Other parameter maps showed an inferior performance compared to CECT