Leveraging Slot Gaming Technology to Gain a Competitive Advantage

The slot gaming industry is being revolutionized by a recent explosion of new technologies that offer a wealth of management opportunities for casinos and offer a more interactive gameplay experience for players. These new technologies increase the excitement of gameplay while extending time on device (TOD) and revenue for the casinos. This preliminary business proposal informs casino managers on the latest in slot technologies and provides a guideline for their successful implementation

Social involvement, existential awareness, and perceived vulnerability in older adults

The current study explored perceptions of old-age vulnerability by seniors as well as separate and combined effects of social involvement and existential awareness on the level of perceived vulnerability to aging. Two hundred and forty four seniors participated in the study. The data were collected with the use of a 101-question survey based on three published measures plus demographic questions. The dependent (criterion) variable was the vulnerability to old age measured by the Perceived Vulnerability Scale (PVS). The explanatory (predictor) variables included the degree of social involvement measured by the Social Provisions Scale (SPS) and the level of existential awareness measured by Life Attitude Profile -Revised scale (LAP-R). Multiple regression analyses were completed with the use of different predictors: social involvement in general, provided support, existential awareness, and interaction between social involvement and existential awareness. Finally, a hierarchical regression analysis was performed including demographic variables (block one) and components extracted from the social involvement and existential awareness section (block two). The results indicated that existential awareness, social involvement, and demographic factors in combination explained the variance in the criterion to a large degree. Limitations of the study were discussed including the need for further elaboration of theoretical constructs, some aspects of study design, and the homogeneity of the sample of population. Suggestions were provided for future research as well as for clinical applications in work with older adults

Frankenbug Meets the Conch Republic: Engagement, Expertise, and “Strategic Irrationality” in Public Scientific Controversies

This paper develops a case study of the controversy surrounding release of genetically modified mosquitos in the Florida Keys to explore escalated conflicts between stakeholders who perceive themselves to be equally empowered and, therefore, justified in dominating public deliberations and policy decisions. The antagonistic discourse that characterizes the Keys controversy may be understood as a power struggle in which both the citizen-scientists and scientist-citizens wrestle for the same intellectual and jurisdictional turf. A description of this dynamic extends the discussion of asymmetrical institutional and social power relations to explicate the concept of “strategic irrationality” as a means of disrupting productive deliberation

Frankenbug Meets the Conch Republic: Engagement, Expertise, and “Strategic Irrationality” in Public Scientific Controversies

This paper develops a case study of the controversy surrounding release of genetically modified mosquitos in the Florida Keys to explore escalated conflicts between stakeholders who perceive themselves to be equally empowered and, therefore, justified in dominating public deliberations and policy decisions. The antagonistic discourse that characterizes the Keys controversy may be understood as a power struggle in which both the citizen-scientists and scientist-citizens wrestle for the same intellectual and jurisdictional turf. A description of this dynamic extends the discussion of asymmetrical institutional and social power relations to explicate the concept of “strategic irrationality” as a means of disrupting productive deliberations</p

No One Wants to Read What You Write: A Contextualized Analysis of Service Course Assignments

This dissertation takes a systematic approach to answering the question of what services course assignment should accomplish in curricula by looking at the assignment from a contextual perspective that takes into consideration the programmatic factors in which the assignment circulates. The dissertation accomplishes this work by studying curricular artifacts, to include course syllabi and assignment descriptions, as well as textbooks. Additionally, interviews with program administrators and textbook authors are analyzed. The results of this analysis posit a programmatic network that visualizes connections between program, course, and staffing administrative factors with assignments as the nexus of the network. This dissertation illustrates the ways in which assignments function as a point of connection between other programmatic factors and the ways those connections can be leveraged to design more impactful assignment, increase effective program administration, and contribute to Technical and Professional Communication’s (TPC) disciplinary identity and values. The implications of this studies conclusions include discussions of contextualized genre, aligning course and assignment objectives, and impacts of curricular standardization. Disciplinary impacts include the value of empirical research in TPC, and the practical and ethical implication of addressing staffing issues through professional development. Future work to develop the programmatic network into a theory of the service course further serves the discipline. Ultimately, this dissertation proves that assignments are reflections and constructions of disciplinary values held by assignment designers, and, as such, further study of the service course is merited

Characterization and heterospecific expression of cDNA clones of genes in the maize GSH S-transferase multigene family.

We have isolated from a constructed lambda gt11 expression library two classes of cDNA clones encoding the entire sequence of the maize GSH S-transferases GST I and GST III. Expression of a full-length GST I cDNA in E. coli resulted in the synthesis of enzymatically active maize GST I that is immunologically indistinguishable from the native GST I. Another GST I cDNA with a truncated N-terminal sequence is also active in heterospecific expression. Our GST III cDNA sequence differs from the version reported by Moore et al. [Moore, R. E., Davies, M. S., O'Connell, K. M., Harding, E. I., Wiegand, R. C., and Tiemeier, D. C. (1986) Nucleic Acids Res. 14:7227-7235] in eight reading frame shifts which result in partial amino acid sequence conservation with the rat GSH S-transferase sequences. The GST I and GST III sequences share approximately 45% amino acid sequence homology. Both the GST I and the GST III mRNAs contain different repeating motifs in front of the initiation codon ATG. Multiple poly(A) addition sites have been identified for these two classes of maize GSH S-transferase messages. Genomic Southern blotting results suggest that both GST I and GST III are present in single or low copies in the maize (GT112 RfRf) genome