Special features of poker

Poker is now one of the most popular types of online gambling, mostly because of its particular structural characteristics. This study aims to investigate the representations of regular poker players of the game's special features, along with their probable links with tilt (i.e. loss of control during the game) and problem gambling. Twenty-three regular poker players recruited online took part in a research interview. All interviews were recorded and fully transcribed. A quantitative lexical analysis was performed using the software Alceste®. Six classes were identified, encompassing 73% of the whole corpus. The main themes were chance vs. skill, sensations and emotions linked to poker, discovery of poker, tilt, differences between live and online gambling, and risks of excessive poker involvement. The experience of tilt appears to be an important feature of poker. Poker players also tended to report more emotional and social aspects of problem gambling than financial consequences. The results underline the structural specificities of poker through the player's representations. The role of emotions and sensations in poker, as they are both sought by the players and involved in the loss of control, may have an influence on the development and maintenance of problem gambling.     

Gambling Drivers: Regulating Cultural Technologies,Subjects, Spaces and Practices of Mobility

Abstract

In this article, we analyse intersections between gambling and driving as everyday cultural practices of mobility. Building on Nikolas Rose’s argument that subjects in post‐industrial democratic societies are governed through appeals to ‘freedom’ rather than through overt forms of coercion or organised campaigns of state propaganda, we explore the different ways that producers, regulators and consumer advocates involved in gambling and driving appeal to our ‘powers of freedom’. We demonstrate that promotional and regulatory discourses of driving and gambling rely on a concept of freedom as self‐regulation. And we argue that the cultivation of social responsiveness is needed to address some of the problems created by individualising practices, spaces and technologies of mobility currently offered by automobiles and poker machines.     

新生代农民工的精神文化培养

随着80、90后新生代农民工数量的增加,加强对其精神文化需求的研究越来越具有深刻的现实意义。新生代农民工是一个新兴的群体,是构建“和谐社会”伟大战略的重要推动者。他们一方面追求精神文化生活,但另一方面又在理想和现实的碰撞中挣扎。对新生代农民工群体特征进行描述,分析其精神文化缺失的原因,并针对原因提出了相应建议：完善法律制度,保障新生代农民工劳动权益;加强政府引导,完善公共文化设施建设;企业主动关心,提升新生代农民工的归属感;关注农村基层,营造农村精神文化新风。     

河南省乡镇机构改革的动力机制研究

1998年、2001年和2005年下半年,河南省基于缓解地方财政短缺的压力和减轻农民负担的考虑,主要围绕着“撤并乡镇、精简机构、分流人员”进行了三轮乡镇机构改革。但在前二轮改革中,省、市、县、乡四级政府之间互相推脱分摊改革成本的责任,结果这两次改革都变成了虎头蛇尾的“假改革”;在第三轮改革中,省委、省政府强化了相关配套措施的跟进,统筹考虑各方利益主体之间的关系协调,着力解决改革中所引发的各种复杂矛盾,最终形成了有效整合、协调一致的合作型博弈机制,仅用3个多月就解决了长期困扰河南农村发展的“老大难”问题,因此称得上是善始善终的“真刀真枪改革”。下一步,我国将重点进行市、县两级政府机构改革。为防止出现低效率的重复博弈,建议党中央、国务院直接领导这项复杂而艰巨的改革工程,省一级具体负责组织实施。     

基于博弈论的绩效考核中棘轮效应研究

借助多重动态博弈分析绩效工资的计量,得出代理人绩效考核中棘轮效应存在的必然性,在委托合同延续的时间足够长的前提下,绩效考核的标准就趋于当前的绩效水平,也就是绩效工资为零。     

A Preliminary Investigation of Abstinence and Controlled Gambling as Self-Selected Goals of Treatment for Female Pathological Gambling

The current study aimed to provide a preliminary evaluation of the differential efficacy of a cognitive-behavioural treatment program for female pathological gamblers delivered with the goals of abstinence or controlled gambling. The findings were based on the comparison of pathological gamblers selecting abstinence and pathological gamblers selecting controlled gambling on measures of gambling behaviour and psychological functioning. The findings revealed that pathological gamblers selecting controlled gambling displayed comparable levels of improvement to those displayed by gamblers selecting abstinence. Using a treatment completer approach, 89% of the gamblers selecting abstinence compared with 82% selecting controlled gambling no longer satisfied the diagnostic criteria for pathological gambling by the completion of the 6-month follow-up period. Although further scientific demonstration is required, the findings of this study provide preliminary support for the practice of offering controlled gambling as an alternative goal in the treatment of pathological gambling.     

Significant Others and Gambling Treatment Outcomes

Aims This study investigates the effect of significant others on treatment outcomes among treated pathological gamblers. Design This is a cohort study of individuals who received gambling treatment. Setting Oregon Problem Gambling Services (OPGS) for gamblers and their family members. Participants 4,410 adult gamblers who were discharged from treatment between August, 2001 and April, 2007. Measurements OPGS enrollment forms provided gambler gender, age, ethnicity, education level, employment status, gambling-related debt, and whether the gambler had a significant other at the time of enrollment. Termination forms provided information on the type of discharge (successful/unsuccessful) and treatment length (in days). Participation of the gambler’s significant other in the family treatment program was identified. Findings Results showed that age, ethnicity, gambling debt, and having a significant other are associated with the odds of successful treatment. Education level moderates the effect of having a significant other on treatment success. Age, ethnicity, education, employment, and having a significant other participate in treatment significantly impacted gamblers’ length in treatment. Conclusions These findings indicate that there may be a benefit to integrating significant others in gambling treatment methods. Significant others may act as social supports for gamblers seeking treatment, and involving loved ones in gambling treatment models may positively affect gambler treatment outcomes.     

基于进化博弈的非物质文化遗产保护研究

非物质文化遗产保护中,管理者与使用者之间的冲突成为其开发难点。运用进化博弈理论,假定非物质文化遗产的管理者与使用者均为有限理性,研究其在长期演化过程中,选择不同策略比例的稳定性趋势,最后从政府管理者层面提出了相应的对策建议。     

清代禁赌活动中的乡村自治

赌风盛行,影响到了正常的清代乡村秩序。乡村社会因而开展了禁赌活动。它带有较强自治性：村社通过刻立碑碣、存于庙宇,进行了风俗改良的努力;禁赌的主导者是村社而非官府,即以官府为依靠又自行其事。这种努力在1884年以后因官方政策的变化走入低谷,民国之后重新萌芽。     

The Utility of Gambling Reconsidered

The utility of gambling, which entails an intrinsic utility or disutility of risk, has been alluded to in the economics literature for over a century. This paper demonstrates that any utility of gambling almost unavoidably implies a violation of fundamental rationality properties, such as transitivity or stochastic dominance, for static choices between gambles. This result may explain why the utility of gambling, a phenomenon so widely discussed, has never been formalized in the economics literature. The model of this paper accommodates well-known deviations from expected utility, such as the Allais paradox and the coexistence of gambling and insurance, while minimally deviating from expected utility.