Challenging notions of gendered game play: teenagers playing `The Sims`

This paper challenges notions of gendered game playing practice implicit in much research into young women's involvement with the computer gaming culture. It draws on a study of Australian teenagers playing The Sims Deluxe as part of an English curriculum unit and insights from feminist media studies to explore relationships between gender and game playing practices. Departing from a reliance on predetermined notions of “gender”, “domestic space”, and “successful game play”, it conceptualizes The Sims as a game in which the boundaries between gender and domestic space are disturbed. It argues that observing students' constructions of gender and domestic space through the act of game play itself provides a more productive insight into the gendered dimensions of game play for educators wishing to work computer games such as The Sims into curriculum development.

Police officers' and legal professionals' perceptions regarding how children are, and should be, questioned about repeated abuse

This study explored the perceptions of police officers and legal professionals (i.e., prosecutors, defence lawyers and a judge) about (a) what particularisation is, (b) the type of information that is required for particularisation to occur, and (c) how particularisation is best achieved in cases of repeated child abuse. The professionals' perceptions (all experts in this area) were elicited via individual in-depth semi-structured interviews. While all participants acknowledged the importance of particularisation, the views of the police officers varied in several important ways to those of the other professionals. Overall, the police officers perceived that highly specific details (such as the location, date and time of the offence) are essential for particularisation to occur, and that maximising the number of separate offences and specific details about each offence increases the chance of successful prosecution. In contrast, the legal professionals perceived that the primacy goal of the police officers should be to elicit a free-narrative account of one or more offences. A high proportion of specific questions was perceived to negatively impact on the child's credibility by contaminating the evidence. The implications of these findings are discussed.

The effect of repeated pulses of light at the same time on period responses of the rat circadian pacemaker.

A consequence of simple velocity-based models is that, in response to light pulses, the circadian period should adjust inversely to phase. In addition, because of the interaction of circadian period and phase response, earlier circadian period changes should modify later circadian period changes. The literature contains few mentions of response curves of circadian period responses following light pulses. Rats were exposed to four pulses of light (60 minutes, 1000 lux) at the same circadian time, a minimum of 26 days apart; we assessed period responses and possible bias in the period-response curve. Modulation of circadian period following light-induced phase responses was examined by assessing the period of running wheel activity onset. Phase and circadian period were not consistently found to share an inverse relationship. Moreover, biases in initial period tended to be increased by the experimental protocol regardless of circadian time of pulse. Rats with a short initial (highvelocity) period had a lengthened period, while rats with a long initial period (low velocity) tended to have a reduce period. However, rats with a long initial period were phase delay biased, not phase advance biased. These results do not support a simple velocity model of the pacemaker.

Children's perspectives on mathematics and game playing

This paper reports on data collected from a larger study investigating the effect of game playing on students' mathematical learning and motivation. The study was conducted in three schools with 240 students participating in four different treatment groups. This paper reports some of the results of interviews with students to gather data on their attitudes towards mathematics and game playing. The interview data collected from a sample of students in the· three game playing groups pertaining to attitudes are presented and discussed below.

The realm of the game geek : supporting creativity in an online community

This paper explores the importance of online communities designed to support the creativity of tertiary students enrolled in Computer Science studies. Online discussion forums provide university students with a supportive and nurturing environment and a community where they can share knowledge and ideas. The authors draw on findings derived from a study of first year Computer Science students enrolled in a Games Design and Development unit. Of particular interest is the ways in which the participants develop and control the environment in order to enhance their own creative expression.

The consistency of false suggestions moderates children`s reports of a single instance of a repeated event: predicting increases and decreases in suggestibility.

Participants (6- and 7-year-olds, N = 130) participated in classroom activities four times. Children were interviewed about the final occurrence (target event) either 1 week or 4 weeks later, during which half of the event items were described inaccurately. Half of these suggestions were consistent with the theme of the detail across the occurrences (e.g., always sat on a kind of floor mat) or were inconsistent (e.g., sat on a chair). When memory for the target event was tested 1 day later, children falsely recognized fewer inconsistent suggestions than consistent suggestions, especially compared with a control group of children who experienced the event just one time. Furthermore, the longer delay reduced accuracy only for consistent suggestions. Source-monitoring ability was strongly and positively related to resistance to suggestions, and encouraging children to identify the source of false suggestions allowed them to retract a significant proportion of their reports of inconsistent suggestions but not of consistent suggestions. The results suggest that the gist consistency of suggestions determines whether event repetition increases or decreases suggestibility.

Stability of television viewing and electronic game/computer use in a prospective cohort study of Australian children: relationship with body mass index

Background
While much cross-sectional data is available, there have been few longitudinal investigations of patterns of electronic media use in children. Further, the possibility of a bi-directional relationship between electronic media use and body mass index in children has not been considered. This study aimed to describe longitudinal patterns of television viewing and electronic game/computer use, and investigate relationships with body mass index (BMI).
Methods
This prospective cohort study was conducted in elementary schools in Victoria, Australia. 1278 children aged 5–10 years at baseline and 8–13 years at follow-up had their BMI calculated, from measured height and weight, and transformed to z-scores based on US 2000 growth data. Weight status (non-overweight, overweight and obese) was based on international BMI cut-off points. Weekly television viewing and electronic game/computer use were reported by parents, these were summed to generate total weekly screen time. Children were classified as meeting electronic media use guidelines if their total screen time was ≤14 hrs/wk.
Results
Electronic media use increased over the course of the study; 40% met guidelines at baseline but only 18% three years later. Television viewing and electronic game/computer use tracked moderately and total screen time was positively associated with adiposity cross-sectionally. While weaker relationships with adiposity were observed longitudinally, baseline z-BMI and weight status were positively associated with follow-up screen time and baseline screen time was positively associated with z-BMI and weight status at follow-up. Children who did not meet guidelines at baseline had significantly higher z-BMI and were more likely to be classified as overweight/obese at follow-up.

Conclusion
Electronic media use in Australian elementary school children is high, increases with age and tracks over time. There appears to be a bi-directional association suggesting that interventions targeting reductions in either screen time or adiposity may have a positive effect on both screen time and adiposity.

Learn to design vs design to learn: enhancing educational opportunities using game technoloy

Recognizing as children’s input in game design and development process is critical, we applied cooperative inquiry experiences working with young children as game design partners. The computer-based games specifically were designed and developed for the acquisition of survival literacy by 12-14 year old intellectually disabled children. During the design and development game process, children learnt game design techniques without their acknowledgement. Importantly, the development process will be undertaken by the students with the minimum guidance of team members. The experiences, challenges and lesson learned through game design process are discussed.

The influence of allopurinol on urinary purine loss after repeated sprint exercise in man

The influence of allopurinol on urinary purine loss was examined in 7 active male subjects (age 24.9 ± 3.0 years, weight 82.8 ± 8.3 kg, V˙o₂peak 48.1 ± 6.9 mL · kg⁻¹ · min⁻¹). These subjects performed, in random order, a trial with 5 days of prior ingestion of a placebo or allopurinol. Each trial consisted of eight 10-second sprints on an air-braked cycle ergometer and was separated by at least a week. A rest period of 50 seconds separated each repeated sprint. Forearm venous plasma inosine, hypoxanthine (Hx) and uric acid concentrations were measured at rest and during 120 minutes of recovery from exercise. Urinary inosine, Hx, xanthine, and uric acid excretion were also measured before and for 24 hours after exercise. During the first 120 minutes of recovery, plasma Hx concentrations, as well as the urinary Hx and xanthine excretion rates, were higher (P < .05) with allopurinol compared with the placebo trial. In contrast, plasma uric acid concentration and urinary uric acid excretion rates were lower (P < .05) with allopurinol. The total urinary excretion of purines (inosine + Hx + xanthine + uric acid) above basal levels was higher in the allopurinol trial compared with placebo. These results indicate that the total urinary purine excretion after intermittent sprint exercise was enhanced with allopurinol treatment. Furthermore, the composition of urinary purines was markedly affected by this drug.

Evidence of metacognitive awareness in young children who have experienced a repeated event

Two studies examined children's confidence judgments in the accuracy of their memories after repeated experience of an event. Children aged 5 to 6 years took part in an event once or four times, were provided with misinformation either shortly after (Study 1) or a while after (Study 2), and interviewed with yes/no recognition questions 3 months later. Children in the repeated-experience conditions were highly confident of their accurate responses to questions about items that were identical rather than variable across occurrences, and this discrimination was best at the shorter delay. The results show that children were able to metacognitively monitor the accuracy of their responses to qualitatively different kinds of details, and indicate that age is not the only determinant of metacognitive awareness after being misled. Rather, the nature of event representations must also be considered.

Learning = playing: Interactive learning with game-based design principles

This paper explores the rapid escalation of demand for information in both complex and convergent forms of accessible technology. The authors contend that this growth creates a concomitant demand for a highly skilled information technology workforce. To ensure the preservation and continued development of this workforce, education of the information technology professional is increasingly acknowledged as one of the primary challenges
confronting educators and educational institutions. Many institutions have sought solutions to this educational conundrum in populist concepts of e-learning

Rugby league: a game in crisis

This study examines the issue of crisis and reputation management strategies in Australian sporting clubs and finds that not only are individual clubs unaware of the potential impact of such crises on their organizations, but that they also have no training, contingency plans, or strategies to handle crises of any sort either at this or at the national league level. It uses the Australian Rugby League organization as a case study f()r examining these issues and concludes with several recommendations for improving crisis management and communications policies in Australian sporting organizations and for their stakeholders.

Many public and private organizations prefer to ignore the reality that "bad things" can happen, either through denial of their vulnerabilities or through myopia about their successes and strengths (Elliott, 2002). A crisis can be defined as any problem or disruption that triggers negative stakeholder reaction and extensive public scrutiny (Newman, 2003). Effective crisis management lies in continuous learning processes designed to equip managers with the capabilities, flexibility, and confidence to deal with sudden and unexpected problems or events (Robert & Lajtha, 2002). Good crisis leaders are those who can make fast decisions under pressure and who can keep the big picture consequences of actions and words in mind when making these decisions 030in & Lagadec, 20(0). In 2004, the Rugby league in Australia was both ill-prepared and ill-advised to effectively deal with a sex scandal involving a number of their players on an official club tour. In classic crisis escalation, what should have been a serious but easily dealt with problem became a major reputational and institutional crisis for the league, its sponsors, its players, and its fans.

Make a game or adapt a game

Provides an idea on how to devise a mathematical game for primary students. Requirement of an effective mathematical game; Design of the game; Criteria for judging.