Principles for developing benchmark criteria for staff training in responsible gambling

One approach to minimizing the negative consequences of excessive gambling is staff training to reduce the rate of the development of new cases of harm or disorder within their customers. The primary goal of the present study was to assess suitable benchmark criteria for the training of gambling employees at casinos and lottery retailers. The study utilised the Delphi Method, a survey with one qualitative and two quantitative phases. A total of 21 invited international experts in the responsible gambling field participated in all three phases. A total of 75 performance indicators were outlined and assigned to six categories: (1) criteria of content, (2) modelling, (3) qualification of trainer, (4) framework conditions, (5) sustainability and (6) statistical indicators. Nine of the 75 indicators were rated as very important by 90 % or more of the experts. Unanimous support for importance was given to indicators such as (1) comprehensibility and (2) concrete action-guidance for handling with problem gamblers, Additionally, the study examined the implementation of benchmarking, when it should be conducted, and who should be responsible. Results indicated that benchmarking should be conducted every 1–2 years regularly and that one institution should be clearly defined and primarily responsible for benchmarking. The results of the present study provide the basis for developing a benchmarking for staff training in responsible gambling

VLT Diffraction Limited Imaging and Spectroscopy in the NIR: Weighing the black hole in Centaurus A with NACO

We present high spatial resolution near-infrared spectra and images of the nucleus of Centaurus A (NGC 5128) obtained with NAOS-CONICA at the VLT. The adaptive optics corrected data have a spatial resolution of 0.06" (FWHM) in K- and 0.11" in H-band, four times higher than previous studies. The observed gas motions suggest a kinematically hot disk which is orbiting a central object and is oriented nearly perpendicular to the nuclear jet. We model the central rotation and velocity dispersion curves of the [FeII] gas orbiting in the combined potential of the stellar mass and the (dominant) black hole. Our physically most plausible model, a dynamically hot and geometrically thin gas disk, yields a black hole mass of M_bh = (6.1 +0.6/-0.8) 10^7 M_sun. As the physical state of the gas is not well understood, we also consider two limiting cases: first a cold disk model, which completely neglects the velocity dispersion; it yields an M_bh estimate that is almost two times lower. The other extreme case is to model a spherical gas distribution in hydrostatic equilibrium through Jeans equation. Compared to the hot disk model the best-fit black hole mass increases by a factor of 1.5. This wide mass range spanned by the limiting cases shows how important the gas physics is even for high resolution data. Our overall best-fitting black hole mass is a factor of 2-4 lower than previous measurements. With our revised M_bh estimate, Cen A's offset from the M_bh-sigma relation is significantly reduced; it falls above this relation by a factor of ~2, which is close to the intrinsic scatter of this relation. (Abridged)Comment: 12 pages, 14 figures, including minor changes following the referee report; accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journa

First Observation of 15Be

The neutron-unbound nucleus 15Be was observed for the first time. It was populated using neutron transfer from a deuterated polyethylene target with a 59 MeV/u 14Be beam. Neutrons were measured in coincidence with outgoing 14Be particles and the reconstructed decay energy spectrum exhibits a resonance at 1.8(1) MeV. This corresponds to 15Be being unbound by 0.45 MeV more then 16Be thus significantly hindering the sequential two-neutron decay of 16Be to 14Be through this state

Radiolysis of water ice in the outer solar system: Sputtering and trapping of radiation products

We performed quantitative laboratory radiolysis experiments on cubic water ice between 40 and 120 K, with 200 keV protons. We measured sputtering of atoms and molecules and the trapping of radiolytic molecular species. The experiments were done at fluences corresponding to exposure of the surface of the Jovian icy satellites to their radiation environment up to thousands of years. During irradiation, O2 molecules are ejected from the ice at a rate that grows roughly exponentially with temperature; this behavior is the main reason for the temperature dependence of the total sputtering yield. O2 trapped in the ice is thermally released from the ice upon warming; the desorbed flux starts at the irradiation temperature and increases strongly above 120 K. Several peaks in the desorption spectrum, which depend on irradiation temperature, point to a complex distribution of trapping sites in the ice matrix. The yield of O2 produced by the 200 keV protons and trapped in the ice is more than 2 orders of magnitude smaller than used in recent models of Ganymede. We also found small amounts of trapped H2O2 that desorb readily above 160 K.Fil: Bahr, D.A.. University of Virginia; Estados UnidosFil: Famá, M.. University of Virginia; Estados UnidosFil: Vidal, Ricardo Alberto. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Santa Fe. Instituto de Desarrollo Tecnológico para la Industria Química. Universidad Nacional del Litoral. Instituto de Desarrollo Tecnológico para la Industria Química; ArgentinaFil: Baragiola, Raul Antonio. University of Virginia; Estados Unido

Time-resolved broadband analysis of slow-light propagation and superluminal transmission of electromagnetic waves in three-dimensional photonic crystals

A time-resolved analysis of the amplitude and phase of THz pulses propagating through three-dimensional photonic crystals is presented. Single-cycle pulses of THz radiation allow measurements over a wide frequency range, spanning more than an octave below, at and above the bandgap of strongly dispersive photonic crystals. Transmission data provide evidence for slow group velocities at the photonic band edges and for superluminal transmission at frequencies in the gap. Our experimental results are in good agreement with finite-difference-time-domain simulations.Comment: 7 pages, 11 figure

Further Insights into the Reaction Be14(CH2,X)10He

A previously published measurement of the reaction of a 59 MeV/nucleon 14Be beam on a deuterated polyethylene target was further analyzed to search for 12He as well as initial state effects in the population of the 10He ground state. No evidence for either was found. A lower limit of about 1 MeV was determined for a possible resonance in 12He. In addition, the three-body decay energy spectrum of 10He could not be described by a reaction mechanism calculation based on the halo structure of the initial 14Be assuming a direct α-particle removal reaction

Histological and global gene expression analysis of the 'lactating' pigeon crop

Background: Both male and female pigeons have the ability to produce a nutrient solution in their crop for the nourishment of their young. The production of the nutrient solution has been likened to lactation in mammals, and hence the product has been called pigeon &lsquo;milk&rsquo;. It has been shown that pigeon &lsquo;milk&rsquo; is essential for growth and development of the pigeon squab, and without it they fail to thrive. Studies have investigated the nutritional value of pigeon &lsquo;milk&rsquo; but very little else is known about what it is or how it is produced. This study aimed to gain insight into the process by studying gene expression in the &lsquo;lactating&rsquo; crop.Results: Macroscopic comparison of &lsquo;lactating&rsquo; and non-&rsquo;lactating&rsquo; crop reveals that the &lsquo;lactating&rsquo; crop is enlarged and thickened with two very obvious lateral lobes that contain discrete rice-shaped pellets of pigeon &lsquo;milk&rsquo;. This was characterised histologically by an increase in the number and depth of rete pegs extending from the basal layer of the epithelium to the lamina propria, and extensive proliferation and folding of the germinal layer into the superficial epithelium. A global gene expression profile comparison between &lsquo;lactating&rsquo; crop and non-&rsquo;lactating&rsquo; crop showed that 542 genes are up-regulated in the &lsquo;lactating&rsquo; crop, and 639 genes are down-regulated. Pathway analysis revealed that genes up-regulated in &lsquo;lactating&rsquo; crop were involved in the proliferation of melanocytes, extracellular matrix-receptor interaction, the adherens junction and the wingless (wnt) signalling pathway. Gene ontology analysis showed that antioxidant response and microtubule transport were enriched in &lsquo;lactating&rsquo; crop.Conclusions: There is a hyperplastic response in the pigeon crop epithelium during &lsquo;lactation&rsquo; that leads to localised cellular stress and expression of antioxidant protein-encoding genes. The differentiated, cornified cells that form the pigeon &lsquo;milk&rsquo; are of keratinocyte lineage and contain triglycerides that are likely endocytosed as very low density lipoprotein (VLDL) and repackaged as triglyceride in vesicles that are transported intracellularly by microtubules. This mechanism is an interesting example of the evolution of a system with analogies to mammalian lactation, as pigeon &lsquo;milk&rsquo; fulfils a similar function to mammalian milk, but is produced by a different mechanism.<br /

Structure and Decay Correlations of Two-Neutron Systems Beyond the Dripline

The two-neutron unbound systems of 16Be, 13Li, 10He, and 26O have been measured using the Modular Neutron Array (MoNA) and 4 Tm Sweeper magnet setup. The correlations of the 3-body decay for the 16Be and 13Li were extracted and demonstrated a strong correlated enhancement between the two neutrons. The measurement of the 10He ground state resonance from a 14Be(−2p2n) reaction provided insight into previous predictions that wavefunction of the entrance channel, projectile, can influence the observed decay energy spectrum for the unbound system. Lastly, the decay-in-target (DiT) technique was utilized to extract the lifetime of the 26O ground state. The measured lifetime of 4.5+1.1 −1.5 (stat.)±3(sys.) ps provides the first indication of two-neutron radioactivity

Resilience to loss and chronic grief: A prospective study from preloss to 18-months postloss

The vast majority of bereavement research is conducted after a loss has occurred. Thus, knowledge of the divergent trajectories of grieving or their antecedent predictors is lacking. This study gathered prospective data on 205 individuals several years prior to the death of their spouse and at 6- and 18-months postloss. Five core bereavement patterns were identified: common grief, chronic grief, chronic depression, improvement during bereavement, and resilience. Common grief was relatively infrequent, and the resilient pattern most frequent. The authors tested key hypotheses in the literature pertaining to chronic grief and resilience by identifying the preloss predictors of each pattern. Chronic grief was associated with preloss dependency and resilience with preloss acceptance of death and belief in a just world. The death of a spouse is generally assumed to be one of the most stressful experiences that people encounter during the course of their lives (Holmes &amp; Rahe, 1967). However, there are marked individual differences in how much and for how long people grieve (Bonanno &amp; Kaltman, 1999, 2001; Wortman &amp; Silver, 1989, 2001). In addition to what is assumed to be the typical or common reaction, an initial increase in depression that gradually subsides over time, several other patterns of grief have been discussed in the literature. These include prolonged or chronic grieving, the noticeable absence of grief symptoms, and delayed grief responses. Social and personality psychologists have become increasingly interested in these different trajectories, and how they compare with those observed for other marital transitions and othe