“Don't clone my indie game,bro”: Informal cultures of videogame regulation in the independent sector

In the contemporary games sector, independent developers feel there is an inadequate level of protection for their intellectual property, particularly with regards to game clones. There is also a sense that neither players nor policy-makers completely understand the specificities of how IP may be creatively, if not legally infringed. As a result, there has increasingly been a shift towards the construction of a culture of self-regulation for indie developers, attempting to publicly shame cloners via social media, directly impacting infringers' reputation and sales and bypassing formal regulation.This article uses interviews and workshop discussions with developers to examine the manner in which this informal culture of regulation has been perpetuated in relation to current videogame copyright legislation, and suggests how the interrelation between producers and policy-makers may help to inform the direction of future policy decisions. Examining the way appropriate practice is informally managed in independent gaming, the article considers the soundness of policy in the contemporary videogames industry.     

Kinematic analyses of seated throwing activities with and without an assistive pole

In Paralympic seated throwing events, the athlete can throw with and without an assistive pole. This study aimed to identify and compare performance-related kinematic variables associated with both seated throwing techniques. Twenty-nine non-disabled males (21.9 ± 2.6 years) performed 12 maximal throws using a 1-kg ball in two conditions (no-pole and pole). Automatic 3D-kinematic tracking (150 Hz) and temporal data were acquired. There was no significant difference between ball speeds at the point of release between conditions (no-pole = 12.8 ± 1.6 m/s vs. pole = 12.9 ± 1.5 m/s). There were four kinematic variables that were strongly correlated with ball speed when throwing with or without an assistive pole. These variables were elbow flexion at the start phase (pole r = .39 and no-pole r = .41), maximum shoulder external rotation angular velocity during the arm cocking phase (pole r = .42), maximum shoulder internal rotation angular velocity during the arm acceleration phase (pole r = .47), and should internal rotation angular velocity at the instant of ball release (pole r = .40). The pole clearly influenced the throwing technique with all four strongly correlated variables identified in this condition, compared to only one during the no-pole condition. When using the pole, participants produced significantly higher shoulder internal rotation angular velocities during the arm acceleration phase (pole = 367 ± 183°/s vs. no-pole = 275 ± 178°/s, p < .05) and at the instant of ball release (pole = 355 ± 115°/s vs. no-pole = 264 ± 120°/s, p < .05), compared to throwing without the pole. These findings have implications for the development of evidence-based classification systems in Paralympic seated throwing, and facilitate research that investigates the impact of impairment on seated throwing performance.     

The ball may be round but football is becoming increasingly Arabic: oil money and the rise of the new football order

In 1977 the United Arab Emirates (UAE) recruited the former Leeds United and England manager, Don Revie, to manage the national football team. Revie’s recruitment heralded the Gulf States’ entry into football’s international sphere, which has reshaped the game’s political economy. Confronted by the need to diversify oil monies housed in sovereign wealth funds, Gulf States, most notably the UAE and Qatar, have invested broadly in football. This investment has reshaped football boundaries globally, though not without controversy. It has fuelled allegations of corruption in the bidding process for the 2022 World Cup, inflated player salaries and helped create super-elite European clubs. In doing so, it has eroded the significance of traditional national based competitions and cups. The continuation of this trend will eventually remould elite club football into a competition between mega club brands, either sponsored or owned by resource-rich states like the UAE and Qatar.     

Photometric determination of camera exposures for motion picture work

A photometric method for the determination of camera exposures in motion picture work is described. The relation of exposure, object brightness and lens stop number is derived, and the proportionality constant empirically determined for “Pan Astro” lenses of two- and three-inch focal length. A nomographic chart of the exposure relation is given to simplify the determination of the lens stop number to be used for a given object brightness.     

Continuing Education and the Redrawing of Boundaries

Continuing education, broadly defined to include both vocational and non-vocational kinds of provision, is having an increasing impact within higher education. Its further expansion is now part of government strategy. This expansion will not be achieved without difficulties, and it poses considerable and varied challenges to those who work in higher education. In this paper, we focus on the effects that continuing education is having on established boundaries within higher education — boundaries between different sectors and types of provision, between different subjects and ways of teaching, and between higher education staff and their different skills. As the provision of continuing education increases, existing boundaries will change, become more permeable or be broken down altogether while new divisions and distinctions are created and built up.     

IS THERE REAL OPINION CHANGE?

Public opinion research in general and the study of opinionchange in particular have frequently been challenged as unreliable.Attitudinal measurements are characterized as merely reflectingnon-attitudes, labile moods, and/or methodological artefacts.Given this basis, the measurement of opinion change is seenas a product of random variations and systematic biases ratherthan as reliably measuring true change. However, most opinionchange is (1) not chaotic, but slow and steady and (2) largelyexplicable. Even opinion change that is rapid and/or multi-directionalcan be plausibly explained. Measurement variation does howeveroften distort time series and greatly complicates the reliableassessment of true change.     

Applying scientific openmindedness to religion and science education

Mahner's and Bunge's two main theses are nearly correct as social reports but the extent to which they are wrong is philosophically very important. I draw attention to a philosophically superior way of viewing the essential relation between science and religion which can have a humane or benign influence upon how both science and religion are taught. On the one hand, science does not need to fight religion nor try to suppress it. A generous openness of mind, which distinguishes the critical rationality implicit in the advance of science, deserves to be applied without acrimony to any systems of thought that purport to explain the universe. On the other hand, religions have no need to fear the growth of scientific knowledge, provided science is not confused, as Mahner and Bunge confuse it, with its materialistic interpretation.