The elusive “indieness"

This article aims to investigate what are the internal and external marking traits of indie games. Building up on previous efforts from other scholars, we developed a mix method research approach relying on interviews with indie game developers and a quantitative survey. Rather than trying to “re-invent the wheel” by proposing a new definition for the term, we attempt to map out what are the significant distinctive factors present in contemporary indie game from the perspective of developers and non-developers alike, while also discussing the changes of meaning it might have been subject to over time. We found that the determiningtraits of what allows one to perceive a game as indie change over time,andthat,despite thecorefact thatcreative independence remainsthe central feature of all indie games, the conditions for achieving this independence appear to be rather flexible, especially when it comes to issues of funding and publishing agreements. Additionally, our findings point to the term "indie" as being highly mutable and reliant on temporal and contextual aspects, with the qualities that divideindie fromnon-indie games being more akin to a continuum than something rigidly binary.

The ambiguous impacts of alternative livelihoods on fisher wellbeing in a closed access fish sanctuary in Port Antonio, Jamaica

Alternative livelihood programs are a central feature of contemporary conservation planning that aim to aid efforts to reduce pressure on natural resources and avoid, minimize, or mitigate the impacts of conservation on the wellbeing of local stakeholders. Evidence of the effectiveness of these programs is, however, decidedly mixed. This research examines the relationship between livelihoods, conservation, and wellbeing among nearshore fishers in Port Antonio, Jamaica, in the context of a recently established marine no-take area. The East Portland Fish Sanctuary was established in 2016 with the aim of supporting the recovery of depleted nearshore fish stocks, marine habitats, and mitigating impacts on local communities and fishers through a range of activities. Mitigation of impacts included efforts to shift pressure from overexploited nearshore fish stocks to offshore resources and to provide support to fishers for training and opportunities to earn income in the tourism sector. The results suggest that additional sources of income tended to enhance the wellbeing of fishers across several dimensions but that it also contributed to additional pressure on nearshore resources. Furthermore, neither tourism nor offshore fishing appear to be particularly promising in terms of their ability to deliver “win-win” outcomes for conservation and wellbeing. Instead, the results suggest that the impacts of different types of alternative livelihoods on conservation and wellbeing are highly variable and perhaps that efforts should be redirected to supporting efforts to provide suitable and acceptable alternatives to spearfishing which appears to have one of the largest overall impacts on individual harvest rates.

Event catering

Food is not only essential for our sustenance and survival but often defines a culture. It is in fact, a central feature of most cultures and lifestyles around the world. Cultural elements that can be expressed through the food that people eat, the way in which it is prepared, and the knowledge, skills and rituals that surround gastronomic traditions, are useful and effective ways of communicating and sustaining a national culture. As a result, food represents a particularly important element at cultural festivals and events.

On a solution of the closure problem for dry convective boundary layer turbulence and beyond

We consider the closure problem of representing the higher order moments (HOMs) in terms of lower-order moments, a central feature in turbulence modelling based on the Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) approach. Our focus is on models suited for the description of asymmetric, non-local and semi-organized turbulence in the dry atmospheric convective boundary layer (CBL). We establish a multivariate probability density function (PDF) describing populations of plumes which are embedded in a sea of weaker randomly spaced eddies, and apply an assumed Delta-PDF approximation. The main content of this approach consists of capturing the bulk properties of the PDF. We solve the closure problem analytically for all relevant higher order moments (HOMs) involving velocity components and temperature and establish a hierarchy of new non-Gaussian turbulence closure models of different content and complexity ranging from analytical to semi-analytical. All HOMs in the hierarchy have a universal and simple functional form. They refine the widely used Millionshchikov closure hypothesis and generalize the famous quadratic skewness-kurtosis relationship to higher-order. We examine the performance of the new closures by comparison with measurement, LES and DNS data and derive empirical constants for semi-analytical models, which are best for practical applications. We show that the new models have a good skill in predicting the HOMs for atmospheric CBL. Our closures can be implemented in second-, third- and fourth-order RANS turbulence closure models of bi-, tri-and four-variate levels of complexity. Finally, several possible generalizations of our approach are discussed.

Effective connectivity of LSD-induced ego dissolution

Classic psychedelic-induced ego dissolution involves a shift in the sense of self and blurring of boundary between the self and the world. A similar phenomenon is identified in psychopathology and is associated to the balance of anticorrelated activity between the default mode network (DMN) – which directs attention inwards – and the salience network (SN) – which recruits the dorsal attention network (DAN) to direct attention outward. To test whether change in anticorrelated networks underlie the peak effects of LSD, we applied dynamic causal modeling to infer effective connectivity of resting state functional MRI scans from a study of 25 healthy adults who were administered 100mg of LSD, or placebo. We found that change in inhibitory effective connectivity from the SN to DMN became excitatory, and inhibitory effective connectivity from DMN to DAN decreased under the peak effect of LSD. These changes in connectivity reflect diminution of the anticorrelation between resting state networks that may be a key neural mechanism of LSD-induced ego dissolution. Our findings suggest the hierarchically organised balance of resting state networks is a central feature in the construct of self.SignificanceThe findings can inform the parallel between the maintenance of subject-object boundary and changes to anticorrelated canonical resting state brain networks. Effective connectivity informs the hierarchical organisation of brain networks underlying modes of perception. Moreover, the anticorrelation of brain networks is an important measure of mental function. Understanding the neural mechanisms of anticorrelation change under psychedelics help identify its relationship to psychosis and its association to psychedelic assisted therapeutic outcomes.

The Perennial Impact of Salesian Accompaniment in a Context of Detraditionalisation

This article will begin by referencing briefly the notion of detraditionalisation—referencing scholars such as Lieven Boeve, who has written extensively on the issue. By way of contrast, accompaniment constitutes a perennial theme in a Christian context, best encapsulated in the Emmaus story (Luke 22:13–35), when Jesus accompanies the two disciples on what could be described as a journey of discovery. This journey paradigm, which underpins many religious education programmes, constitutes a central feature of the Salesian education vision known as the Preventive System. St John Bosco (1815–1888), the founder of the Salesians, was concerned with the transformation of the lives of every young person with whom he came into contact, resonating with ‘the uniqueness of the individual’, one of the key principles of Catholic education. According to one of his first Salesians, Bosco encouraged them to ‘go to the pump’, to meet young people where they had gathered and to engage in a genuine encounter. This article will explore the extent to which this model of effective presence and encounter reflects, firstly, Jesus as the Shepherd and, secondly, the vision of St John Bosco which involves the teacher/pastoral worker and the accompanied meeting each other and having frequent encounters in informal ways in a variety of environments, marked by openness, trust and availability. Research will be retrieved to exemplify the perennial impact of Salesian accompaniment in Salesian secondary schools in England in which students are, in general, familiar with the Christian faith and its central tenets.

Ikere-Ekiti in Art and Cultural Narratives

Ikere, a city in Ekiti State of southwestern Nigeria, comes up often in the literature of art history on two principal accounts: first, its art and architecture, and second, its major annual fesitval. These are the two central concerns of this paper. In the first part, the unique architecture of the afin and the traditional sculptures that were its central feature present the opportunity to examine the interconnectedness of continuity and change, tradition and modernity, and the centrality of art in the Oba's quest for political pre-eminence. Ikere came to in­ternational attention through the vlrtuoslc sculptures of one of Africa's master carvers--Olowe (ca. 1873-1938), who lived in Ise-Ekiti, a town about 15 miles east of Ikere. In addition to offering new insights into the relevance of Olowe to Ikere, this essay posits a re-examination of the birth year of Olowe. In the sec­ond part, this essay dissects the Olosunta festival, which remains central to the collective identity of a people who subscribe to different religious doctrines. The early history of Ikere acknowledges the city as a site for the simultaneous reign of two rulers, the Ogoga and the Olukere. But it is the annual celebration of the Olosunta festival that serves as the rallying point for the indigenes of the city at the same time that it provides a time-honored structure for handling potentially explosive cultural and political contestations.

De Novo Design of Immunoglobulin-like Domains

Antibodies and antibody derivatives such as nanobodies contain immunoglobulin-like (Ig) [beta]-sandwich scaffolds which anchor the hypervariable antigen-binding loops and constitute the largest growing class of drugs. Current engineering strategies for this class of compounds rely on naturally existing Ig frameworks, which can be hard to modify and have limitations in manufacturability, designability and range of action. Here we develop design rules for the central feature of the Ig fold architecture - the non-local cross-[beta]; structure connecting the two [beta]-sheets - and use these to de novo design highly stable seven-stranded Ig domains, confirm their structures through X-ray crystallography, and show they can correctly scaffold functional loops. Our approach opens the door to the design of a new class of antibody-like scaffolds with tailored structures and superior biophysical properties.

Let's Play GOLF!

A central feature of the “free will defense” as developed by Alvin Plantinga is his response to the claim that God can create a world containing creatures with libertarian freedom that contains no moral evil. Plantinga’s response appeals to the notion of “morally significant freedom” according to which free creatures, in order to do moral good, must be capable of moral evil. In this paper, I argue, first, that morally significant freedom is not required for free creatures to do moral good and, second, that other recent attempts to necessitate a creaturely capability for evil likewise fail. The upshot of my paper is that the free will defense simply won’t work because it is possible and feasible for God to create a world containing libertarianly free creatures capable of moral good and yet containing no moral evil.