A Wicked Game

A Wicked Game is an installation comprised of a video game in an arcade cabinet, photographs, sound, and sculpture. The installation explores the complexity of play and personal memory. Working from the concept of “wicked” (Epstein) learning environments – domains with hidden rules, unstable structures, and inconsistent feedback – the project constructs a playable space, where players must navigate an inhospitable environment, echoing the experience of living in a world that resists accommodation. The installation centers around an all-black arcade cabinet placed in a darkened gallery space, inviting visitors to play A Wicked Game. The game demands the player know things which are never taught, demands that they contort themselves to a constantly changing control scheme, and success requires mastery combined with luck. The narrator is deliberately inhospitable. The game’s mechanics disorient and confuse, both repelling and enticing the player. Other works in the exhibition reinforce themes of loss, memory, and uncertainty. Personal storytelling is interwoven with scholarly discourse and design research, positioning the work as both autobiographical and theoretical. A Wicked Game traverses an artistic practice informed by game logic, resisting clarity and embracing complexity. It invites players to reflect on what it means to inhabit systems that are unstable, arbitrary, and often unjust to imagine new forms of cooperative play and shared empathy

A Wicked Game

A Wicked Game is an installation comprised of a video game in an arcade cabinet, photographs, sound, and sculpture. The installation explores the complexity of play and personal memory. Working from the concept of “wicked” (Epstein) learning environments – domains with hidden rules, unstable structures, and inconsistent feedback – the project constructs a playable space, where players must navigate an inhospitable environment, echoing the experience of living in a world that resists accommodation. The installation centers around an all-black arcade cabinet placed in a darkened gallery space, inviting visitors to play A Wicked Game. The game demands the player know things which are never taught, demands that they contort themselves to a constantly changing control scheme, and success requires mastery combined with luck. The narrator is deliberately inhospitable. The game’s mechanics disorient and confuse, both repelling and enticing the player. Other works in the exhibition reinforce themes of loss, memory, and uncertainty. Personal storytelling is interwoven with scholarly discourse and design research, positioning the work as both autobiographical and theoretical. A Wicked Game traverses an artistic practice informed by game logic, resisting clarity and embracing complexity. It invites players to reflect on what it means to inhabit systems that are unstable, arbitrary, and often unjust to imagine new forms of cooperative play and shared empathy

Solution structure of ψ(32)-modified anticodon stem–loop of Escherichia coli tRNA(Phe)

Nucleoside base modifications can alter the structures and dynamics of RNA molecules and are important in tRNAs for maintaining translational fidelity and efficiency. The unmodified anticodon stem–loop from Escherichia coli tRNA(Phe) forms a trinucleotide loop in solution, but Mg(2+) and dimethylallyl modification of A(37) N6 destabilize the loop-proximal base pairs and increase the mobility of the loop nucleotides. The anticodon arm has three additional modifications, ψ(32), ψ(39), and A(37) C2-thiomethyl. We have used NMR spectroscopy to investigate the structural and dynamical effects of ψ(32) on the anticodon stem-loop from E.coli tRNA(Phe). The ψ(32) modification does not significantly alter the structure of the anticodon stem–loop relative to the unmodified parent molecule. The stem of the RNA molecule includes base pairs ψ(32)-A(38) and U(33)–A(37) and the base of ψ(32) stacks between U(33) and A(31). The glycosidic bond of ψ(32) is in the anti configuration and is paired with A(38) in a Watson–Crick geometry, unlike residue 32 in most crystal structures of tRNA. The ψ(32) modification increases the melting temperature of the stem by ∼3.5°C, although the ψ(32) and U(33) imino resonances are exchange broadened. The results suggest that ψ(32) functions to preserve the stem integrity in the presence of additional loop modifications or after reorganization of the loop into a translationally functional conformation

Indoor Positioning Trends in 5G-Advanced: Challenges and Solution towards Centimeter-level Accuracy

After robust connectivity, precise positioning is evolving into an innovative component of 5G service offerings for industrial use-cases and verticals with challenging indoor radio environments. In this direction, the 3GPP Rel-16 standard has been a tipping point in specifying critical innovations, followed by enhancements in Rel-17+. In this article, we follow this path to elaborate on the 5G positioning framework, measurements, and methods before shifting the focus to carrier-phase (CP) measurements as a complementary measure for time- and angular-based positioning methods toward achieving centimeter-level accuracy. As this path is not without challenges, we discuss these and outline potential solutions. As an example of solutions, we study how phase-continuous reference signaling can counter noisy phase measurements using realistic simulations in an indoor factory (InF) scenario.Comment: 5 figures, 1 table, under review for possible publication in IEEE Communications Magazin

Pokolenie Y - wartości i oczekiwania wobec pracy i pracodawcy

Pokolenie Y to pojęcie powszechnie znane. W perspektywie najbliższej dekady pokolenie te będzie główną siłą roboczą. Wielu pracodawców zwraca już dziś uwagę na problemy związane z zarządzaniem pracownikami młodego pokolenia. W opinii badaczy jest to pokolenie dobrze wykształcone, ambitne, stawiające przed sobą wiele wyzwań. Celem niniejszego artykułu jest diagnoza oczekiwań pokolenia Y w stosunku do przyszłych pracodawców. Badaniem objęto 100 studentów Politechniki Białostockiej, reprezentujących pokolenie Y. Jako narzędzie badań zastosowano kwestionariusz ankiety. Wyniki badań wskazują na wiele podobieństw, ale i różnic w oczekiwaniach młodych ludzi na rynku pracy

NMR structure and dynamics of the RNA-binding site for the histone mRNA stem-loop binding protein

The 3' end of replication-dependent histone mRNAs terminate in a conserved sequence containing a stem-loop. This 26-nt sequence is the binding site for a protein, stem-loop binding protein (SLBP), that is involved in multiple aspects of histone mRNA metabolism and regulation. We have determined the structure of the 26-nt sequence by multidimensional NMR spectroscopy. There is a 16-nt stem-loop motif, with a conserved 6-bp stem and a 4-nt loop. The loop is closed by a conserved U.A base pair that terminates the canonical A-form stem. The pyrimidine-rich 4-nt loop, UUUC, is well organized with the three uridines stacking on the helix, and the fourth base extending across the major groove into the solvent. The flanking nucleotides at the base of the hairpin stem do not assume a unique conformation, despite the fact that the 5' flanking nucleotides are a critical component of the SLBP binding site

Impact of Post-arrest Care Variation on Hospital Performance After Out-of-hospital Cardiac Arrest

BACKGROUND: Large variation exists for out-of-hospital-cardiac-arrest (OHCA) prehospital care, but less is known about variations in post-arrest care. We sought to evaluate variation in post-arrest care in Texas as well as factors associated with higher performing hospitals. METHODS: We analyzed data in Texas Cardiac Arrest Registry to Enhance Survival (TX-CARES), including all adult, non-traumatic OHCAs from 1/1/2014 through 12/31/ 2020 that survived to hospital admission. We first evaluated variability in provisions of post-arrest care and outcomes. We then stratified hospitals into quartiles based on their rate of survival and evaluated the association between improving quartiles and care. Lastly, we evaluated for outliers in post-arrest care and outcomes using a mixed-effect regression model. RESULTS: We analyzed 7,842 OHCAs admitted to 146 hospitals. We identified large variations in post-arrest care, including targeted temperature management (TTM) (IQR 7.0-51.1%), left heart catheterization (LHC) (IQ 0-25%), and percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) (IQR 0-10.3%). Higher performing hospital quartiles were associated with higher rates of TTM (aOR 1.42, 95% CI 1.36-1.49), LHC (aOR 2.07, 95% CI 1.92-2.23), and PCI (aOR 2.02, 95% CI 1.81-2.25); but lower rates of bystander CPR (aOR 0.90, 95% CI 0.87-0.94). We identified numerous performance outlier hospitals; 39 for TTM, 34 for PCI, 9 for survival to discharge, and 24 for survival with good neurologic function. CONCLUSIONS: Post-arrest care varied widely across Texas hospitals. Hospitals with higher rates of survival to discharge had increased rates of TTM, LHC, and PCI but not bystander CPR

NMR structure and dynamics of the Specifier Loop domain from the Bacillus subtilis tyrS T box leader RNA

Gram-positive bacteria utilize a tRNA-responsive transcription antitermination mechanism, designated the T box system, to regulate expression of many amino acid biosynthetic and aminoacyl-tRNA synthetase genes. The RNA transcripts of genes controlled by this mechanism contain 5′ untranslated regions, or leader RNAs, that specifically bind cognate tRNA molecules through pairing of nucleotides in the tRNA anticodon loop with nucleotides in the Specifier Loop domain of the leader RNA. We have determined the solution structure of the Specifier Loop domain of the tyrS leader RNA from Bacillus subtilis. Fifty percent of the nucleotides in the Specifier Loop domain adopt a loop E motif. The Specifier Sequence nucleotides, which pair with the tRNA anticodon, stack with their Watson–Crick edges rotated toward the minor groove and exhibit only modest flexibility. We also show that a Specifier Loop domain mutation that impairs the function of the B. subtilis glyQS T box RNA disrupts the tyrS loop E motif. Our results suggest a mechanism for tRNA–Specifier Loop binding in which the phosphate backbone kink created by the loop E motif causes the Specifier Sequence bases to rotate toward the minor groove, which increases accessibility for pairing with bases in the anticodon loop of tRNA