Missing in Action? Electronic Gaming Machines in Gambling Studies Research

In the past thirty years casinos across the world have become dominated by the rise of “electronic gaming machines” (EGMs). Expanding with tremendous speed, this technology has arguably become the dominant form of non-online gambling around the world at time of writing (DeMichele, 2017; Schwartz, 2018). EGMs are also noted as being one of the most harmful forms of gambling, with significant numbers of players betting beyond their financial limits (MacLaren et al, 2012; Stewart & Wohl, 2013), spending a disproportionate amount of time playing (Cummings, 1999; Ballon, 2005; Schüll, 2012; cf. Dickerson, 1996), becoming disconnected from the world outside of the “zone” (Schüll, 2012) of gambling play, and even becoming bankrupt or otherwise financially crippled as a result of their use (Petry, 2003; Scarf et al, 2011). Using metadata from Web of Science and Scopus databases, we analysed peer-reviewed gambling research produced in Australia, New Zealand, North America and the UK published between 1996 and 2016. Surprisingly, we found that the overwhelming of majority of articles do not specifically address EGMs as the most popular and pervasive gambling technology available. Our paper teases out some concerning implications of this finding for the interdisciplinary field of gambling studies

Neural coding strategies and mechanisms of competition

A long running debate has concerned the question of whether neural representations are encoded using a distributed or a local coding scheme. In both schemes individual neurons respond to certain specific patterns of pre-synaptic activity. Hence, rather than being dichotomous, both coding schemes are based on the same representational mechanism. We argue that a population of neurons needs to be capable of learning both local and distributed representations, as appropriate to the task, and should be capable of generating both local and distributed codes in response to different stimuli. Many neural network algorithms, which are often employed as models of cognitive processes, fail to meet all these requirements. In contrast, we present a neural network architecture which enables a single algorithm to efficiently learn, and respond using, both types of coding scheme

WPS Curriculum Development

This session will provide an overview regarding the “what” and “how” of teaching WPS based on personal experience over the past ten years teaching WPS civilian graduate and undergraduate courses, integrating WPS into PME core classes, WPS lectures to domestic and international military and civilian audiences, and as part of security cooperation modules. Information provided will focus on learning objectives currently used, challenges encountered, curricular material and methods that has been found useful, best practices to date and ideas regarding what needs to be done going forward to fully integrate WPS into PME and military operations. The intent is to generate discussion integrating the experiences presented with those of others in the audience toward maximizing efforts and effectiveness.https://digital-commons.usnwc.edu/wps/1009/thumbnail.jp

Therapeutic Alliance Between African American Clients and European American Providers: A Phenomenological Study

African Americans do not seek mental health help at the same rate, as do European Americans; furthermore, African Americans who do seek help tend to leave therapy prematurely. A poor therapeutic alliance between African American clients and European American clinicians may be one reason that African Americans do not seek therapy or leave prematurely. The purpose of this phenomenological study was to understand the lived experience of African American clients in therapeutic relationship with European American clinicians. Rogers\u27 theory of therapeutic alliance, which included empathy as a key concept, served as the conceptual framework of this study. Through purposeful sampling methodology, 10 participants were invited to participate, based on self-report of being African American and having had therapy with a European American clinician. Participants were interviewed regarding their lived experiences in therapy with a European American clinician. Interviews were recorded, transcribed, and analyzed using thematic analysis. There were 13 thematic findings. Findings revealed that more participants reported positive experiences in therapy than did participants who reported negative experiences. Empathy, therapeutic alliance, and trust were key factors to positive outcomes. Knowing and implementing what factors lead to positive alliance has valuable social change implications for European American clinicians and their African American patients. Clinicians should be trained in the importance of empathy, therapeutic alliance, and trust, especially when working in mixed racial therapeutic dyads

People Before Things

People Before Things delivers an entertaining and informative overview of factors that impact why some organizations fail when implementing new technologies and others succeed. The author, Chris Laping, has more than 25 years of experience in information technology and business transformation. All leaders of technology have experienced push back when implementing new technologies, and this book provides insight on assisting leaders in making “change” more transformative. This book is an excellent resource not only for technology leaders and enthusiasts, but it is beneficial for all leaders of any organization. In reviewing this book, the principal criteria included advice, content, organization, and reference sources. Laping discusses his own real-world experiences that consist of failures and successes of leading IT change efforts while providing support and advice to assist readers in becoming change leaders

Aerodynamic Design and Exploration of a Blended Wing Body Aircraft at Subsonic Speed

Blended Wing Body (BWB) is a novel aircraft concept which provides many different aerodynamic benefits over conventional aircrafts design. This research investigated the BWB design, L/D characteristics, surface pressure distribution and span-wise lift distribution of a BWB aircraft at low to medium subsonic speeds. A BWB model was designed, manufactured and tested in a subsonic wind tunnel to validate the CFD simulation. The results gained from the investigation proved that BWB has a L/D improvement of 9.4% than conventional aircrafts and 21% increase at medium subsonic speeds (Mach 0.6) compared to lower subsonic speeds of 25 m/sec. It was found that the lift minimally increases between the two speeds; however the improvement is generated due to drag reduction. The drag reduction is accomplished due to boundary layer attachment for a longer period of time before separation occurs. It is this difference which generates the lift to drag ratio improvement

Functions of Ecosystems: Stream Metabolism as an efficient and effective means to gage the health and understand the interworking of urban streams in a watershed of Rock Island, IL

Stream metabolism is a critical functional measure of stream health that integrates physical parameters like slope and discharge, with ecosystem functions like photosynthesis and respiration. Stream metabolism is widely studied; however, urban stream metabolism remains poorly understood. Stream metabolism was measured for five streams ranging from 1st to 5th orders from October 11th to October 18th 2017 and four streams ranging from 1st to 4th order from October 22nd to 25th 2017 located within an approximately 9.3 square kilometer watershed of Rock Island, IL that has an urban to suburban type of development. These measurements were carried out using calibrated HACH water quality multiprobes measuring continuous temperature and oxygen concentrations over five days for the earlier data collection and three days for the later data collection at thirty-minute intervals. Metabolism was estimated using a Monte Carlo Markov Chain approach that took into account irradiance and gas-transfer velocity to estimate the 24 hr average and time stepped community respiration, gross primary production, and the total mass flux of O2 by gas exchange. This data was then compared with previously collected physical and chemical data from each site. All sites were characterized by relatively low rates of gross primary production that were far less than community respiration, a pattern that indicates a reliance on energy input from outside the stream rather than in stream photosynthesis. Variation in respiration and photosynthesis were poorly explained by the existing water quality data for the sites (range of R2 data). However, two of the sites experienced transient drops in dissolved oxygen to at or near 0 mg/l. When those two sites are removed from the analysis, total Phosphate concentration (mg/l) and fecal coliform where both negatively related to integrated community respiration (R2 value of .4965 and .53 respectively). These transient drops in oxygen remain unexplained but show the importance of continuous monitoring for capturing potentially critical ecosystem events

Covid-19 Effects on Libraries Goes Beyond Books: Lead City University in Perspective

Information is a resource that is naturally needed in all aspects of human endeavors and the library, as an institution responsible for the acquisition, organization and dissemination of information is highly sought by information users. However, the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic has led to the closure or restriction of access to libraries all over the world, of which the Lead City University Library was not an exception. This article contends that the restrictions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic has a wide ranging impact on the library and its users that goes beyond lack of access to books and other information resources. This is because the library is a social institution which has become more of a community center where people can come together not only to access information but also to learn new skills and make new connections in their quest for enlightenment, leisure, up skilling, learning, re-learning and self-fulfillment. To ameliorate this situation and maintain the relevance of the library, the study recommended that it is important that academic libraries invest more on Information Technology infrastructures and electronic resources. Librarians also need to acquire improved ICT skills needed for virtual interaction with information users which is sacrosanct in this era of the new normal

Book Review: Bloodlands: Europe between Hitler and Stalin

Author: Timothy Snyder Reviewed by Rev. Dr. Wylie W. Johnson, US Army War College class of 2010 Covering the rules of Hitler and Stalin between 1933 and 1945, Bloodlands: Europe between Hitler and Stalin, explores three periods of genocide in which “two great ideological powers that worked out their Darwinian fantasies at the expense of peoples they identified by religion, ethnicity, ideology, and location.” In addition to military casualties, 14 million noncombatants died. The reviewer notes, “Bloodlands is an important book for US military leaders of all ranks for two reasons. First, it is a stark warning to professional warriors about the evils perpetrated by military forces unbridled by ethical and religious morality. Second, given the ongoing Ukrainian conflict, one must recognize that the historical roots of today’s conflict are intensely personal to the people of Ukraine.”https://press.armywarcollege.edu/parameters_bookshelf/1016/thumbnail.jp