Prevalence and Characteristics of Game Transfer Phenomena: A Descriptive Survey Study

Previous qualitative studies suggest that gamers experience Game Transfer Phenomena (GTP), a variety of non-volitional phenomena related to playing videogames including thoughts, urges, images, and sounds when not playing. To investigate (i) which types of GTP were more common and (ii) their general characteristics, the present study surveyed a total of 2362 gamers via an online survey. The majority of the participants were male, students, aged between 18 and 27 years, and “hard-core” gamers. Most participants reported having experienced at least one type of GTP at some point (96.6%), the majority having experienced GTP more than once, with many reporting 6 to 10 different types of GTP. Results demonstrated that videogame players experienced (i) altered visual perceptions, (ii) altered auditory perceptions, (iii) altered body perceptions, (iv) automated mental processes, and (v) behaviors. In most cases, GTP could not be explained by being under the influence of a psychoactive substance. The GTP experiences were usually short-lived, tended to occur after videogame playing rather than during play, occurred recurrently, and usually occurred while doing day-to-day activities. One in five gamers had experienced some type of distress or dysfunction due to GTP. Many experienced GTP as pleasant and some wanted GTP to happen again.     

Development of a novel device for applying uniform doses of electron beam irradiation on carcasses

The Maxim's Electron Scatter Chamber (Maxim Chamber) was developed to obtain uniform dose distribution when applying electron beam (e-beam) irradiation to materials of irregular surface. This was achieved by placing a stainless steel mesh surrounding a cylindrical area where the target sample was placed. Upon contact with the mesh, electrons scatter and are directed onto the target from multiple angles, eliminating the e-beam linearity and resulting in a uniform dose distribution over the target surface. The effect of irradiation in the Maxim Chamber on dose distribution and pathogen reduction was tested on rabbit carcasses to simulate other larger carcasses. The dose uniformity ratio (DUR) on the rabbit carcasses was 1.8, indicating an acceptable dose distribution. On inoculated carcasses, this treatment reduced Escherichia coli O157:H7 by > 5 log cycles. These results indicate that carcass irradiation using e-beam is feasible using the Maxim's electron scattering chamber. Appropriate adjustments will be further needed for commercial application on beef and other animal carcasses.     

Idiosyncratic Drug-Induced Liver Injury: Mechanistic and Clinical Challenges

Idiosyncratic drug-induced liver injury (IDILI) remains a significant problem for patients and drug development. The idiosyncratic nature of IDILI makes mechanistic studies difficult, and little is known of its pathogenesis for certain. Circumstantial evidence suggests that most, but not all, IDILI is caused by reactive metabolites of drugs that are bioactivated by cytochromes P450 and other enzymes in the liver. Additionally, there is overwhelming evidence that most IDILI is mediated by the adaptive immune system; one example being the association of IDILI caused by specific drugs with specific human leukocyte antigen (HLA) haplotypes, and this may in part explain the idiosyncratic nature of these reactions. The T cell receptor repertoire likely also contributes to the idiosyncratic nature. Although most of the liver injury is likely mediated by the adaptive immune system, specifically cytotoxic CD8+ T cells, adaptive immune activation first requires an innate immune response to activate antigen presenting cells and produce cytokines required for T cell proliferation. This innate response is likely caused by either a reactive metabolite or some form of cell stress that is clinically silent but not idiosyncratic. If this is true it would make it possible to study the early steps in the immune response that in some patients can lead to IDILI. Other hypotheses have been proposed, such as mitochondrial injury, inhibition of the bile salt export pump, unfolded protein response, and oxidative stress although, in most cases, it is likely that they are also involved in the initiation of an immune response rather than representing a completely separate mechanism. Using the clinical manifestations of liver injury from a number of examples of IDILI-associated drugs, this review aims to summarize and illustrate these mechanistic hypotheses.     

Awardee Selection Procedures,With Special Reference to the Frank Wilcoxon and Jack Youden Prizes

The selection procedures used currently and since 1977 for award of the Frank Wilcoxon and Jack Youden prizes are described. Using real data from the 1976 awards competition, it is shown that different methods of combining judges' ratings would yield different winners, and that which procedure is best is not intuitively obvious. Finally it is shown how the current method was chosen on the basis of probability of correct selection considerations.     

Data Mining for Vehicle Telemetry

This article presents a data mining methodology for driving-condition monitoring via CAN-bus data that is based on the general data mining process. The approach is applicable to many driving condition problems, and the example of road type classification without the use of location information is investigated. Location information from Global Positioning Satellites and related map data are often not available (for business reasons), or cannot represent the full dynamics of road conditions. In this work, Controller Area Network (CAN)-bus signals are used instead as inputs to models produced by machine learning algorithms. Road type classification is formulated as two related labeling problems: Road Type (A, B, C, and Motorway) and Carriageway Type (Single or Dual). An investigation is presented into preprocessing steps required prior to applying machine learning algorithms, that is, signal selection, feature extraction, and feature selection. The selection methods used include principal components analysis (PCA) and mutual information (MI), which are used to determine the relevance and redundancy of extracted features and are performed in various combinations. Finally, because there is an inherent bias toward certain road and carriageway labelings, the issue of class imbalance in classification is explained and investigated. A system is produced, which is demonstrated to successfully ascertain road type from CAN-bus data, and it is shown that the classification correlates well with input signals such as vehicle speed, steering wheel angle, and suspension height.     

THE TWO-MESSAGE PROBLEM IN CIPHER TEXT AUTOKEY. PART II

This is Part II of a two-part paper on the problem of the title. In this part the analysis of the two-message problem started in Part I is completed. In addition a brief discussion is given of a computer-assisted solution. A list of twelve two-message problems involving several types of conditions is attached for the benefit of the reader.     

APPLICATIONS OF THE DRAZIN INVERSE TO THE HILL CRYPTOGRAPHIC SYSTEM. PART III.

In this part it is shown how the scalar unit coefficient a appearing in the W key formula (see Part I) can be replaced by an invertible matrix coefficient Γ. (A similar discussion with respect to the V key will appear In Part IV.) Various examples illustrate in detail the different procedures involved. Some examples in the encipherment and decipherment calculations are left as problems for the reader. The Appendix contains a proof of the main theorem.