11,482 research outputs found
Impact of Internet gambling on problem gambling among adolescents in Italy: Findings from a large-scale nationally representative survey
Aims: The primary aim of the present study was to understand the impact of online gambling on gambling problems in a large-scale nationally representative sample of Italian youth, and to identify and then further examine a subgroup of online gamblers who reported higher rates of gambling problems. Design: Data from the ESPADÂźItalia2013 (European School Survey Project on Alcohol and Other Drugs) Study were used for analyses of adolescent Internet gambling. Setting: Self-administered questionnaires were completed by a representative sample of high school students, aged 15â19 years. Participants: A total of 14,778 adolescent students. Measurements: Respondentsâ problem gambling severity; gambling behavior (participation in eight different gambling activities, the number of gambling occasions and the number of online gambling occasions, monthly gambling expenditure); Socio-demographics (e.g., family structure and financial status); and control variables were measured individually (i.e., use of the Internet for leisure activities and playing video games). Findings: Rates of problem gambling were five times higher among online gamblers than non-online gamblers. In addition, factors that increased the risk of becoming a problem online gambler included living with non-birth parents, having a higher perception of financial family status, being more involved with gambling, and the medium preferences of remote gamblers (e.g., Internet cafes, digital television, and video game console). Conclusions: The online gambling environment may pose significantly greater risk to vulnerable players. Family characteristics and contextual elements concerning youth Internet gambling (e.g., remote mediums) may play a key role in explaining problem online gambling among adolescents
Living graphs as a methodological tool: representing landmarks in the professional development of teacher educators
This article relates to the use of an innovative visual research method, living graphs, to capture and represent the life experiences of teacher educators in two universities in the UK. Six mid-career teacher educators from each university were asked to map their personal biographies, career landmarks, academic and research highs and lows, using a graphic format. This was then used as a basis for discussion and exploration in the interviews. Narrative analysis was used to examine the teacher educatorsâ accounts and themes were identified which related to professional and academic development. Living graphs were found to be a rich data source to identify and explore career landmarks: enhanced verbal input resulted from using graphics to represent highs and lows of experience, including the visual representation of emotion. This is a useful research tool but needs further clarification and guidelines for use
Strong interference effects in the resonant Auger decay of atoms induced by intense X-Ray fields
The theory of resonant Auger decay of atoms in a high intensity coherent
X-ray pulse is presented. The theory includes the coupling between the ground
state and the resonance due to an intense X-ray pulse, taking into account the
decay of the resonance and the direct photoionization of the ground state, both
populating the final ionic states coherently. The theory also considers the
impact of the direct photoionization of the resonance state itself which
typically populates highly-excited ionic states. The combined action of the
resonant decay and of the direct ionization of the ground state in the field
induces a non-hermitian time-dependent coupling between the ground and the
'dressed' resonance stats. The impact of these competing processes on the total
electron yield and on the 2s2p3p P spectator and
2s2p S participator Auger decay spectra of the Ne 1s3p
resonance is investigated. The role of the direct photoionization of the ground
state and of the resonance increases dramatically with the field intensity.
This results in strong interference effects with distinct patterns in the
electron spectra, different for the participator and spectator final states.Comment: 31 pages, 6 figure
Generic coverings of plane with A-D-E-singularities
We generalize results of the paper math.AG/9803144, in which Chisini's
conjecture on the unique reconstruction of f by the curve B is investigated.
For this fibre products of generic coverings are studied. The main inequality
bounding the degree of a covering in the case of existence of two nonequivalent
coverings with the branch curve B is obtained. This inequality is used for the
proof of the Chisini conjecture for m-canonical coverings of surfaces of
general type for .Comment: 43 pages, 20 figures; to appear in Izvestiya Mat
SU(3) symmetry breaking in decay constants and electromagnetic properties of pseudoscalar heavy mesons
In this paper, the decay constants and mean square radii of pseudoscalar
heavy mesons are studied in the SU(3) symmetry breaking. Within the light-front
framework, the ratios and are individually
estimated using the hyperfine splittings in the and
states and the light quark masses, (), to
extract the wave function parameter . The values and are obtained, which are not only
chiefly determined by the ratio of light quark masses , but also
insensitive to the heavy quark masses and the decay constants
. The dependence of on with the
varied charm quark masses is also shown. In addition, the mean square radii are
estimated as well. The values and are obtained, and the sensitivities of on
the heavy and light quark masses are similar to those of the decay constants.Comment: 21 pages, 5 figures, 4 tables, some typos are corrected, version to
be published in Phys. Rev.
Rendezvous Planning for Multiple Autonomous Underwater Vehicles using a Markov Decision Process
Multiple Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUVs) are a potential alternative to conventional large manned vessels for mine countermeasure (MCM) operations. Online mission planning for cooperative multi-AUV network often relies or predefined contingency on reactive methods and do not deliver an optimal end-goal performance. Markov Decision Process (MDP) is a decision-making framework that allows an optimal solution, taking into account future decision estimates, rather than having a myopic view. However, most real-world problems are too complex to be represented by this framework. We deal with the complexity problem by abstracting the MCM scenario with a reduced state and action space, yet retaining the information that defines the goal and constraints coming from the application. Another critical part of the model is the ability of the vehicles to communicate and enable a cooperative mission. We use the Rendezvous Point (RP) method. The RP schedules meeting points for the vehicles throughput the mission. Our model provides an optimal action selection solution for the multi-AUV MCM problem. The computation of the mission plan is performed in the order of minutes. This quick execution demonstrates the model is feasible for real-time applications
Quantum Dynamics in a Time-dependent Hard-Wall Spherical Trap
Exact solution of the Schr\"{o}dinger equation is given for a particle inside
a hard sphere whose wall is moving with a constant velocity. Numerical
computations are presented for both contracting and expanding spheres. The
propagator is constructed and compared with the propagator of a particle in an
infinite square well with one wall in uniform motion.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures, Accepted by Europhys. Let
Nekhoroshev theorem for the periodic Toda lattice
The periodic Toda lattice with sites is globally symplectomorphic to a
two parameter family of coupled harmonic oscillators. The action
variables fill out the whole positive quadrant of . We prove that in
the interior of the positive quadrant as well as in a neighborhood of the
origin, the Toda Hamiltonian is strictly convex and therefore Nekhoroshev's
theorem applies on (almost) all parts of phase space.Comment: 28 page
Test particle motion in a gravitational plane wave collision background
Test particle geodesic motion is analysed in detail for the background
spacetimes of the degenerate Ferrari-Ibanez colliding gravitational wave
solutions. Killing vectors have been used to reduce the equations of motion to
a first order system of differential equations which have been integrated
numerically. The associated constants of the motion have also been used to
match the geodesics as they cross over the boundary between the single plane
wave and interaction zones.Comment: 11 pages, 6 Postscript figure
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