Beating the Book: Are There Patterns in NFL Betting Lines?

Las Vegas sports books provide two even-money bets (not counting commission, or vigorish ) regarding National Football League games- the point-spread between each pair of teams and the total number of points scored by each pair of teams (the over-under ). Odds makers set the numbers ( lines ) for these two bets almost a week in advance of the games, and they may change these numbers throughout the week as new information becomes available regarding the teams or as bettors bet unequally on either side of the line. This study examines whether there are any predictable patterns in the betting lines over the course of the preceding week that bettors could exploit to improve their expected returns, including whether it would have been profitable to try for middles as the betting lines changed over the course of the week. We will also note whether during the years studied any simple betting strategy, such as betting on favorites, underdogs, home teams, or visiting teams, would have been profitable

Assistive technology pricing: is it fair and reasonable?

Concerns about the price of assistive technology products (AT, also known as aids and equipment) arise regularly in public policy discourse and the media. These papers present the available evidence and essential contextual information regarding AT pricing in Australia.  Overview Concerns about the price of assistive technology products arise regularly in public policy discourse and the media. With the implementation of the National Disability Insurance Scheme and the Aged Care Reforms, clarity about the fairness (or not) of existing AT retail prices is central to ensuring effective AT public policy development and implementation for the one in ten Australians who rely on AT to do everyday tasks that others take for granted. Available evidence indicates that while AT can be expensive, it is in fact cheaper in Australia than in other comparable countries. Effective price comparisons require comparing like-with-like, not only in relation to the product but also services and other costs that are incorporated into retail prices. The Queensland Competition Authority recently compared like-with-like AT prices and found Australia was 24% lower than the best available overseas price when transportation to Australia was included in the calculation.  ATSA price comparisons using a different method produced similar results with Australian prices on average between 14-27% cheaper. Notwithstanding the general impression that the AT industry is about \u27aids and equipment, hardware and gadgets\u27, it is largely a service-based industry with an extensive range of services aimed at ensuring a good match between the individual and their AT incorporated into the retail price. The extent of these services is described in detail in the background paper. Yes, consumers can buy AT on the internet from internet-only AT sellers in the USA for about half the price of purchasing through a retail shop-front in Australia, but when transportation costs are factored in along with the lack of coverage by Australia\u27s strong consumer protection laws, the difficulty and costs of enforcing overseas warranties, and the purchaser carrying all responsibility for ensuring appropriateness of the AT for their needs; assembly/adjustment/customisation; sourcing spares, maintenance and repairs; training in safe use, etc. these may not be the bargains they appear to be. Particularly in relation to more complex AT such as a light-weight customised manual wheelchair for a very active person, a motorised wheelchair with customised seating and complex controls, or even something \u27simpler\u27 such as a hoist to help someone get in and out of bed, or a pressure care cushion, AT retailers typically trial and test a variety of products and options with the consumer and their therapist, with free in-home trials over a period of days or weeks commonplace to ensure the best available solution is achieved

Perspective Taking in Dyadic Interactions: Influences of Cooperation and Competition on Third Person Representation of Movement

Similar processes between a third person representation and a first person representation may be at work in understanding the limitations of another. These processes may lead to errors in estimating the abilities of another by anchoring those estimates to one\u27s own abilities. A study designed to test how interactive conditions may mediate these processes. It was hypothesized that, due to an increase in interdependence, an individual would show a higher degree of difference between his or her own abilities and those of another when cooperating, compared to non-interactive conditions. It was also hypothesized that competition, due in part to a lack of diffusion of responsibility, would show significantly higher differences than those individuals cooperating. The study included a physical task designed to create conditions of cooperation, competition, and a non-interactive condition between two individuals. One individual in each condition was given weighted gloves to simulate a handicap. Following the interaction, participants estimated the amount of effort it would take for themselves and the amount of effort it would take for the other person to complete a number of simple actions that were designed to interact with the handicap by either being harder to complete, easier to complete, or no difference in effort to complete when wearing the handicap. Results show significant differences in effort between oneself and the other only in relation to being artificially handicapped, with the handicapped individual seeing certain actions as more difficult for themselves while wearing the handicap while the non-handicapped individual sees the same actions as easier for themselves while not wearing the handicap. Also, a marginally significant interaction was observed between being artificially handicapped and interaction group with non-handicapped individuals seeing a greater degree of difference between themselves and the handicapped individual in the competitive interaction as opposed to the cooperative interaction. Res

Urban arterial lane flow distribution: a before and after traffic microsimulation analysis on the effect of implementing new route markings and signage.

Urban arterials may not effectively utilize available lanes to move vehicles efficiently as drivers try to establish position along the corridor. This study evaluates lane flow distribution before and after implementing new route markings and overhead signs to utilize existing lanes better. A cellphone-based traffic data service called StreetLight gathered the traffic data used to establish the VISSIM model parameters for simulating current and projected conditions. This study shows that the lane assignment signage and route markers affected the lane flow distribution in the simulation. The simulation indicated the existing condition had average queue lengths of 320.6 meters, average travel times of 389.5 seconds, an average stop delay of 259.6 seconds, and an average lane flow distribution in the right lane of 76.1%. Upon implementing new route markers and sign installations, the projected simulation showed average queue lengths of 39.0 meters, average travel times of 171.4 seconds, an average delay of 92.5 seconds, and an average lane flow distribution in the right lane of 47.4%

Perspective Taking in Dyadic Interactions: Influences of Cooperation and Competition on Third Person Representation of Movement

Similar processes between a third person representation and a first person representation may be at work in understanding the limitations of another. These processes may lead to errors in estimating the abilities of another by anchoring those estimates to one\u27s own abilities. A study designed to test how interactive conditions may mediate these processes. It was hypothesized that, due to an increase in interdependence, an individual would show a higher degree of difference between his or her own abilities and those of another when cooperating, compared to non-interactive conditions. It was also hypothesized that competition, due in part to a lack of diffusion of responsibility, would show significantly higher differences than those individuals cooperating. The study included a physical task designed to create conditions of cooperation, competition, and a non-interactive condition between two individuals. One individual in each condition was given weighted gloves to simulate a handicap. Following the interaction, participants estimated the amount of effort it would take for themselves and the amount of effort it would take for the other person to complete a number of simple actions that were designed to interact with the handicap by either being harder to complete, easier to complete, or no difference in effort to complete when wearing the handicap. Results show significant differences in effort between oneself and the other only in relation to being artificially handicapped, with the handicapped individual seeing certain actions as more difficult for themselves while wearing the handicap while the non-handicapped individual sees the same actions as easier for themselves while not wearing the handicap. Also, a marginally significant interaction was observed between being artificially handicapped and interaction group with non-handicapped individuals seeing a greater degree of difference between themselves and the handicapped individual in the competitive interaction as opposed to the cooperative interaction. Res

Impact of acute heat treatment on autophagy and insulin signaling in C2C12 myotubes

A major risk factor for the development of type 2 diabetes is reduced skeletal muscle insulin sensitivity. It is known that exercise and caloric restriction can improve skeletal muscle insulin resistance, but the mechanism by which this occurs is not completely elucidated. The AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK), is thought to be a major contributor to the metabolic benefits observed after exercise training and caloric restriction. Activation of AMPK in skeletal muscle can have a wide range of effects, one of which is the initiation of macroautophagy (herein referred to as autophagy). Autophagy is the bulk degradation system of the cell and is essential for the maintenance of cellular homeostasis. Another intervention that has been shown to have insulin sensitizing effects and activation of AMPK, is heat treatment. Heat treatment consists of acute bouts of low heat loads. Although high heat loads have been shown to regulate autophagy, whether low heat loads given with heat treatment can regulate autophagy has yet to be investigated. Additionally, the role that autophagy plays in the heat-induced insulin sensitization of skeletal muscle has not been investigated. Thus, the aims for the following studies were to investigate autophagy regulation with heat treatment and to identify what role autophagy may have in the insulin sensitizing effects of heat treatment in insulin resistant skeletal muscle cells. Here we show that heat treatment activates protein signaling involved in the initiation of autophagy and autophagosome formation in skeletal muscle cells. Additionally, when autophagy was inhibited, heat treatment was able to decrease autophagosomal accumulation. This suggests that heat can increase basal autophagy, and potentially rescue autophagic flux when inhibited. When myotubes were treated with palmitate, insulin signaling decreased, autophagy initiation was blunted, autophagosomal accumulation occurred, and cell stress markers were elevated. Heat treatment was able to reduce some markers of insulin resistance, reduce cell stress markers, and partially drive autophagosomal degradation. When autophagy was inhibited, the mild attenuation of insulin resistance was removed. This suggests that autophagy plays a role in insulin sensitization, and that heat treatment may attenuate insulin resistance, at least partially through the induction of autophagy, but further investigation is necessary to understand the extent or magnitude of this role

Perspective Taking in Dyadic Interactions: Influences of Cooperation and Competition on Third Person Representation of Movement

Similar processes between a third person representation and a first person representation may be at work in understanding the limitations of another. These processes may lead to errors in estimating the abilities of another by anchoring those estimates to one\u27s own abilities. A study designed to test how interactive conditions may mediate these processes. It was hypothesized that, due to an increase in interdependence, an individual would show a higher degree of difference between his or her own abilities and those of another when cooperating, compared to non-interactive conditions. It was also hypothesized that competition, due in part to a lack of diffusion of responsibility, would show significantly higher differences than those individuals cooperating. The study included a physical task designed to create conditions of cooperation, competition, and a non-interactive condition between two individuals. One individual in each condition was given weighted gloves to simulate a handicap. Following the interaction, participants estimated the amount of effort it would take for themselves and the amount of effort it would take for the other person to complete a number of simple actions that were designed to interact with the handicap by either being harder to complete, easier to complete, or no difference in effort to complete when wearing the handicap. Results show significant differences in effort between oneself and the other only in relation to being artificially handicapped, with the handicapped individual seeing certain actions as more difficult for themselves while wearing the handicap while the non-handicapped individual sees the same actions as easier for themselves while not wearing the handicap. Also, a marginally significant interaction was observed between being artificially handicapped and interaction group with non-handicapped individuals seeing a greater degree of difference between themselves and the handicapped individual in the competitive interaction as opposed to the cooperative interaction. Res

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