The ethnography of BoardGameGeek

Abstract. This thesis produces an ethnographic description of BoardGameGeek (BGG). BGG is a website for board game information as well as a community for its users. The thesis aims to locate signs of a community on the website to form an understanding of an existing virtual community and its practices. Previous research on computer-mediated communication and virtual communities form the theoretical framework for the thesis. The methodology in this qualitative study is virtual ethnography where the author sets themselves in the community as a member to collect experiences and observations through participant observation. Data for the study is the website itself and the author’s field notes. The website data includes an array of discussion forums, the existing structural elements and affordances offered to the users on the site. Elements for a virtual community and methods on locating them were established based on earlier literature and those criteria were shown to exist on BGG through ethnographical analysis. Based on the analysis, BGG has several elements of a virtual community, including different levels of membership and participation, shared values and norms, support and reciprocity as well as conflicts. Analysis shows the existence of many asynchronous, textual discussions on a variety of topics and the existence of several different modes of discussion. Users’ feelings of a sense of community through different interactions can be noticed from the discussion. BGG users participate in building the site by providing and editing information, including texts, images, and videos in the board game database. Additionally, users are tasked with moderating other users’ contributions. Politeness and respecting others are guidelines that users are encouraged to adhere to by BGG and by each other. These elements point to the existence of a virtual community. The ethnography can be extended by in-depth user interviews and studying the discussions and interactions of users in them.BoardGameGeekin etnografia . Tiivistelmä. Tämä tutkielma tuottaa etnografisen kuvauksen BoardGameGeekistä (BGG). BGG on nettisivusto lautapeleistä sekä yhteisö sen käyttäjille. Tutkielman tavoitteena on paikantaa sivustolta yhteisön ominaispiirteitä, jotta voidaan muodostaa kuva virtuaalisesta yhteisöstä ja sen käytänteistä. Aiempi tietokonevälitteiseen viestintään ja virtuaalisiin yhteisöihin liittyvä tutkimus muodostaa tutkimuksen teoreettisen viitekehyksen. Tämän kvalitatiivisen tutkimuksen metodologia on virtuaalinen etnografia, jossa tutkija asettuu mukaan tutkittavan yhteisön jäseneksi kerätäkseen kokemuksia ja huomioita osallistuvan havainnoinnin avulla. Tutkimuksen aineistoa on itse sivusto sekä tutkijan kenttämuistiinpanot. Nettisivuston aineistoon kuuluvat keskustelufoorumit, olemassa olevat sivuston rakenteet sekä käyttömahdollisuudet, joita sivusto tarjoaa käyttäjille. Pohjaten aiempaan tutkimustietoon, tutkimus määritteli virtuaalisen yhteisön ominaispiirteet sekä tavat paikantaa niitä. Näitä piirteitä todettiin olevan BGG:ssä etnografisen analyysin avulla. Analyysin perusteella BGG:ssä on useita virtuaalisen yhteisön ominaispiirteitä: mm. eritasoisia jäseniä sekä eritasoista osallistumista, jaetut yhteiset arvot ja normit, tukea ja vastavuoroisuutta sekä ristiriitoja. Sivustolla on paljon pitkän ajan kuluessa tapahtuvaa, eri tavoin käytävää, tekstimuotoista keskustelua eri aihepiireistä. Keskustelupalstoilta on havaittavissa käyttäjien kokema yhteisöllisyyden tunne. BGG:n käyttäjät osallistuvat sivuston rakentamiseen lisäämällä ja editoimalla tietoa lautapeleistä tekstinä, kuvina ja videoina sivuston tietokantaan. Käyttäjien vastuulla on myös toisten käyttäjien tiettyjen kontribuutioiden tarkastaminen. BGG ja sen käyttäjät rohkaisevat toisiaan kohtelemaan toisia kohteliaasti ja toisia kunnioittavalla tavalla. Nämä kaikki piirteet osoittavat virtuaalisen yhteisön olemassaolon. Etnografista kuvausta on mahdollista laajentaa tekemällä tutkimushaastatteluja ja tutkimalla tarkemmin keskusteluja ja käyttäjien vuorovaikutusta niissä

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Microlensing towards M31 with MDM data

We report the final analysis of a search for microlensing events in the direction of the Andromeda galaxy, which aimed to probe the MACHO composition of the M31 halo using data collected during the 1998-99 observational campaign at the MDM observatory. In a previous paper, we discussed the results from a first set of observations. Here, we deal with the complete data set, and we take advantage of some INT observations in the 1999-2000 seasons. This merging of data sets taken by different instruments turns out to be very useful, the study of the longer baseline available allowing us to test the uniqueness characteristic of microlensing events. As a result, all the candidate microlensing events previously reported turn out to be variable stars. We further discuss a selection based on different criteria, aimed at the detection of short--duration events. We find three candidates whose positions are consistent with self--lensing events, although the available data do not allow us to conclude unambiguously that they are due to microlensing.Comment: Accepted for publication in Astronomy and Astrophysic

The POINT-AGAPE survey II: An Unrestricted Search for Microlensing Events towards M31

An automated search is carried out for microlensing events using a catalogue of 44554 variable superpixel lightcurves derived from our three-year monitoring program of M31. Each step of our candidate selection is objective and reproducible by a computer. Our search is unrestricted, in the sense that it has no explicit timescale cut. So, it must overcome the awkward problem of distinguishing long-timescale microlensing events from long-period stellar variables. The basis of the selection algorithm is the fitting of the superpixel lightcurves to two different theoretical models, using variable star and blended microlensing templates. Only if microlensing is preferred is an event retained as a possible candidate. Further cuts are made with regard to (i) sampling, (ii) goodness of fit of the peak to a Paczynski curve, (iii) consistency of the microlensing hypothesis with the absence of a resolved source, (iv) achromaticity, (v) position in the colour-magnitude diagram and (vi) signal-to-noise ratio. Our results are reported in terms of first-level candidates, which are the most trustworthy, and second-level candidates, which are possible microlensing but have lower signal-to-noise and are more questionable. The pipeline leaves just 3 first-level candidates, all of which have very short full-width half-maximum timescale (<5 days) and 3 second-level candidates, which have timescales of 31, 36 and 51 days respectively. We also show 16 third-level lightcurves, as an illustration of the events that just fail the threshold for designation as microlensing candidates. They are almost certainly mainly variable stars. Two of the 3 first-level candidates correspond to known events (PA 00-S3 and PA 00-S4) already reported by the POINT-AGAPE project. The remaining first-level candidate is new.Comment: 22 pages, 18 figures, MNRAS, to appea

A Model of Sympatric Speciation Through Reinforcement

Sympatric speciation, i.e. the evolutionary split of one species into two in the same environment, has been a highly troublesome concept. It has been a questioned if it is actually possible. Even though there have been a number of reported results both in the wild and from controlled experiments in laboratories, those findings are both hard to get and hard to analyze, or even repeat. In the current study we propose a mathematical model which addresses the question of sympatric speciation and the evolution of reinforcement. Our aim has been to capture some of the essential features such as: phenotype, resources, competition, heritage, mutation, and reinforcement, in as simple a way as possible. Still, the resulting model is not too easy to grasp with purely analytical tools, so we have also complemented those studies with stochastic simulations. We present a few results that both illustrates the usefulness of such a model, but also rises new biological questions about sympatric speciation and reinforcement in particular

The POINT-AGAPE Survey: Comparing Automated Searches of Microlensing Events toward M31

Searching for microlensing in M31 using automated superpixel surveys raises a number of difficulties which are not present in more conventional techniques. Here we focus on the problem that the list of microlensing candidates is sensitive to the selection criteria or "cuts" imposed and some subjectivity is involved in this. Weakening the cuts will generate a longer list of microlensing candidates but with a greater fraction of spurious ones; strengthening the cuts will produce a shorter list but may exclude some genuine events. We illustrate this by comparing three analyses of the same data-set obtained from a 3-year observing run on the INT in La Palma. The results of two of these analyses have been already reported: Belokurov et al. (2005) obtained between 3 and 22 candidates, depending on the strength of their cuts, while Calchi Novati et al. (2005) obtained 6 candidates. The third analysis is presented here for the first time and reports 10 microlensing candidates, 7 of which are new. Only two of the candidates are common to all three analyses. In order to understand why these analyses produce different candidate lists, a comparison is made of the cuts used by the three groups...Comment: 28 pages, 24 figures, 9 table

Cold Induction of EARLI1, a Putative Arabidopsis Lipid Transfer Protein, Is Light and Calcium Dependent

As sessile organisms, plants must adapt to their environment. One approach toward understanding this adaptation is to investigate environmental regulation of gene expression. Our focus is on the environmental regulation of EARLI1, which is activated by cold and long-day photoperiods. Cold activation of EARLI1 in short-day photoperiods is slow, requiring several hours at 4ºC to detect an increase in mRNA abundance. EARLI1 is not efficiently cold-activated in etiolated seedlings, suggesting that photomorphogenesis is necessary for its cold activation. Cold activation of EARLI1 is inhibited in the presence of the calcium channel blocker lanthanum chloride or the calcium chelator EGTA. Addition of the calcium ionophore Bay K8644 results in cold-independent activation of EARLI1. These data suggest that EARLI1 is not an immediate target of the cold response, and that calcium flux affects its expression. EARLI1 is a putative secreted protein and has motifs found in lipid transfer proteins. Over-expression of EARLI1 in transgenic plants results in reduced electrolyte leakage during freezing damage, suggesting that EARLI1 may affect membrane or cell wall stability in response to low temperature stress

Early symptoms and sensations as predictors of lung cancer: a machine learning multivariate model.

The aim of this study was to identify a combination of early predictive symptoms/sensations attributable to primary lung cancer (LC). An interactive e-questionnaire comprised of pre-diagnostic descriptors of first symptoms/sensations was administered to patients referred for suspected LC. Respondents were included in the present analysis only if they later received a primary LC diagnosis or had no cancer; and inclusion of each descriptor required ≥4 observations. Fully-completed data from 506/670 individuals later diagnosed with primary LC (n = 311) or no cancer (n = 195) were modelled with orthogonal projections to latent structures (OPLS). After analysing 145/285 descriptors, meeting inclusion criteria, through randomised seven-fold cross-validation (six-fold training set: n = 433; test set: n = 73), 63 provided best LC prediction. The most-significant LC-positive descriptors included a cough that varied over the day, back pain/aches/discomfort, early satiety, appetite loss, and having less strength. Upon combining the descriptors with the background variables current smoking, a cold/flu or pneumonia within the past two years, female sex, older age, a history of COPD (positive LC-association); antibiotics within the past two years, and a history of pneumonia (negative LC-association); the resulting 70-variable model had accurate cross-validated test set performance: area under the ROC curve = 0.767 (descriptors only: 0.736/background predictors only: 0.652), sensitivity = 84.8% (73.9/76.1%, respectively), specificity = 55.6% (66.7/51.9%, respectively). In conclusion, accurate prediction of LC was found through 63 early symptoms/sensations and seven background factors. Further research and precision in this model may lead to a tool for referral and LC diagnostic decision-making

Association between breastfeeding and better preserved cognitive ability in an elderly cohort of Finnish men

Background. Being breastfed in infancy has been shown to benefit neurodevelopment. However, whether the benefits persist to old age remains unclear. Methods. We examined the associations between breastfeeding and its duration on cognitive ability in young adulthood and old age, and on aging-related cognitive change over five decades. In total, 931 men from the Helsinki Birth Cohort Study born in 1934-1944 in Finland took the Finnish Defence Forces Basic Intellectual Ability Test (total and verbal, arithmetic and visuospatial subtest scores) twice, at ages 20.2 and 67.9 years, and had data on breastfeeding (yes v. no) and its duration ('never breastfed', 'up to 3', '3 to 6' and 6 or more months'). Linear and mixed model regressions tested the associations. Results. At 20.2 years, breastfed men had higher cognitive ability total and visuospatial subtest scores [mean differences (MDs) ranged between 3.0-3.9, p values <0.013], and its longer duration predicted higher cognitive ability total and arithmetic and visuospatial subtest scores (MDs ranged between 3.0 and 4.8, p values <0.039). At 67.9 years, breastfed men had higher total cognitive ability and all subtest scores (MDs ranged between 2.6 and 3.4, p values <0.044) and its longer duration predicted all cognitive ability scores (MDs ranged between 3.1 and 4.7, p values <0.050). Verbal subtest scores decreased over five decades in men who were never breastfed or were breastfed for 3 months or less, and increased in those breastfed for longer than 3 months. Conclusions. Neurodevelopmental advantages of breastfeeding and its longer duration persist into old age, and longer duration of breastfeeding may benefit aging-related change, particularly in verbal reasoning ability.Peer reviewe

Protein kinase C inhibition attenuates vascular ET(B )receptor upregulation and decreases brain damage after cerebral ischemia in rat

BACKGROUND: Protein kinase C (PKC) is known to be involved in the pathophysiology of experimental cerebral ischemia. We have previously shown that after transient middle cerebral artery occlusion, there is an upregulation of endothelin receptors in the ipsilateral middle cerebral artery. The present study aimed to examine the effect of the PKC inhibitor Ro-32-0432 on endothelin receptor upregulation, infarct volume and neurology outcome after middle cerebral artery occlusion in rat. RESULTS: At 24 hours after transient middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO), the contractile endothelin B receptor mediated response and the endothelin B receptor protein expression were upregulated in the ipsilateral but not the contralateral middle cerebral artery. In Ro-32-0432 treated rats, the upregulated endothelin receptor response was attenuated. Furthermore, Ro-32-0432 treatment decreased the ischemic brain damage significantly and improved neurological scores. Immunohistochemistry showed fainter staining of endothelin B receptor protein in the smooth muscle cells of the ipsilateral middle cerebral artery of Ro-32-0432 treated rats compared to control. CONCLUSION: The results suggest that treatment with Ro-32-0432 in ischemic stroke decreases the ischemic infarction area, neurological symptoms and associated endothelin B receptor upregulation. This provides a new perspective on possible mechanisms of actions of PKC inhibition in cerebral ischemia