The Gamification of Journalism
Traditional news outlets are on the decline and journalism has embraced digital media in its struggle tosurvive. New models of delivering news to the public are being explored in order to increase the levelsof readership and user engagement.The narrative of this chapter focuses on the future of journalismand media, and the potential benefits and dangers of gamifying journalism. Since gamification is a newtrend, a thorough look at the intersection between the enhancements of public mobility, the digitalizationof news services, and the engagement of gamified systems can bring better understanding of futurechannels of reading news to the users, to researchers, and to the industry. This chapter aims to bridgethe gap between gamification as an emerging practice in news distribution and yet a vastly unchartedarea or research.
Newsgames: Theory and Design
Computer games have a long history as entertainment media, but their use for educational or political communication is relatively recent. This paper explores the use of computer games as news media. Newsgames are computer games used to participate in the public sphere with the intention of explaining or commenting on current news. The paper provides a set of concepts for analyzing newsgames, based on public service theory. The paper expands this analytical approach with a reflection on game design methodologies for creating newsgames.
Pharmacokinetics of Mivacurium Isomers and Their Metabolites in Healthy Volunteers after Intravenous Bolus Administration
Background Previous studies report the pharmacokinetics of mivacurium isomers after an infusion using venous blood sampling. Although the extent of the mivacurium arterial‐venous gradient is not known, the sampling site is likely to influence mivacurium pharmacokinetic parameters because the drug is rapidly metabolized as it traverses the circulation. The objectives of this study were (1) to determine the pharmacokinetics of mivacurium isomers in healthy persons after intravenous bolus administration using intensive arterial blood sampling, and (2) to characterize the formation and elimination of mivacurium metabolites in human plasma. Methods Eight persons classified as American Society of Anesthesiologists physical status 1 or 2 who were scheduled to undergo elective surgery under balanced anesthesia received 0.15 mg/kg mivacurium chloride as an intravenous bolus. Arterial blood samples were collected every 10 s during the first 2 min and at frequent intervals for 4 h thereafter. Plasma concentrations of mivacurium isomers and their metabolites were determined by two stereoselective high‐performance liquid chromatographic methods coupled with fluorometric detection and noncompartmental pharmacokinetic parameters. Results Mean elimination half‐lives of the trans‐trans, cis‐trans, and cis‐cis isomers were 2.4, 2, and 28.5 min, respectively, with corresponding mean plasma clearances of 29.2, 45.7, and 6.7 ml [center dot] min‐1 [center dot] kg‐1. The volumes of distribution at steady state of the trans‐trans, cis‐trans, and cis‐cis isomers were 0.047, 0.054, and 0.189 l/kg, respectively. Plasma concentrations of monoester and alcohol metabolites peaked 25 s (median) after mivacurium injection, with half‐lives in the range of 90 min, except for the cis alcohol metabolite, which was only negligibly and transiently formed. Conclusions Substantial hydrolysis of mivacurium isomers by cholinesterases was confirmed by the rapid appearance of mivacurium metabolites in plasma. The intensive arterial sampling proved to be critical for the trans‐trans and cis‐trans isomers because the area under the curve between 0 and 2 min accounted for 75% and 86% of the total, respectively.