In-play sports betting: a scoping study

Technology has changed the nature of gambling practices over the last decade and is continuing to do so. The online sports betting industry has become a rapidly growing sector of the global economy, with online sports betting contributing 37% of the annual online gambling market in Europe. There has been an integration of social and technological processes that has enabled the cultural saliency of contemporary online betting. One of the more newly introduced forms of online sports betting is in-play sports betting behaviour (the betting on events within a sporting event such as football and cricket). In-play sports betting features (such as 'cash out') are increasing in popularity amongst online gambling operators. A scoping study was carried out examining the evolution of this new form of gambling practice which included both a systematic literature review and the examination of 338 online gambling websites that offered sports betting. The present study identified a comprehensive list of what in-play betting features are currently being offered on online gambling websites as well as other information concerning in-play sports betting. A total of 16 academic papers and two 'grey literature' reports and were identified in the systematic review. Out of 338 online gambling websites that were visited, 26% of these offered at least on in-play betting feature. Results from the systematic review suggest that in-play sports betting has the potential to be more harmful than other ways of gambling because of the inherent structural characteristics

Water vapor emission from IRC+10216 and other carbon-rich stars: model predictions and prospects for multitransition observations

We have modeled the emission of H2O rotational lines from the extreme C-rich star IRC+10216. Our treatment of the excitation of H2O emissions takes into account the excitation of H2O both through collisions, and through the pumping of the nu2 and nu3 vibrational states by dust emission and subsequent decay to the ground state. Regardless of the spatial distribution of the water molecules, the H2O 1_{10}-1_{01} line at 557 GHz observed by the Submillimeter Wave Astronomy Satellite (SWAS) is found to be pumped primarily through the absorption of dust-emitted photons at 6 $\mu$m in the nu2 band. As noted by previous authors, the inclusion of radiative pumping lowers the ortho-H2O abundance required to account for the 557 GHz emission, which is found to be (0.5-1)x10^{-7} if the presence of H2O is a consequence of vaporization of orbiting comets or Fischer-Tropsch catalysis. Predictions for other submillimeter H2O lines that can be observed by the Herschel Space Observatory (HSO) are reported. Multitransition HSO observations promise to reveal the spatial distribution of the circumstellar water vapor, discriminating among the several hypotheses that have been proposed for the origin of the H2O vapor in the envelope of IRC+10216. We also show that, for observations with HSO, the H2O 1_{10}-1_{01} 557 GHz line affords the greatest sensitivity in searching for H2O in other C-rich AGB stars.Comment: 35 pages, 12 figures, to be published in The Astrophysical Journa

In-play sports betting: a scoping study

Technology has changed the nature of gambling practices over the last decade and is continuing to do so. The online sports betting industry has become a rapidly growing sector of the global economy, with online sports betting contributing 37% of the annual online gambling market in Europe. There has been an integration of social and technological processes that has enabled the cultural saliency of contemporary online betting. One of the more newly introduced forms of online sports betting is in-play sports betting behaviour (the betting on events within a sporting event such as football and cricket). In-play sports betting features (such as 'cash out') are increasing in popularity amongst online gambling operators. A scoping study was carried out examining the evolution of this new form of gambling practice which included both a systematic literature review and the examination of 338 online gambling websites that offered sports betting. The present study identified a comprehensive list of what in-play betting features are currently being offered on online gambling websites as well as other information concerning in-play sports betting. A total of 16 academic papers and two 'grey literature' reports and were identified in the systematic review. Out of 338 online gambling websites that were visited, 26% of these offered at least on in-play betting feature. Results from the systematic review suggest that in-play sports betting has the potential to be more harmful than other ways of gambling because of the inherent structural characteristics

5-axis double-flank CNC machining of spiral bevel gears via custom-shaped milling tools -- Part I: modeling and simulation

A new category of 5-axis flank computer numerically controlled (CNC) machining, called \emph{double-flank}, is presented. Instead of using a predefined set of milling tools, we use the shape of the milling tool as a free parameter in our optimization-based approach and, for a given input free-form (NURBS) surface, compute a custom-shaped tool that admits highly-accurate machining. Aimed at curved narrow regions where the tool may have double tangential contact with the reference surface, like spiral bevel gears, the initial trajectory of the milling tool is estimated by fitting a ruled surface to the self-bisector of the reference surface. The shape of the tool and its motion then both undergo global optimization that seeks high approximation quality between the input free-form surface and its envelope approximation, fairness of the motion and the tool, and prevents overcutting. That is, our double-flank machining is meant for the semi-finishing stage and therefore the envelope of the motion is, by construction, penetration-free with the references surface. Our algorithm is validated by a commercial path-finding software and the prototype of the tool for a specific gear model is 3D printed.RYC-2017-22649 BERC 2014-201

Protection of Pepper Plants from Drought by Microbacterium sp 3J1 by Modulation of the Plant's Glutamine and alpha-ketoglutarate Content: A Comparative Metabolomics Approach

Vilchez JI, Niehaus K, Dowling DN, Gonzalez-Lopez J, Manzanera M. Protection of Pepper Plants from Drought by Microbacterium sp 3J1 by Modulation of the Plant's Glutamine and alpha-ketoglutarate Content: A Comparative Metabolomics Approach. FRONTIERS IN MICROBIOLOGY. 2018;9: 17.Drought tolerance of plants such as tomato or pepper can be improved by their inoculation with rhizobacteria such as Microbacterium sp. 3J1. This interaction depends on the production of trehalose by the microorganisms that in turn modulate the phyto-hormone profile of the plant. In this work we describe the characterization of metabolic changes during the interaction of pepper plants with Microbacterium sp. 3J1 and of the microorganism alone over a period of drought. Our main findings include the observation that the plant responds to the presence of the microorganism by changing the C and N metabolism based on its glutamine and alpha-ketoglutarate content, these changes contribute to major changes in the concentration of molecules involved in the balance of the osmotic pressure. These include sugars and amino-acids; the concentration of antioxidant molecules, of metabolites involved in the production of phytohormones like ethylene, and of substrates used for lignin production such as ferulic and sinapic acids. Most of the altered metabolites of the plant when inoculated with Microbacterium sp. 3J1 in response to drought coincided with the profile of altered metabolites in the microorganism alone when subjected to drought, pointing to a response by which the plant relies on the microbe for the production of such metabolites. To our knowledge this is the first comparative study of the microbe colonized-plant and microbe alone metabolomes under drought stress

Habitability: CAMELOT 4

During 1988 to 1989 the NASA/USRA Advanced Design Program sponsored research and design efforts aimed at developing habitability criteria and at defining a habitability concept as a useful tool in understanding and evaluating dwellings for prolonged stays in extraterrestrial space. The Circulating Auto sufficient Mars-Earth Luxurious Orbital Transport (CAMELOT) was studied as a case in which the students would try to enhance the quality of life of the inhabitants by applying architectural design methodology. The study proposed 14 habitability criteria considered necessary to fulfill the defined habitability concept, which is that state of equilibrium that results from the interaction between components of the Individual Architecture Mission Complex, which allows a person to sustain physiological homeostatis, adequate performance, and acceptable social relationships. Architecture, design development, refinements and revisions to improve the quality of life, new insights on artificial gravity, form and constitution problems, and the final design concept are covered

Constant probe orientation for fast contact-based inspection of 3D free-form surfaces using (3+2)-axis inspection machines

A new probe optimization method for contact based (3+2)-axis inspection machines is proposed. Given an inspection path of a stylus on a free-form surface, an optimal orientation of the stylus is computed such that (i) the inclination angle of the stylus is within a given angular range with respect to the surface normal, (ii) the motion of the stylus is globally collision free, and (iii) the stylus remains constant in the coordinate system of the measuring machine. The last condition guarantees that the inspection motion requires only the involvement of the three translational axes of the measuring machine. The numerical simulations were validated through physical experiments on a testcase of a tooth of a bevel gear due to the surface complexity and probe accessibility. This optimized method was compared to 3-axis and 5-axis inspection strategies, showing that the fixed (3+2)-axis stylus returns more accurate inspection results compared to the traditional 3-axis approach and similar to 5-axis approach.RYC-2017-2264