Daily and season-long fantasy sports participation and gambling-related problems among a sample of college students at three universities

Traditionally, fantasy sports have been played in season-long leagues, but recently daily fantasy sports (DFS) have emerged, allowing participants to play fantasy contests over shorter periods of time. Although participating in fantasy sports contests with entry fees or deposits could be considered a form of gambling, very few studies have examined associations between fantasy sport participation and gambling-related problems. Using a 2016 sample of college students (N = 941) at three institutions, this study examined associations between fantasy sports participation (season-long and DFS) and (1) gambling, (2) gambling frequency, and (3) endorsing DSM-5 gambling disorder (GD) criteria. The study found that engagement with fantasy sports and paying to play increased the likelihood of gambling and more frequent gambling. Respondents who paid an entry fee/deposit to play fantasy sports gambled more frequently than those who did not, and respondents who participated in DFS endorsed more DSM-5 GD criteria than those who did not. Because of the association found between DFS play and gambling-related problems in some participants, the study suggests that mental health professionals who treat clients with gambling problems be cognizant of DFS and that some clients might be experiencing problems with DFS.     

Experiences of Violence Among Transgender Women in Puerto Rico: An Underestimated Problem

Violence is a public health concern faced on a daily basis by transgender women. Literature has documented how it adversely affects quality of life and health and in some instances leads to homicide. Considering the lack of research documenting the experiences of violence among transgender women, the objective of this article was to explore manifestations of violence among this population in Puerto Rico. The data presented in this article are part of a larger study on transgender/transsexual health in Puerto Rico. For the purpose of this article we focus on the quantitative data analysis. Participants (N = 59 transgender women) were recruited via respondent driven sampling. Implications and specific recommendations are discussed in light of these findings.     

A Decade of Sub-national Pro-poor Growth in Pakistan

The literature on subjective well-being has highlighted the negative effects associated with the restrictions and inequality imposed by the hukou system on China’s rural population. However, quantifying the cost of holding a rural hukou has generally been challenging because it can reflect unobserved individual characteristics related to educational and occupational choices. Thanks to RUMiC, a new longitudinal database on China, this limitation can be overcome by exploiting exogenous changes in hukou status due to land expropriation. The results support that receiving an urban hukou substantially enhances subjective well-being within the household, especially for males. The results complement a growing literature on subjective well-being focusing on China.     

Categorical Representation of Facial Expressions in the Infant Brain

Categorical perception, demonstrated as reduced discrimination of within‐category relative to between‐category differences in stimuli, has been found in a variety of perceptual domains in adults. To examine the development of categorical perception in the domain of facial expression processing, we used behavioral and event‐related potential (ERP) methods to assess discrimination of within‐category (happy‐happy) and between‐category (happy‐sad) differences in facial expressions in 7‐month‐old infants. Data from a visual paired‐comparison test and recordings of attention‐sensitive ERPs showed no discrimination of facial expressions in the within‐category condition, whereas reliable discrimination was observed in the between‐category condition. The results also showed that face‐sensitive ERPs over occipital‐temporal scalp (P400) were attenuated in the within‐category condition relative to the between‐category condition, suggesting a potential neural basis for the reduced within‐category sensitivity. Together, these results suggest that the neural systems underlying categorical representation of facial expressions emerge during the early stages of postnatal development, before acquisition of language.     

What's an Oscar worth?

This article examines the impact of an Academy Award nomination and award for best picture, best actor/actress, and best supporting actor/actress on a film's (i) market share of theaters, (ii) average revenue per screen, and (iii) its probability of survival. The model is estimated using weekly box-office data for a matched sample of nominated and non-nominated films. The results indicate substantial financial benefits for a nomination and award for best picture and best actor/actress. The structure of rewards is consistent with that found in two-stage, single-elimination tournaments.     

Social and Economic Distress in Large Cities, 1970–1990: A Test of the Urban Crisis Thesis

This paper is a test of the urban crisis thesis, which argues that the social and economic conditions of large cities have continued to deteriorate since 1970. In addition, we examine the factors that account for differences in social distress among the cities. Finally, we investigate the regional location effect on urban social distress. In general the findings show both cross-sectionally and longitudinally that (1) the urban crisis has become worse over the years; (2) differences in social distress among cities are largely a function of economic distress, urban scale, and regional location; and (3) levels of distress have converged among cities in the old industrial North (the Rustbelt) and the South and West (the Sunbelt). In fact, the most distressed cities in the country are in the Sunbelt.     

Human factors methods to reduce medication error: using task analysis in a pediatric and adult pharmacy

Medication error is an issue that no hospital is immune from, leading to 7,000 deaths and 1.3 million patient injuries each year. The purpose of this study was to decrease the risk and occurrence of medication errors by analyzing the hospital pharmacy. Task analyses were performed and it was found that communication, expectation, and procedural issues were leading to the occurrence of the most common type of medication error in the pharmacy. Recommendations were made to improve the process and reduce the occurrence of this type of error.     

Influences of landscape and lifestyle on home energy consumption

Rapid urbanization coupled with concerns about global climate change has renewed interest in energy conservation and carbon dioxide emissions reduction. Urban residential energy consumption is a valuable place to start reducing emissions, and urban tree planting programs have been both proposed and utilized as an energy conservation mechanism. Home energy savings associated with urban trees are often quantified using models because of the many complex interactions among variables that can influence home energy use. However, recent empirical analyses have found that energy savings associated with trees may be minimal relative to other important factors like building characteristics and human behaviors. We surveyed 176 residents from four neighborhoods in Raleigh, NC with varying socio-economic characteristics to assess relationships between summer energy usage, tree cover, homeowner behavior, and building characteristics. As hypothesized, we found that building characteristics, demographics, and human behaviors were all significant variables in describing the variability in summertime home energy usage. Although, total percent tree cover 18?m around the home did not affect summertime energy use, the number of trees in the NE and NW quadrants around each household did predict home energy use. These results indicate that planting trees may not be a successful strategy for reducing energy use from the residential sector in the heavily forested Southeast; rather efforts should target conservation and efficiency.     

Dimension reduction summaries for balanced contrasts

We discuss the covariate dimension reduction properties of conditional density ratios in the estimation of balanced contrasts of expectations. Conditional density ratios, as well as related sufficient summaries, can be used to replace the covariates with a smaller number of variables. For example, for comparisons among k   populations the covariates can be replaced with k-1$k-1$ conditional density ratios. The dimension reduction properties of conditional density ratios are directly connected with sufficiency, the dimension reduction concepts considered in regression theory, and propensity theory. The theory presented here extends the ideas in propensity theory to situations in which propensities do not exist and develops an approach to dimension reduction outside of the potential outcomes or counterfactual framework. Under general conditions, we show that a principal components transformation of the estimated conditional density ratios can be used to investigate whether a sufficient summary of dimension lower than k-1$k-1$ exists and to identify such a lower dimensional summary.