Problem gambling: a suitable case for social work?

Problem gambling attracts little attention from health and social care agencies in the UK. Prevalence surveys suggest that 0.6% of the population are problem gamblers and it is suggested that for each of these individuals, 10–17 other people, including children and other family members, are affected. Problem gambling is linked to many individual and social problems including: depression, suicide, significant debt, bankruptcy, family conflict, domestic violence, neglect and maltreatment of children and offending. This makes the issue central to social work territory. Yet, the training of social workers in the UK has consistently neglected issues of addictive behaviour. Whilst some attention has been paid in recent years to substance abuse issues, there has remained a silence in relation to gambling problems. Social workers provide more help for problems relating to addictions than other helping professions. There is good evidence that treatment, and early intervention for gambling problems, including psycho-social and public health approaches, can be very effective. This paper argues that problem gambling should be moved onto the radar of the social work profession, via inclusion on qualifying and post-qualifying training programmes and via research and dissemination of good practice via institutions such as the Social Care Institute for Excellence (SCIE). Keywords: problem gambling; addictive behaviour; socia

Transverse Spin at PHENIX: Results and Prospects

The Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC), as the world's first and only polarized proton collider, offers a unique environment in which to study the spin structure of the proton. In order to study the proton's transverse spin structure, the PHENIX experiment at RHIC took data with transversely polarized beams in 2001-02 and 2005, and it has plans for further running with transverse polarization in 2006 and beyond. Results from early running as well as prospective measurements for the future will be discussed.Comment: 6 pages, 2 figures, presented at Transversity 2005, Como, Ital

Pseudorapidity Distributions of Charged Particles in d + Au and p + p Collisions at sNN\sqrt{s_{_{NN}}} = 200GeV

The measured pseudorapidity distributions of primary charged particles are presented for d + Au and p + p collisions at ${\sqrt{s_{_{NN}}} =}$ 200 GeV over a wide pseudorapidity range of ${\rm \mid \eta \mid \le}$ 5.4. The results for d + Au collisions are presented for minimum-bias events and as a function of collision centrality. The measurements for p + p collisions are shown for minimum-bias events. The ratio of the charged particle multiplicity in d + Au and p + A collisions relative to that for inelastic p + p collisions is found to depend only on ${}$, and it is remarkably independent of collision energy and system mass. The deuteron and gold fragmentation regions in d + Au collisions are in good agreement with proton nucleus data at lower energies.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures. To appear in the proceedings of Seventeenth International Conference on Ultra-Relativistic Nucleus-Nucleus Collisions (Quark Matter 2004), Oakland, California from January 11-17, 2004. Submitted to Journal of Physics G: Nuclear and Particle Physic

Elliptic Flow in Au+Au Collisions at RHIC

Elliptic flow is an interesting probe of the dynamical evolution of the dense system formed in the ultrarelativistic heavy ion collisions at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC). The elliptic flow dependences on transverse momentum, centrality, and pseudorapidity were measured using data collected by the PHOBOS detector, which offers a unique opportunity to study the azimuthal anisotropies of charged particles over a wide range of pseudorapidity. These measurements are presented, together with an overview of the analysis methods and a discussion of the results.Comment: Presented at Hot Quarks 2004; 7 pages, 6 figure

The Landscape of Particle Production: Results from PHOBOS

Recent results from the PHOBOS experiment at RHIC are presented, both from Au+Au collisions from the 2001 run and p+p and d+Au collisions from 2003. The centrality dependence of the total charged particle multiplicity in p+p and d+Au show features, such as Npart-scaling and limiting fragmentation, similar to p+A collisions at lower energies. Multiparticle physics in Au+Au is found to be local in (pseudo)rapidity, both when observed by HBT correlations and by forward-backward pseudorapidity correlations. The shape of elliptic flow in Au+Au, measured over the full range of pseudorapidity, appears to have a very weak centrality dependence. Identified particle ratios in d+Au reactions show little difference between the shape of proton and anti-proton spectra, while the absolute yields show an approximate m_T scaling.Comment: 8 Pages, 11 Figures, Plenary talk at Quark Matter 2004, Oakland, CA, January 11-18, 200

Charged antiparticle to particle ratios near midrapidity in p+p collisions at sqrt(s_NN)=200 GeV

The ratios of the yields of primary charged antiparticles to particles have been obtained for pions, kaons, and protons near midrapidity for p+p collisions at sqrt(s_NN) = 200 GeV. Ratios of =1.000 +/- 0.012 (stat.) +/- 0.019 (syst.), =0.93 +/- 0.05 (stat.) +/- 0.03 (syst.), and =0.85 +/- 0.04 (stat.) +/- 0.03 (syst.) have been measured. The reported values represent the ratio of the yields averaged over the rapidity range of 0.1<y_{pi}<1.3 and 0<y_{K,p}<0.8, and for transverse momenta of 0.1<p_T^{pi,K}<1.0 GeV/c and 0.3<p_T^{p}<1.0 GeV/c. Within the uncertainties, all three ratios are consistent with the values measured in d+Au collisions at the same energy. The data are compared to results from other collision systems and energies.Comment: 3 pages, 2 figures, 1 table, submitted to Phys. Rev.

Centrality dependence of charged hadron transverse momentum spectra in d+Au collisions at sqrt(s_NN) = 200 GeV

We have measured transverse momentum distributions of charged hadrons produced in d+Au collisions at sqrt(s_NN) = 200 GeV. The spectra were obtained for transverse momenta 0.25 < p_T < 6.0 GeV/c, in a pseudorapidity range of 0.2 < eta < 1.4 in the deuteron direction. The evolution of the spectra with collision centrality is presented in comparison to p+pbarcollisions at the same collision energy. With increasing centrality, the yield at high transverse momenta increases more rapidly than the overall particle density, leading to a strong modification of the spectral shape. This change in spectral shape is qualitatively different from observations in Au+Au collisions at the same energy. The results provide important information for discriminating between different models for the suppression of high-p_T hadrons observed in Au+Au collisions.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures, submitted to PR

Collision geometry scaling of Au+Au pseudorapidity density from sqrt(s_NN) = 19.6 to 200 GeV

The centrality dependence of the midrapidity charged particle multiplicity in Au+Au collisions at sqrt(s_NN) = 19.6 and 200 GeV is presented. Within a simple model, the fraction of hard (scaling with number of binary collisions) to soft (scaling with number of participant pairs) interactions is consistent with a value of x = 0.13 +/- 0.01(stat) +/- 0.05(syst) at both energies. The experimental results at both energies, scaled by inelastic p(pbar)+p collision data, agree within systematic errors. The ratio of the data was found not to depend on centrality over the studied range and yields a simple linear scale factor of R_(200/19.6) = 2.03 +/- 0.02(stat) +/- 0.05(syst).Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures, submitted to PRC-R

Centrality dependence of charged antiparticle to particle ratios near mid-rapidity in d+Au collisions at sqrt(s_NN)=200 GeV

The ratios of the yields of charged antiparticles to particles have been obtained for pions, kaons, and protons near mid-rapidity for d+Au collisions at sqrt(s_NN) = 200 GeV as a function of centrality. The reported values represent the ratio of the yields averaged over the rapidity range of 0.1<y_pi<1.3 and 0<y_(K,p)<0.8, where positive rapidity is in the deuteron direction, and for transverse momenta 0.1<p_(T)^(pi,K)<1.0 GeV/c and 0.3<p_(T)^(p)<1.0 GeV/c. Within the uncertainties, a lack of centrality dependence is observed in all three ratios. The data are compared to results from other systems and model calculations.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures, submitted to PR

Event-by-event fluctuations of azimuthal particle anisotropy in Au+Au collisions at sqrt(s_NN) = 200 GeV

This paper presents the first measurement of event-by-event fluctuations of the elliptic flow parameter v_2 in Au+Au collisions at sqrt(s_NN) = 200GeV as a function of collision centrality. The relative non-statistical fluctuations of the v_2 parameter are found to be approximately 40%. The results, including contributions from event-by-event elliptic flow fluctuations and from azimuthal correlations that are unrelated to the reaction plane (non-flow correlations), establish an upper limit on the magnitude of underlying elliptic flow fluctuations. This limit is consistent with predictions based on spatial fluctuations of the participating nucleons in the initial nuclear overlap region. These results provide important constraints on models of the initial state and hydrodynamic evolution of relativistic heavy ion collisions.Comment: 5 pages, 2 figures, Published in Phys. Rev. Lett