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

Astrophysics datamining in the classroom: Exploring real data with new software tools and robotic telescopes

Within the efforts to bring frontline interactive astrophysics and astronomy to the classroom, the Hands on Universe (HOU) developed a set of exercises and platform using real data obtained by some of the most advanced ground and space observatories. The backbone of this endeavour is a new free software Web tool - Such a Lovely Software for Astronomy based on Image J (Salsa J). It is student-friendly and developed specifically for the HOU project and targets middle and high schools. It allows students to display, analyze, and explore professionally obtained astronomical images, while learning concepts on gravitational dynamics, kinematics, nuclear fusion, electromagnetism. The continuous evolving set of exercises and tutorials is being completed with real (professionally obtained) data to download and detailed tutorials. The flexibility of the Salsa J platform tool enables students and teachers to extend the exercises with their own observations. The software developed for the HOU program has been designed to be a multi-platform, multi-lingual experience for image manipulation and analysis in the classroom. Its design enables easy implementation of new facilities (extensions and plugins), minimal in-situ maintenance and flexibility for exercise plugin. Here, we describe some of the most advanced exercises about astrophysics in the classroom, addressing particular examples on gravitational dynamics, concepts currently introduced in most sciences curricula in middle and high schools.Comment: 10 pages, 12 images, submitted to the special theme issue Using Astronomy and Space Science Research in Physics Courses of the American Journal of Physic

Impact of early initiation versus national standard of care of antiretroviral therapy in Swaziland's public sector health system : study protocol for a stepped-wedge randomized trial

Background: There is robust clinical evidence to support offering early access to antiretroviral treatment (ART) to all HIV-positive individuals, irrespective of disease stage, to both improve patient health outcomes and reduce HIV incidence. However, as the global treatment guidelines shift to meet this evidence, it is still largely unknown if early access to ART for all (also referred to as "treatment as prevention" or " universal test and treat") is a feasible intervention in the resource-limited countries where this approach could have the biggest impact on the course of the HIV epidemics. The MaxART Early Access to ART for All (EAAA) implementation study was designed to determine the feasibility, acceptability, clinical outcomes, affordability, and scalability of offering early antiretroviral treatment to all HIV-positive individuals in Swaziland's public sector health system. Methods: This is a three-year stepped-wedge randomized design with open enrollment for all adults aged 18 years and older across 14 government-managed health facilities in Swaziland's Hhohho Region. Primary endpoints are retention and viral suppression. Secondary endpoints include ART initiation, adherence, drug resistance, tuberculosis, HIV disease progression, patient satisfaction, and cost per patient per year. Sites are grouped to transition two at a time from the control (standard of care) to intervention (EAAA) stage at each four-month step. This design will result in approximately one half of the total observation time to accrue in the intervention arm and the other half in the control arm. Our estimated enrolment number, which is supported by conservative power calculations, is 4501 patients over the course of the 36-month study period. A multidisciplinary, mixed-methods approach will be adopted to supplement the randomized controlled trial and meet the study aims. Additional study components include implementation science, social science, economic evaluation, and predictive HIV incidence modeling. Discussion: A stepped-wedge randomized design is a causally strong and robust approach to determine if providing antiretroviral treatment for all HIV-positive individuals is a feasible intervention in a resource-limited, public sector health system. We expect our study results to contribute to health policy decisions related to the HIV response in Swaziland and other countries in sub-Saharan Africa

Extended Fermi coordinates

We extend the notion of Fermi coordinates to a generalized definition in which the highest orders are described by arbitrary functions. From this definition rises a formalism that naturally gives coordinate transformation formulae. Some examples are developped in which the extended Fermi coordinates simplify the metric components.Comment: 16 pages, 1 figur

Proton cyclotron wave generation mechanisms upstream of Venus

[1] Long-term observations of proton cyclotron waves in the upstream region of Venus raise the question of under which general solar wind conditions these waves are generated and maintained. The waves are characterized by their occurrence at the local proton cyclotron frequency and left-hand polarization, both in the spacecraft frame. Magnetometer data of the Venus Express spacecraft for two Venus years of observations are analyzed before, during, and after the occurrence of these waves. The configuration of the upstream magnetic field and the solar wind velocity is investigated, to study if the waves are generated from a ring distribution of pickup ions in velocity space or from a parallel pickup ion beam, i.e., for quasi-parallel conditions of solar wind velocity and magnetic field when the solar wind motional electric field is weak. It is found that stable and mainly quasi-parallel magnetic field conditions for up to ∼20 min prior to wave observation are present, enabling sufficient ion pickup and wave growth to obtain observable waves in the magnetometer data. Persistent waves occur mainly under quasi-parallel conditions. This is in agreement with linear theory, which predicts efficient wave growth for instabilities driven by field-aligned planetary ion beams, already for low pickup ion density. The occurrence of highly coherent waves at 4 RV upstream toward the Sun implies that planetary neutral hydrogen is initially picked up at least 5 RV toward the Sun from a sufficiently dense Venus hydrogen exosphere.Fil: Delva, M.. Austrian Academy of Sciences; AustriaFil: Mazelle, C.. Universitá Paul Sabatier; FranciaFil: Bertucci, Cesar. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciónes Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria. Instituto de Astronomía y Física del Espacio. - Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Instituto de Astronomía y Física del Espacio; ArgentinaFil: Volwerk, M.. Austrian Academy of Sciences; AustriaFil: Vörös, Z.. University of Innsbruck; AustriaFil: Zhang, T. L.. Austrian Academy of Sciences; Austri

The orbit of 2010 TK7. Possible regions of stability for other Earth Trojan asteroids

Recently the first Earth Trojan has been observed (Mainzer et al., ApJ 731) and found to be on an interesting orbit close to the Lagrange point L4 (Connors et al., Nature 475). In the present study we therefore perform a detailed investigation on the stability of its orbit and moreover extend the study to give an idea of the probability to find additional Earth-Trojans. Our results are derived using different approaches: a) we derive an analytical mapping in the spatial elliptic restricted three-body problem to find the phase space structure of the dynamical problem. We explore the stability of the asteroid in the context of the phase space geometry, including the indirect influence of the additional planets of our Solar system. b) We use precise numerical methods to integrate the orbit forward and backward in time in different dynamical models. Based on a set of 400 clone orbits we derive the probability of capture and escape of the Earth Trojan asteroids 2010 TK7. c) To this end we perform an extensive numerical investigation of the stability region of the Earth's Lagrangian points. We present a detailed parameter study in the regime of possible stable tadpole and horseshoe orbits of additional Earth-Trojans, i.e. with respect to the semi-major axes and inclinations of thousands of fictitious Trojans. All three approaches underline that the Earth Trojan asteroid 2010 TK7 finds himself in an unstable region on the edge of a stable zone; additional Earth-Trojan asteroids may be found in this regime of stability.Comment: 11 pages, 16 figure

Intermittent turbulence, noisy fluctuations and wavy structures in the Venusian magnetosheath and wake

Recent research has shown that distinct physical regions in the Venusian induced magnetosphere are recognizable from the variations of strength of the magnetic field and its wave/fluctuation activity. In this paper the statistical properties of magnetic fluctuations are investigated in the Venusian magnetosheath and wake regions. The main goal is to identify the characteristic scaling features of fluctuations along Venus Express (VEX) trajectory and to understand the specific circumstances of the occurrence of different types of scalings. For the latter task we also use the results of measurements from the previous missions to Venus. Our main result is that the changing character of physical interactions between the solar wind and the planetary obstacle is leading to different types of spectral scaling in the near-Venusian space. Noisy fluctuations are observed in the magnetosheath, wavy structures near the terminator and in the nightside near-planet wake. Multi-scale turbulence is observed at the magnetosheath boundary layer and near the quasi-parallel bow shock. Magnetosheath boundary layer turbulence is associated with an average magnetic field which is nearly aligned with the Sun-Venus line. Noisy magnetic fluctuations are well described with the Gaussian statistics. Both magnetosheath boundary layer and near shock turbulence statistics exhibit non-Gaussian features and intermittency over small spatio-temporal scales. The occurrence of turbulence near magnetosheath boundaries can be responsible for the local heating of plasma observed by previous missions

Magnetic Fluctuations and Turbulence in the Venus Magnetosheath and Wake

Recent research has shown that distinct physical regions in the Venusian induced magnetosphere are recognizable from the variations of strength and of wave/fluctuation activity of the magnetic field. In this paper the statistical properties of magnetic fluctuations are investigated in the Venusian magnetosheath, terminator, and wake regions. The latter two regions were not visited by previous missions. We found 1/f fluctuations in the magnetosheath, large-scale structures near the terminator and more developed turbulence further downstream in the wake. Location independent short-tailed non-Gaussian statistics was observed.Comment: 16 pages, 4 figure

Restrictive ID policies: implications for health equity

We wish to thank Synod Community Services for their critical work to develop, support, and implement a local government-issued ID in Washtenaw County, MI. We also thank Yousef Rabhi of the Michigan House of Representatives and Janelle Fa'aola of the Washtenaw ID Task Force, Lawrence Kestenbaum of the Washtenaw County Clerk's Office, Sherriff Jerry Clayton of the Washtenaw County Sherriff's Office, and the Washtenaw ID Task Force for their tireless commitment to developing and supporting the successful implementation of the Washtenaw ID. Additionally, we thank Vicenta Vargas and Skye Hillier for their contributions to the Washtenaw ID evaluation. We thank the Curtis Center for Research and Evaluation at the University of Michigan School of Social Work, the National Center for Institutional Diversity at the University of Michigan, and the University of California-Irvine Department of Chicano/Latino Studies and Program in Public Health for their support of the Washtenaw ID community-academic research partnership. Finally, we thank the reviewers for their helpful comments on earlier drafts of this manuscript. (Curtis Center for Research and Evaluation at the University of Michigan School of Social Work; National Center for Institutional Diversity at the University of Michigan; University of California-Irvine Department of Chicano/Latino Studies; Program in Public Health)https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s10903-017-0579-3.pdfPublished versio