The magic circle and the mobility of play

Convergent media and communication technologies have changed what it means for games to be mobile, but play has a mobility of its own that often goes unacknowledged. This article draws together emerging theory from debates in game studies on the separation of the experience of gameplay from the everyday. It examines the metaphor of the ‘magic circle’ and analyses how play, as a mode of experience, is mobilized across dimensions of hardware and software, extending the functions of games beyond the imagining of designers and manufacturers. The article considers what the mobility of play indicates for the player in the creation and management of identity online in the light of game studies consolidation of the magic circle through Goffman’s Frame Analysis. It sees new opportunities in the play of Zombie Media and the role of digital game artifacts in the presentation of the gamer persona, recasting Benjamin and Baudelaire’s flaˆneur as the ‘gameur’.

Análise da acessibilidade urbana para o planejamento da urbanização de interesse social

An analysis of housing issues in the city of Canela (RS, Brazil) has been made in 2008 as part of the development of the Master Plan for Housing. The present paper deals with one component of this analysis, which is the assessment of urban accessibility for low-income population, and its consequences on the treatment of the problem of current shortage of low-income housing and the future demand from population growth until 2020. A three steps method is applied: (i) urban mobility is assessed and mapped on the basis of the road system and the routes of public transport; (ii) accessibility to different urban services, such as public education and health, recreation, consumption and jobs are measured and mapped considering the location of urban facilities, population distribution divided by income and age, and urban mobility; (iii) one map for urban accessibility is produced as a result of the weighted combination of accessibility to different urban facilities. This final urban accessibility map is then overlayed to empty urban lots with size and land value appropriate to low-income housing, and a simulation of their development over the future has been made. The lots with higher accessibility were selected, and the impact of urban development was assessed on the capacity of education facilities. Based on this study, we made some preliminary suggestions for widening places in some schools, the need for a new education facility (location and size) and the extension of public transport for an area with low accessibility.

Mutual obligation? Regulating by supervision and surveillance in Australian income support policy

Through an analysis of speeches by government ministers, documents and regulations, this article examines the Australian national government’s surveillance of unemployed people through what is known as Activity Testing, and more specifically as Mutual Obligation. It seeks to merge the social policy analysis of Mutual Obligation with a surveillance perspective in order to delve deeper into the underlying nature of the policy and its implications for people who are unemployed. It does this by 1. Outlining the neo-liberal political theory underlying these policies; 2. Illustrating the nature and extent of surveillance of people in receipt of income support, and 3. Employing Foucault’s concepts of the technologies of domination and the self to highlight the controlling and coercive aspects of Mutual Obligation in achieving certain of the Government’s political and policy objectives. In doing so, the analysis will make visible something of the power exerted over the disadvantaged while subject to such surveillance.

A cache-based mobility-aware scheme for real-time continuous media delivery in wireless networks

Providing real-time or continuous media (CM) application services in wireless networks poses a significant challenge, as it requires timely delivery of data in a best-effort network. In this paper, we propose a cache-based scheme for mobility-aware, CM applications. The proposed scheme exploits a previously proposed caching strategy to complement Mobile-IP by placing services closer to migrated mobile nodes. The central idea of this work is based on the migration of sessions in order to facilitate uninterrupted delivery of CM in mobile environments. The performance of the proposed scheme is investigated by simulation studies. In particular, the effect of the proposed scheme on several QoS parameters under varying conditions of mobility and CM data is measured.

Intergenerational differences in food, physical activity, and body size perceptions among African migrants

We assessed intergenerational differences in food, physical activity, and body size perceptions among refugees and migrants from the Horn of Africa living in Victoria, Australia. We used a qualitative design and obtained data from 48 participants (18 individual interviews; 3 semistructured focus groups). Three major themes emerged: (a) food and physical activity, (b) preference of body size and social expectations, and (c) perceived consequences of various body sizes. For parents, large body size was perceived to equate with being beautiful and wealthy; slimness was associated with chronic illness and poverty. Parents adopted strategies that promoted weight gain in children. These included tailored food practices and restricting children’s involvement in physical activity. For young people, slimness was the ideal body size endorsed by their peers, and they adopted strategies to resist parental pressure to gain weight. Obesity-prevention programs in this subpopulation need to adopt a multigenerational approach.

Predicting landscape-genetic consequences of habitat loss, fragmentation and mobility for multiple species of woodland birds

Inference concerning the impact of habitat fragmentation on dispersal and gene flow is a key theme in landscape genetics. Recently, the ability of established approaches to identify reliably the differential effects of landscape structure (e.g. land-cover composition, remnant vegetation configuration and extent) on the mobility of organisms has been questioned. More explicit methods of predicting and testing for such effects must move beyond post hoc explanations for single landscapes and species. Here, we document a process for making a priori predictions, using existing spatial and ecological data and expert opinion, of the effects of landscape structure on genetic structure of multiple species across replicated landscape blocks. We compare the results of two common methods for estimating the influence of landscape structure on effective distance: least-cost path analysis and isolation-by-resistance. We present a series of alternative models of genetic connectivity in the study area, represented by different landscape resistance surfaces for calculating effective distance, and identify appropriate null models. The process is applied to ten species of sympatric woodland-dependant birds. For each species, we rank a priori the expectation of fit of genetic response to the models according to the expected response of birds to loss of structural connectivity and landscape-scale tree-cover. These rankings (our hypotheses) are presented for testing with empirical genetic data in a subsequent contribution. We propose that this replicated landscape, multi-species approach offers a robust method for identifying the likely effects of landscape fragmentation on dispersal.

The contributions of first nations ethnicity, income, and delays in surgery on mortality post-fracture : a population-based analysis

Summary We examined the independent contributions of First Nations ethnicity and lower income to post-fracture mortality. A similar relative increase in mortality associated with fracture appears to translate into a larger absolute increase in post-fracture mortality for First Nations compared to non-First Nations peoples. Lower income also predicted increased mortality post-fracture.

Introduction First Nations peoples have a greater risk of mortality than non-First Nations peoples. We examined the independent contributions of First Nations ethnicity and income to mortality post-fracture, and associations with time to surgery post-hip fracture.

Methods Non-traumatic fracture cases and fracture-free controls were identified from population-based administrative data repositories for Manitoba, Canada (aged ≥50 years). Populations were retrospectively matched for sex, age (within 5 years), First Nations ethnicity, and number of comorbidities. Differences in mortality post-fracture of hip, wrist, or spine, 1996–2004 (population 1, n = 63,081), and the hip, 1987–2002(Population 2, n = 41,211) were examined using Cox proportional hazards regression to model time to death. For hip fracture, logistic regression analyses were used to model the probability of death within 30 days and 1 year.

Results Population 1: First Nations ethnicity was associated with an increased mortality risk of 30–53 % for each fracture type. Lower income was associated with an increased mortality risk of 18–26 %. Population 2: lower income predicted mortality overall (odds ratio (OR) 1.15, 95 % confidence interval (CI) 1.07–1.23) and for hip fracture cases (OR 1.18, 95%CI 1.05–1.32), as did older age, male sex, diabetes, and >5 comorbidities (all p ≤ 0.01). Higher mortality was associated with pertrochanteric fracture (OR 1.14, 95 % CI 1.03–1.27), or surgery delay of 2–3 days (OR 1.34, 95 % CI 1.18–1.52) or ≥4 days (OR 2.35, 95 % CI 2.07–2.67).

Conclusion A larger absolute increase in mortality post-fracture was observed for First Nations compared to non-First Nations peoples. Lower income and surgery delay >2 days predicted mortality post-fracture. These data have implications regarding prioritization of healthcare to ensure targeted, timely care for First Nations peoples and/or individuals with lower income.

Mobility of people with retinitis pigmentosa as a function of vision and psychological variables

We investigated the mobility performance of subjects with retinitis pigmentosa (RP) as a function of clinical measures of residual vision and psychological variables. We found a highly significant correlation between clinical measures of residual vision and mobility. Pelli-Robson contrast sensitivity and residual visual field together explained 64% of the variance in mobility performance in an indoor shopping mall. We suggest a simple new clinical method of scoring the visual field for predicting mobility performance, the RP Concentric Field Rating. The RP Concentric Field Rating alone explained 60% of the variance in mobility performance. In spite of expectations derived from reading the recent literature, we did not find a significant correlation between psychological variables and mobility performance in a group of subjects with RP.

Comparison of functional mobility performance with clinical vision measures in simulated Retinitis Pigmentosa

Simulations of retinitis pigmentosa (RP) under various conditions of retinal illuminance were designed and investigated in order that they might be used in the mobility training of clients with early RP. Goggles incorporating a 2.5 neutral density (ND) filter with a 0.5-mm diameter pinhole were found to be a potentially useful simulation device for this purpose. This investigation also compared mobility performance with clinical vision measures under photopic, mesopic, and scotopic conditions of retinal illuminance. Although none of the clinical vision measures we used was entirely predictive of mobility performance, some measures were better predictors than others. For a severe constriction of the visual field and decreasing retinal illuminance, both edge contrast sensitivity and visual acuity, measured outdoors, accounted for a greater proportion of the variance in mobility performance than did low contrast visual acuity measured under the same circumstances. The same clinical vision measures, taken in-doors, were of no value in predicting outdoor mobility performance.

Mind the gap! : A discussion on the disparity between low and high income countries in the provision of mental health care and the implications for capacity building in Kenya’s nursing workforce.

About fourteen per cent of the global burden of disease has been attributed to mental, neurological and substance use disorders. A number of initiatives have been launched in recent years to respond to this, the World Health Organisation (WHO) introduced the Mental Health Gap Action Programme (mhGAP) to address the widening gap between what is needed to provide adequate mental health services and what is currently available, especially in low and middle income countries where the gap is widest.
This discussion paper will focus on mental health nursing in Kenya, a country in East Africa with a population of 42 million people. Mental illness is common in Kenya with up to twenty five per cent prevalence rates, yet mental health services are sparse at the tertiary and primary care level and mental health remains a low budget and policy priority for the government. The aim of this paper is to raise participants’ awareness of the challenges of delivering mental health nursing care in low-income countries such as Kenya, and to explore possible solutions to the problem.