The association of at-risk, problem, and pathological gambling with substance use, depression, and arrest history

We examined at-risk, problem, or pathological gambling co-occurrence with frequency of past-year alcohol, tobacco, and marijuana use; depressive symptoms; and arrest history. Data included the responses of over 3,000 individuals who participated in a 2006 telephone survey designed to understand the extent of at-risk, problem, and pathological gambling; comorbidity levels with substance use; mental health; and social problems among Southwestern U.S. residents. Data were analyzed with multinomial and bivariate logistic regression. Respondents at risk for problem gambling were more likely to use alcohol, tobacco, and marijuana than those respondents not at risk. Pathological gamblers were no more or less likely to consume alcohol or tobacco than were non-gamblers or those not at risk. A dose-response relationship existed between degree of gambling problems and depressive symptoms and arrest history. Interventions for at-risk or problem gamblers need to include substance use treatment, and the phenomenon of low levels of substance use among pathological gamblers needs further exploration

Trace Formulas in Connection with Scattering Theory for Quasi-Periodic Background

We investigate trace formulas for Jacobi operators which are trace class perturbations of quasi-periodic finite-gap operators using Krein's spectral shift theory. In particular we establish the conserved quantities for the solutions of the Toda hierarchy in this class.Comment: 7 page

Analytical model for laser-assisted recombination of hydrogenic atoms

We introduce a new method that allows one to obtain an analytical cross section for the laser-assisted electron-ion collision in a closed form. As an example we perform a calculation for the hydrogen laser-assisted recombination. The $S$-matrix element for the process is constructed from an exact electron Coulomb-Volkov wave function and an approximate laser modified hydrogen state. An explicit expression for the field-enhancement coefficient of the process is expressed in terms of the dimensionless parameter $\kappa= |{e\epsilon_{0}}/{q\omega_{0}}|^{2}$, where $e$ and $q$ are the electron charge and momentum respectively, and $\epsilon_{0}$ and $\omega_{0}$ are the amplitude and frequency of the laser field respectively. The simplified version of the cross section of the process is derived and analyzed within a soft photon approximation.Comment: 10 page

Trialogue on the number of fundamental constants

This paper consists of three separate articles on the number of fundamental dimensionful constants in physics. We started our debate in summer 1992 on the terrace of the famous CERN cafeteria. In the summer of 2001 we returned to the subject to find that our views still diverged and decided to explain our current positions. LBO develops the traditional approach with three constants, GV argues in favor of at most two (within superstring theory), while MJD advocates zero.Comment: Version appearing in JHEP; 31 pages late

The (co-)occurrence of problematic video gaming, substance use, and psychosocial problems in adolescents

Aims. The current study explored the nature of problematic (addictive) video gaming and the association with game type, psychosocial health, and substance use. Methods. Data were collected using a paper and pencil survey in the classroom setting. Three samples were aggregated to achieve a total sample of 8478 unique adolescents. Scales included measures of game use, game type, the Video game Addiction Test (VAT), depressive mood, negative self-esteem, loneliness, social anxiety, education performance, and use of cannabis, alcohol and nicotine (smoking). Results. Findings confirmed problematic gaming is most common amongst adolescent gamers who play multiplayer online games. Boys (60%) were more likely to play online games than girls (14%) and problematic gamers were more likely to be boys (5%) than girls (1%). High problematic gamers showed higher scores on depressive mood, loneliness, social anxiety, negative self-esteem, and self-reported lower school performance. Nicotine, alcohol, and cannabis using boys were almost twice more likely to report high PVG than non-users. Conclusions. It appears that online gaming in general is not necessarily associated with problems. However, problematic gamers do seem to play online games more often, and a small subgroup of gamers – specifically boys – showed lower psychosocial functioning and lower grades. Moreover, associations with alcohol, nicotine, and cannabis use are found. It would appear that problematic gaming is an undesirable problem for a small subgroup of gamers. The findings encourage further exploration of the role of psychoactive substance use in problematic gaming

Operator theory and function theory in Drury-Arveson space and its quotients

The Drury-Arveson space $H^2_d$, also known as symmetric Fock space or the $d$-shift space, is a Hilbert function space that has a natural $d$-tuple of operators acting on it, which gives it the structure of a Hilbert module. This survey aims to introduce the Drury-Arveson space, to give a panoramic view of the main operator theoretic and function theoretic aspects of this space, and to describe the universal role that it plays in multivariable operator theory and in Pick interpolation theory.Comment: Final version (to appear in Handbook of Operator Theory); 42 page

Gambling: Electronic friends or a threat to one's health and personal development?

Gambling has become quite common in Sweden. The Swedish National Institute of Public Health (2010) has reported that about 70% of the Swedish population has gambled at least once during the last 12 months. Half of the population had gambled with money by 18 years of age and about 11% had gambled for the first time when they were 12-years-old or younger. In the report from the Swedish National Institute of Public Health, gambling problems are related to health problems and risky alcohol consumption. The highest problem rate is found among men aged 18 to 24; almost 1 in 10 had some gambling problems. The share of problem gamblers is found to be twice as high among the under-age gamblers as it is among the population as a whole. Young people gamble less but develop gambling problems to a larger extent than adult gamblers. In this article young people's gambling and their gambling careers are analysed as a natural part of their internalisation of other adult habits

Adolescent gambling behaviour, a single latent construct and indicators of risk: findings from a national survey of New Zealand high school students

This study explores underlying latent construct/s of gambling behaviour, and identifies indicators of “unhealthy gambling”. Data were collected from Youth’07 a nationally representative sample of New Zealand secondary school students (N = 9107). Exploratory factor analyses, item-response theory analyses, multiple indicators-multiple causes, and differential item functioning analyses were used to assess dimensionality of gambling behaviour, underlying factors, and indicators of unhealthy gambling. A single underlying continuum of gambling behaviour was identified. Gambling frequency and ‘gambling because I can’t stop’ were most strongly associated with unhealthy gambling. Gambling to ‘feel better about myself’ and to ‘forget about things’ provided the most precise discriminants of unhealthy gambling. Multivariable analyses found that school connectedness was associated with lower levels of unhealthy gambling