Efficacy of a Self-Help Treatment for At-Risk and Pathological Gamblers

Available evidence suggests that self-help treatments may reduce problem gambling severity but inconsistencies of results across clinical trials leave the extent of their benefits unclear. Moreover, no self-help treatment has yet been validated within a French Canadian setting. The current study therefore assesses the efficacy of a French language self-help treatment including three motivational telephone interviews spread over an 11-week period and a cognitive-behavioral self-help workbook. At-risk and pathological gamblers were randomly assigned to the treatment group (n = 31) or the waiting list (n = 31). Relative to the waiting list, the treatment group showed a statistically significant reduction in the number of DSM-5 gambling disorder criteria met, gambling habits, and gambling consequences at Week 11. Perceived self-efficacy and life satisfaction also significantly improved after 11 weeks for the treatment group, but not for the waiting list group. At Week 11, 13% of participants had dropped out of the study. All significant changes reported for the treatment group were maintained throughout 1, 6 and 12-month follow-ups. Results support the efficacy of the self-help treatment to reduce problem gambling severity, gambling behaviour and to improve overall functioning among a sample of French Canadian problem gamblers over short, medium and long term. Findings from this study lend support to the appropriateness of self-help treatments for problem gamblers and help clarify inconsistencies found in the literature. The low dropout rate is discussed with respect to the advantages of the self-help format. Clinical and methodological implications of the results are put forth.     

Resources of Grandparents: Educational Outcomes Across Three Generations in Europe and Israel

Educational attainment depends on parents' material and cultural resources. In many families, the grandparents also provide resources that directly or indirectly support their children's educational careers. That is why we applied a multigenerational view and tested if and under which conditions the resources of grandparents are relevant for the educational outcomes of their grandchildren. Using data from the fifth wave of the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (N = 27,447), we examined the association between the education of children and the resources of their grandparents. The results show that the impact of grandparental resources is not generally negligible and not entirely mediated by the parental generation. The resources of the grandparents can be used as a substitute for a lack of parental resources. In addition, the “grandparent effect” also differs across countries, indicating that certain welfare state provisions seem to enhance or attenuate the relevance of grandparents' resources.     

EFFICIENT TAX REPORTING: THE EFFECTS OF TAXPAYER LIABILITY INFORMATION SERVICES

The complexity of the individual income tax system can give rise to both under‐ and overreporting of liability, thus creating a wedge between taxpayer perceptions of the price of public services and their actual cost, and potentially leading to budget misallocations and associated efficiency losses. This study uses theory and experiments to evaluate the effectiveness of taxpayer service programs that endeavor to resolve uncertainty over tax liability. To do so, we induce uncertainty over tax liability and investigate the effects of both service accuracy and reliability. We find participants are less likely to file when tax liability is uncertain but the provision of information offsets this effect; furthermore, it appears that simply providing a service, even one that imperfectly reveals liability, increases the propensity to file and the accuracy of the filing. When a service that promises to resolve uncertainty completely is requested but not delivered, the result is underreporting even more severe than in a setting where no service is available. (JEL H2, H26, C91)     

Fun Seeking and Reward Responsiveness Moderate the Effect of the Behavioural Inhibition System on Coping-Motivated Problem Gambling

Gray’s Reinforcement Sensitivity Theory (RST) predicts that the Behavioral Inhibition System (BIS) may relate to coping-motivated problem gambling, given its central role in anxiety. Studies examining the BIS-problem gambling association, however, are mixed. The revised RST posits that the Behavioral Approach System (BAS) may moderate the effect of the BIS on coping-motivated problem gambling. A concurrently strong BAS may highlight the negatively reinforcing effects of gambling, which may strengthen coping motives and increase gambling-related harms. We examined these interactive effects to clarify the moderators and mediators of the negative reinforcement pathway to problem gambling. Data came from a larger investigation of problem gambling among individuals with mood disorders. All participants (N = 275) met criteria for a lifetime depressive or bipolar disorder. During a two-day assessment, participants completed a diagnostic assessment and self-reports. Mediated moderation path analysis showed positive indirect effects from the BIS to problem gambling via coping motives at high, but not at low, levels of BAS-Reward Responsiveness and BAS-Fun Seeking. Enhancement motives were also found to mediate the associations of BAS-Fun Seeking and BAS-Drive with problem gambling. Reward Responsiveness and Fun Seeking facets of the BAS may strengthen coping gambling motives within the mood disorders.     

Gay Men's Perspectives on HIV Prevention and Treatment in Berlin,Germany: Lessons for Policy and Prevention

Qualitative data from interviews with gay men in Berlin, Germany were used to identify challenges facing HIV prevention and treatment as well as opportunities to improve them. In 2015, 20 self-identified gay men in Berlin—who had all received HIV prevention services and/or treatment (broadly defined)—participated in 1-on-1 qualitative interviews (30–75 min long). Ages ranged from 24 to 54, 35% self-identified as HIV-positive, and the remainder as HIV-negative. With regard to challenges to HIV prevention, participants highlighted (a) an already high HIV burden among gay men in Berlin and thus a need for doing prevention with positives (test-and-treat, and treatment as prevention); (b) the lack of a universal free condom distribution program; and (c) relaxed attitudes around the seriousness of HIV as a result of HIV treatment optimism. Participants highlighted that although condoms are an effective HIV prevention strategy (and thus certainly an area for focus), HIV prevention campaigns would benefit from updates with regard to embracing a diverse range of biological and behavioral prevention strategies, as well as expanded methods for making access to postexposure prophylaxis and free rapid HIV-antibody testing. This study informs HIV prevention approaches in Berlin, Germany as well as other urban centers where MSM are disproportionally affected by the HIV epidemic.     

On hypothesis tests for disk-type intensities of spatial poisson processes

We consider the problem of testing whether realizations of a spatial Poisson process come from a circular intensity model or from an elliptical intensity model. We describe the behavior of the Generalized Likelihood Ratio and Wald tests, in the asymptotics of large samples. The power functions are studied under local alternatives and results of numerical simulations comparing them to the Neyman–Pearson envelope are presented.     

PSS business model conceptualization and application*

The discussion about business models has gained considerable attention in the last decade. Business model frameworks have been developed in the literature as management methods helping companies to comprehend and analyse their current business logic and guide the deployment of new strategies. In response to calls for a deeper understanding of the application of a business model approach to product-service systems (PSS), this study develops a two-level hierarchical framework that (i) includes a set of components with pertinent, second-order variables to take into account when undergoing the shift from products to solutions; (ii) supports industrial companies, especially SMEs, in designing their future business model and in consistently planning the actions needed to implement it. The framework was applied and refined within real-life settings. The application to KINE – a robot solutions supplier – shows how key challenges faced by servitization firms may be thoroughly addressed through the adoption of a business model perspective.     

Waiting Line Effects in Analytical Maintenance Float Policy

The equipment failure distributions commonly identified in practice pose great difficulties in the establishment of sound maintenance total float policy. Some of the existing analytical constructs utilize the reliability ratio of the equipment in operations in order to bypass the obstacles and arrive at applicable solutions. In this paper we give a summary of these theoretical models. In addition, we provide insight by testing the significance of factors utilized in maintenance total float determination. The paper examines the effect of the assumption made by the analytical model of no waiting time for repair. Our test showed that there is no statistically significant difference between the analytical model and simulation when waiting is allowed for the normal and uniform distributions. The analytical model thus offers some advantage in its use to estimate maintenance float due to its simplicity. When failure distribution is an exponential, Erlang-2 or lognormal, the assumption of no waiting time for repair must be kept in order to use the analytical model.