The inclusion of health concerns in Swiss gambling legislation: an opportunity to access industry data

Swiss gambling legislation is unique in the fact that it includes health concerns and obligations for gambling operators. Specifically, they are required to provide social measures for the prevention of problem gambling and to collaborate with prevention centres. These provisions are crucial for the development of problem gambling prevention and training programmes. Further, they open important research avenues to make use of data collected within the industry. The present article provides an insight into these specific aspects of Swiss gambling legislation. It also illustrates recent examples of research that has been conducted on the basis of these legal provisions and considers their results.     

Toward a carnivalesque analysis of hacking: A qualitative study of Iranian hackers

This study sought to analyze Iranian hackers’ lived experiences based on the concept of the carnival of crime in cultural criminology. Fifty-four in-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted with young hackers. Moreover, their behaviors were observed along with those of other hackers. The data were coded through a thematic analysis using MAXQDA software. The study's findings indicated that cyberspace had created a carnivalesque utopia that allowed the young Iranian hackers to experience the pleasure of crime. By trespassing the rational frameworks of the modern world and altering the trends of knowledge creation as a means for subjugation, Iranian hackers contribute to the meaning-construction policies of those in power and challenge authoritarian aesthetics by invading their electronic domain. It was also found that the carnivalesque lives of hackers provided them with a variety of opportunities for disrupting the rhythms of production and creating an underground carnivalesque economy based on their level of knowledge.     

The modified permutation entropy-based independence test of time series

Abstract

In time series, it is essential to check the independence of data by means of a proper method or an appropriate statistical test before any further analysis. Therefore, among different independence tests, a powerful and productive test has been introduced by Matilla-García and Marín via m-dimensional vectorial process, in which the value of the process at time t includes m-histories of the primary process. However, this method causes a dependency for the vectors even when the independence assumption of random variables is considered. Considering this dependency, a modified test is obtained in this article through presenting a new asymptotic distribution based on weighted chi-square random variables. Also, some other alterations to the test have been made via bootstrap method and by controlling the overlap. Compared with the primary test, it is obtained that not only the modified test is more accurate but also, it possesses higher power.     

Misbeliefs About Gambling in a Convenience Sample from the General Population

We examined knowledge about the role of randomness in gambling and the principle of independence of events, in a community sample. We also investigated whether this knowledge varies according to gender and age. A convenience sample of 1257 residents in French-speaking Switzerland, aged 18–88 years (28.5% of women) completed a short online questionnaire. This assessed the perceived role of human skills in four different games as well as beliefs relating to the principle of independence of events. The results show that 19.5% of the respondents perceived Roulette as a game for which the outcome is determined by skill. They also showed that 15.1% of the respondents did not hold beliefs about the independence of events principle. Gender and age differences were also observed: Men were proportionally more likely to hold erroneous beliefs about gambling skills and the independence of events, compared to women. The 18–25 year-old age group attributed Roulette outcomes to the gambler’s skill more frequently than the older categories. The implications of these findings for prevention and social support are discussed.     

Comparison of predictions by kriging and spatial autoregressive models

In geostatistics, the prediction of unknown quantities at given locations is commonly made by the kriging technique. In addition to the kriging technique for modeling regular lattice spatial data, the spatial autoregressive models can also be used. In this article, the spatial autoregressive model and the kriging technique are introduced. We extend prediction method proposed by Basu and Reinsel for SAR(2,1) model. Then, using a simulation study and real data, we compare prediction accuracy of the spatial autoregressive models with that of the kriging prediction. The results of simulation study show that predictions made by the autoregressive models are good competitor for the kriging method.     

Mobile lives,immutable facts: family reunification of children in Finland

The right to family has been confirmed by myriad human rights covenants and it forms an acknowledged part of migration policies. Yet family reunification has become an increasingly contested issue, something reflected in a recent restrictive turn in migration policies throughout Europe. Policy reforms speak of a growing polarity between, on the one hand, adherence to the ‘best interest of the child’ and family life, and on the other, suspicion of fraud. This article examines these tensions via exploration of family reunification procedures in Finland, particularly applications sponsored by minors, thereby drawing attention to the notion of ‘the anchor child’. Drawing on decisions by the Administrative Court of Helsinki as well as interviews with experts and the people concerned, the writers discuss how these polarities are managed in practice, centring their analysis on a quest for truth that deploys various methods, particularly DNA analysis and oral hearings. Ultimately the article highlights an intrinsic paradox in family reunification policies that incorporates the aspiration to produce facts amounting to ‘immutable mobiles’ (Latour, Bruno. 1986. ‘Visualization and cognition: Thinking with the eyes and hands.’ Knowledge and Society 6 (6): 1–40.) and the evident weight of contingent temporalities.     

Contextual Variation in Stereotype Content: An Investigation of Children's Central Tendency and Group Variability Judgements

Drawing upon self‐categorization theory, we predicted that the content of children's stereotypes concerning the gender ingroup would be contextually variable. Two studies are reported, each looking at five‐, seven‐, and 10‐year‐old children's stereotypes of the gender in‐group in two different contexts. Study 1 examined judgements of the perceived central tendency of the in‐group on specified dimensions. Study 2 addressed judgements of perceived variability within the gender in‐group on the same dimensions. Overall multivariate analysis of the data indicated that central tendency judgements were influenced by the context in which a group is considered, but that group variability judgements were not. Individual‐level analyses showed that the most typical pattern of response over the two conditions, in both Studies 1 and 2, was for children to provide consistent rather than varying judgements. However, in Study 1 (but not Study 2 ), among those children who changed their judgements, the nature of change was precisely as predicted by self‐categorization theory.     

A family affair: Evidence of chain migration during the mass emigration from the county of Halland in Sweden to the United States in the 1890s

This paper examines the influence of individual and household factors on an individual’s propensity to emigrate from Halland, a region in south-west Sweden, to the United States during the era of mass migration in the late nineteenth century. The study has a case–control design, using individual-level longitudinal data for a group of emigrants (cases) and a group of non-emigrants (controls). Results indicate the importance of a family’s emigration history; individuals whose relatives had previously moved to the United States were more likely to emigrate themselves. In addition, the results also show how this impact varied between groups and how other factors relating to the individual’s life situation affected the migration decision. Thus, this paper shows how chain migration and migration networks play important roles during times of mass migration.     

A new fuzzy-c-means and assignment technique-based cell formation algorithm to perform part- type clusters and machine-type clusters separately

The incorporation of fuzziness in the cell formation problem by Chu and Hayya (1991 International Journal of Production Research, 29, 1475-1487) is a notable contribution, in which non-binary classification logic is used. However, despite this development, numerical illustrations performed in this research demonstrate that the Chu and Hayya approach can result in solutions with empty party-type cluster(s) and/or empty machine-type cluster(s). Further, it is noted that solutions based on the Chu and Hayya approach can contain non-empty part-type cluster(s) being assigned to empty machine-type cluster(s) and vice versa. Three strategies are offered in this research to overcome these inadequacies: the separate formation of part-type and machine-type clusters; modification of the stopping criterion; and the adoption of the assignment technique in the formation of the final manufacturing cell solutions. A new algorithm has resulted from these modifications and has been rigorously compared to the performance of the Chu and Hayya approach. In general, the new algorithm demonstrates superiorities in global efficiency and in generating feasible party-type clusters, machine-type clusters and manufacturing cells.     

Attitudes Toward Parenthood,Partnership, and Social Rights for Diverse Families: Evidence From a Pilot Study in Five Countries

Attitudes toward the civil and social citizenship rights of individuals in diverse family forms are underresearched. We use cross-national data from a pilot study among students in Denmark, Spain, Croatia, Italy, and the Netherlands to explore cross-country differences in beliefs about partnership, parenthood, and social rights of same-sex couples vs. heterosexual couples or married vs. cohabiting couples. The results suggest a polarization in students’ attitudes between countries that appear more traditional (i.e., Italy and Croatia) and less traditional (Spain and the Netherlands), where the rights of married heterosexual couples are privileged over other family forms more so than in nontraditional countries. Moreover, equality in social rights is generally more widely accepted than equality in civil rights, particularly in relationship to parenthood rights and in more traditional countries. We discuss the implications of these findings and the implications for further research in this underexplored area of attitudinal research.