Patterns of Autonomic Arousal in Imaginal Situations of Winning and Losing in Problem Gambling

AIMS: To examine changes in skin conductance level (SCL), for problem gamblers in response to personally relevant imaginal tasks, representing winning or losing. SETTING, DESIGN, PARTICIPANTS AND MEASUREMENTS: SCL and subjective arousal were compared for problem poker machine gamblers (n = 13) and a control group (n = 20). Participants were asked to describe a situation in which they had (a) won and (b) lost during a period of gambling. Before and during the task, recordings of SCL were taken. FINDINGS: There were significant differences between responses of problem and social gamblers. A significant interaction indicated that social gamblers became more aroused in reaction to winning than losing, whereas problem gamblers became equally aroused in response to both tasks. CONCLUSIONS: The results suggest that it may be responses to losing, rather than winning that are paramount to the development and maintenance of problem gambling.     

Many a slip between cup and lip. Process evaluation of a program to promote and support evidence-based public health practice

The main aims of this study are to document whether an intervention for promoting evidence-based public health practice had been delivered as intended and to explore the reasons for its lack of impact. Process data from the implementation of the program and data from interviews with 40 public health physicians are analyzed. Although they expressed satisfaction with the service, the doctors experienced the program as rather irrelevant for their daily work. They did not perceive that they dealt with many issues relevant for the use of research information, and if they did, referring to research would not make any difference to the way others perceived their advice. There is a need to develop more overlying strategies for integrating evidence into decision making than addressing the individual level.     

A survey of problematic sexualized behaviors of children in the New York City Child Welfare System:estimates of problem, impact on services, and need for training

Forty-eight of 52 (92%) agencies contracted with the New York City Administration for Children's Services (ACS) responded to a survey about problematic sexualized behaviors (PSB) of children in different levels of care within the child welfare system. Results revealed that almost all agencies reported PSB within their foster boarding home and residential treatment centers. A majority of agencies perceived PSB to be a significant problem for which staff and families were not sufficiently trained. These findings highlight many avenues for advocacy, clinical intervention, and staff development.     

Discovering classes in microarray data using island counts

We present a new biclustering algorithm to simultaneously discover tissue classes and identify a set of genes that well-characterize these classes from DNA microarray data sets. We employ a combinatorial optimization approach where the object is to simultaneously identify an interesting set of genes and a partition of the array samples that optimizes a certain score based on a novel color island statistic. While this optimization problem is NP-complete in general, we are effectively able to solve problems of interest to optimality using a branch-and-bound algorithm. We have tested the algorithm on a 30 sample Cutaneous T-cell Lymphoma data set; it was able to almost perfectly discriminate short-term survivors from long-term survivors and normal controls. Another useful feature of our method is that can easily handle missing expression data.     

Volunteerism and Social Work Educators: Findings from a National Survey

Abstract

This study reports the results of a national survey designed to identify the nature and levels of volunteer work that social work educators contribute to the social welfare sector. Findings reveal that nearly all social work educators engage in formal volunteer work and perform a variety of roles in human service agencies. The most common volunteer activities are advocacy, administration and consultation. The least common volunteer activities are evaluation, data management and emergency services. Study results also indicate that tenure status and primary teaching area are positively associated with the amount and type of volunteer work performed.     

Letters to the editor

Relatively little attention has been paid to the use and importance of labels used by men who have sex with men to describe insertive or receptive sexual behavior during intercourse. This study examines sexual self‐labels, sexual behavior, HIV transmission risk, and psychological functioning among 205 HIV‐seropositive men who have sex with men. The majority of participants (88%) identified as a “top, “ a “bottom, “ or “versatile. “ Tops were more likely to engage in insertive anal intercourse than bottoms, and bottoms were more likely to engage in receptive anal intercourse than tops, with versatiles reporting intermediate rates of both behaviors. Although the results suggest preliminary evidence regarding the predictive utility of self‐labels, sexual behaviors of self‐label groups were greatly overlapping. Differences were found among self‐label groups in gay self‐identification, internalized homophobia, sexual sensation seeking, and anxiety. Results suggest an added value in assessing self‐labels in addition to asking about sexual behavior.     

The duration of unemployment in Russia

This paper uses longitudinal survey data to assess factors affecting the duration of unemployment in Russia. We examine four types of marginalised labour force participants, according to ILO guidelines and survey responses, and we estimate duration models for each type. It turns out that the sets of characteristics with the strongest effects on the duration are remarkably similar across the different unemployment definitions and model specifications. Therefore, despite the formidable practical measurement problems, problematic groups of individuals can actually be identified. Received: 27 January 1999/Accepted: 27 January 2000