Mówi we mnie Się

Tekst jest interpretacją rozgrywki w Sunset (Tale of Tales, 2015) skupioną na relacji pomiędzy graczką postrzegającą awatara jako siebie, a monologującą protagonistką. Posługując się Heideggerowskimi pojęciami – Się oraz zdystansowania – pokazuje, w jaki sposób percepcyjne usytuowanie graczki względem awatara określa estetyczne doświadczenie świata gry. Dystans pomiędzy nimi ujawnia się na dwóch płaszczyznach: gdy graczka odbiera  protagonistkę jako postać mówiącą o sobie i określającą siebie własnym spojrzeniem; oraz gdy postrzega ją jako Się, gdy zachowanie protagonistki określa pozycję graczki wewnątrz świata gry, staje się wyrazem bezosobowej opinii i narzędziem wywierania presji.Kania undertakes a close playing of Sunset (Tale of Tales, 2015), focusing on the relationship between the player, who perceives the avatar as herself, and the soliloquizing protagonist. Drawing on Heidegger’s notions of the ‘They’ and ‘distantiality’, Kania demonstrates in what way the player’s perceptual situatedness with regard to the avatar determines her aesthetic experience of the gameworld. The distantiality that emerges between the player and the protagonist becomes visible in two areas, namely when the player experiences the avatar to be a protagonist, soliloquizing and defining herself through her own gaze, and when the player experiences the avatar as the ‘They,’ with the protagonist’s behaviour determining the player’s position and becoming an expression of a depersonalized opinion and a form of pressure

Perspectivas do avatar: espírito de seriedade e má-fé

This theoretical essay explores the players experience and situatedness within the game world from an internal perspective, seeking to understand the conditions of a gameplay situation as a "self-avatar". It analyzes the aspects of the gameworld, the player, and the avatar of The Vanishing of Ethan Carter to illustrate and to support its arguments about the meaning-making process forward the self-avatar in-game situatedness. It contextualizes existentialist concepts referring to life situation developed by Jean-Paul Sartre, such as bad faith and spirit of seriousness, in the gameplay situation, reflecting theoretically on the in-game relationship between being, player, and avatar through the intersection of philosophy and games studies. It proposes that the production of meaning and players interpretation of their individual experience occur due to the interplay between multiple perspectives, opened by the complexity of the player’s situatedness towards the game, the avatar, and the gameworld. It endorses that the player’s perspective and situatedness within the gameworld cannot be experienced separately from the avatar, since the self-avatar is an emergent being situated within the gameworld consisting both of the player’s existence and intentional acts, as well as the features of the avatar.Este ensaio teórico explora a experiência e o posicionamento de jogadores dentro do mundo do jogo a partir de uma perspectiva interna, buscando compreender as condições de uma situação de gameplay como um "eu-avatar". Analisa aspectos do mundo, jogador e avatar do game The Vanishing of Ethan Carter a fim de ilustrar e dar suporte aos seus argumentos teóricos sobre o processo de produção de significados em relação ao posicionamento interno do eu-avatar no jogo. Contextualiza conceitos existencialistas relacionados à situação de vida desenvolvidos por Jean-Paul Sartre, como má-fé e espírito de seriedade, à situação de gameplay, ao refletir teoricamente sobre a relação entre ser, jogador e avatar no jogo através da interseção da Filosofia e dos Estudos de Jogos. Propõe que a produção de significado e a interpretação da experiência individual dos jogadores ocorrem na interconexão entre múltiplas perspectivas, proporcionadas pela complexidade do posicionamento do jogador em relação ao jogo, ao avatar e ao mundo do jogo. Defende que a perspectiva do jogador e o posicionamento no jogo não podem ser experimentados separadamente do avatar, já que o eu-avatar é um ser emergente situado dentro do mundo do jogo que consiste tanto na existência e nos atos intencionais do jogador, assim como nas características do avatar

Perspectives of the Avatar: Sketching the Existential Aesthetics of Digital Games

The monograph was funded by the research grant awarded by the Polish National Science Centre, decision number DEC-2013/09/D/HS1/00424.The main ambition of the book is to sketch the existential aesthetics that explore the situatedness of the individual towards a single player digital game with avatar. The book focuses on games falling within the category of independent or art games, and builds upon an assumption drawn from existentialism; where the individual facing the world is the central philosophical concern. In this theoretical horizon, a situation can become meaningful only from the point of view of the particular being.Narodowe Centrum Nauki (Polish National Science Centre

Life satisfaction and risk of burnout among men and women working as physiotherapists

Objectives: Recently in Poland as a result of the high rate of aging population and high rates of morbidity, a growing demand for the physiotherapist profession is observed. The results of this study can be used to formulate principles for better organization of physiotherapist's workplace in order to prevent occurrence of burnout. The aim of this study is to investigate the effect of gender on satisfaction with life and burnout among active physiotherapists. Material and Methods: The survey was anonymous and voluntary, and involved a group of 200 active physiotherapists working in health care units and educational centers in Poland. The study group was selected randomly and incidentally. Each respondent received a demographic data sheet and a set of self-rating questionnaires (Life Satisfaction Questionnaire, Burnout Scale Inventory). Results: Burnout among men decreased along with increasing satisfaction with one's work and occupation, friends, relatives and acquaintances, sexuality, and increased due to greater satisfaction with one's housing status. Burnout among women decreased along with increasing satisfaction with one's health, free time and friends, relatives and acquaintances, and increased due to work at a setting other than a health care unit or educational center. Statistical analysis failed to reveal any significant differences with regard to the BSI domains and with regard to the overall burnout index as well as with regard to the assessment of satisfaction with life between female and male physiotherapists. Conclusions: Satisfaction with children, marriage and partnership, with one's work and occupation, interactions with friends, relatives and acquaintances and sexuality may contribute to reduction of burnout among men. Women who are satisfied with their children, family, health, free time and contacts with friends, relatives and acquaintances are less prone to burnout. Weak financial situation among women and deficiency of free time among men can induce burnout. Improving staff happiness may contribute to decreasing burnout

Pαx6 Expression in Postmitotic Neurons Mediates the Growth of Axons in Response to SFRP1

During development, the mechanisms that specify neuronal subclasses are coupled to those that determine their axonal response to guidance cues. Pax6 is a homedomain transcription factor required for the specification of a variety of neural precursors. After cell cycle exit, Pax6 expression is often shut down in the precursor progeny and most postmitotic neurons no longer express detectable levels of the protein. There are however exceptions and high Pax6 protein levels are found, for example, in postmitotic retinal ganglion cells (RGCs), dopaminergic neurons of the olfactory bulb and the limbic system in the telencephalon. The function of Pax6 in these differentiating neurons remains mostly elusive. Here, we demonstrate that Pax6 mediates the response of growing axons to SFRP1, a secreted molecule expressed in several Pax6-positive forebrain territories. Forced expression of Pax6 in cultured postmitotic cortical neurons, which do not normally express Pax6, was sufficient to increment axonal length. Growth was blocked by the addition of anti-SFRP1 antibodies, whereas exogenously added SFRP1 increased axonal growth of Pax6-transfected neurons but not that of control or untransfected cortical neurons. In the reverse scenario, shRNA-mediated knock-down of Pax6 in mouse retinal explants specifically abolished RGCs axonal growth induced by SFRP1, but had no effect on RGCs differentiation and it did not modify the effect of Shh or Netrin on axon growth. Taken together these results demonstrate that expression of Pax6 is necessary and sufficient to render postmitotic neurons competent to respond to SFRP1. These results reveal a novel and unexpected function of Pax6 in postmitotic neurons and situate Pax6 and SFRP1 as pair regulators of axonal connectivity

Single-cell multi-omics analysis of the immune response in COVID-19

Funder: Lister Institute of Preventive Medicine; doi: https://doi.org/10.13039/501100001255Funder: University College London, Birkbeck MRC Doctoral Training ProgrammeFunder: The Jikei University School of MedicineFunder: Action Medical Research (GN2779)Funder: NIHR Clinical Lectureship (CL-2017-01-004)Funder: NIHR (ACF-2018-01-004) and the BMA FoundationFunder: Chan Zuckerberg Initiative (grant 2017-174169) and from Wellcome (WT211276/Z/18/Z and Sanger core grant WT206194)Funder: UKRI Innovation/Rutherford Fund Fellowship allocated by the MRC and the UK Regenerative Medicine Platform (MR/5005579/1 to M.Z.N.). M.Z.N. and K.B.M. have been funded by the Rosetrees Trust (M944)Funder: Barbour FoundationFunder: ERC Consolidator and EU MRG-Grammar awardsFunder: Versus Arthritis Cure Challenge Research Grant (21777), and an NIHR Research Professorship (RP-2017-08-ST2-002)Funder: European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL)Abstract: Analysis of human blood immune cells provides insights into the coordinated response to viral infections such as severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2, which causes coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). We performed single-cell transcriptome, surface proteome and T and B lymphocyte antigen receptor analyses of over 780,000 peripheral blood mononuclear cells from a cross-sectional cohort of 130 patients with varying severities of COVID-19. We identified expansion of nonclassical monocytes expressing complement transcripts (CD16+C1QA/B/C+) that sequester platelets and were predicted to replenish the alveolar macrophage pool in COVID-19. Early, uncommitted CD34+ hematopoietic stem/progenitor cells were primed toward megakaryopoiesis, accompanied by expanded megakaryocyte-committed progenitors and increased platelet activation. Clonally expanded CD8+ T cells and an increased ratio of CD8+ effector T cells to effector memory T cells characterized severe disease, while circulating follicular helper T cells accompanied mild disease. We observed a relative loss of IgA2 in symptomatic disease despite an overall expansion of plasmablasts and plasma cells. Our study highlights the coordinated immune response that contributes to COVID-19 pathogenesis and reveals discrete cellular components that can be targeted for therapy

Perspectivas do avatar: espírito de seriedade e má-fé

This theoretical essay explores the players experience and situatedness within the game world from an internal perspective, seeking to understand the conditions of a gameplay situation as a "self-avatar". It analyzes the aspects of the gameworld, the player, and the avatar of The Vanishing of Ethan Carter to illustrate and to support its arguments about the meaning-making process forward the self-avatar in-game situatedness. It contextualizes existentialist concepts referring to life situation developed by Jean-Paul Sartre, such as bad faith and spirit of seriousness, in the gameplay situation, reflecting theoretically on the in-game relationship between being, player, and avatar through the intersection of philosophy and games studies. It proposes that the production of meaning and players interpretation of their individual experience occur due to the interplay between multiple perspectives, opened by the complexity of the player’s situatedness towards the game, the avatar, and the gameworld. It endorses that the player’s perspective and situatedness within the gameworld cannot be experienced separately from the avatar, since the self-avatar is an emergent being situated within the gameworld consisting both of the player’s existence and intentional acts, as well as the features of the avatar.Este ensaio teórico explora a experiência e o posicionamento de jogadores dentro do mundo do jogo a partir de uma perspectiva interna, buscando compreender as condições de uma situação de gameplay como um "eu-avatar". Analisa aspectos do mundo, jogador e avatar do game The Vanishing of Ethan Carter a fim de ilustrar e dar suporte aos seus argumentos teóricos sobre o processo de produção de significados em relação ao posicionamento interno do eu-avatar no jogo. Contextualiza conceitos existencialistas relacionados à situação de vida desenvolvidos por Jean-Paul Sartre, como má-fé e espírito de seriedade, à situação de gameplay, ao refletir teoricamente sobre a relação entre ser, jogador e avatar no jogo através da interseção da Filosofia e dos Estudos de Jogos. Propõe que a produção de significado e a interpretação da experiência individual dos jogadores ocorrem na interconexão entre múltiplas perspectivas, proporcionadas pela complexidade do posicionamento do jogador em relação ao jogo, ao avatar e ao mundo do jogo. Defende que a perspectiva do jogador e o posicionamento no jogo não podem ser experimentados separadamente do avatar, já que o eu-avatar é um ser emergente situado dentro do mundo do jogo que consiste tanto na existência e nos atos intencionais do jogador, assim como nas características do avatar

Tapestry by Arachne. The digital craft of the producers of computer games

The discourse of ‘digital artisans’, started from the nineteenth-century British tradition of thinking about the craft and manual labor. Its separateness from the discourse of the mainstream gaming industry is based on faith in the value of the unique, unconventional solutions or game conventions. It differentiates craft activities (work in the ‘digital matter’) from industrial production and reveals the value of joy which connects game developers and games. It also emphasizes the value of the championship and the importance of democratic access to tools for experimenting by amateurs. The games themselves are conceived within creative self-expression, a way of defining themselves, and even the tool of selftransformation of digital matter

Perspectivas do avatar: espírito de seriedade e má-fé

This theoretical essay explores the players experience and situatedness within the game world from an internal perspective, seeking to understand the conditions of a gameplay situation as a "self-avatar". It analyzes the aspects of the gameworld, the player, and the avatar of The Vanishing of Ethan Carter to illustrate and to support its arguments about the meaning-making process forward the self-avatar in-game situatedness. It contextualizes existentialist concepts referring to life situation developed by Jean-Paul Sartre, such as bad faith and spirit of seriousness, in the gameplay situation, reflecting theoretically on the in-game relationship between being, player, and avatar through the intersection of philosophy and games studies. It proposes that the production of meaning and players interpretation of their individual experience occur due to the interplay between multiple perspectives, opened by the complexity of the player’s situatedness towards the game, the avatar, and the gameworld. It endorses that the player’s perspective and situatedness within the gameworld cannot be experienced separately from the avatar, since the self-avatar is an emergent being situated within the gameworld consisting both of the player’s existence and intentional acts, as well as the features of the avatar.Este ensaio teórico explora a experiência e o posicionamento de jogadores dentro do mundo do jogo a partir de uma perspectiva interna, buscando compreender as condições de uma situação de gameplay como um "eu-avatar". Analisa aspectos do mundo, jogador e avatar do game The Vanishing of Ethan Carter a fim de ilustrar e dar suporte aos seus argumentos teóricos sobre o processo de produção de significados em relação ao posicionamento interno do eu-avatar no jogo. Contextualiza conceitos existencialistas relacionados à situação de vida desenvolvidos por Jean-Paul Sartre, como má-fé e espírito de seriedade, à situação de gameplay, ao refletir teoricamente sobre a relação entre ser, jogador e avatar no jogo através da interseção da Filosofia e dos Estudos de Jogos. Propõe que a produção de significado e a interpretação da experiência individual dos jogadores ocorrem na interconexão entre múltiplas perspectivas, proporcionadas pela complexidade do posicionamento do jogador em relação ao jogo, ao avatar e ao mundo do jogo. Defende que a perspectiva do jogador e o posicionamento no jogo não podem ser experimentados separadamente do avatar, já que o eu-avatar é um ser emergente situado dentro do mundo do jogo que consiste tanto na existência e nos atos intencionais do jogador, assim como nas características do avatar