Tobacco craving predicts lapse to smoking among adolescent smokers in cessation treatment.

Previous research indicates that tobacco craving predicts relapse to smoking among adult smokers attempting to quit. We hypothesized a similar relationship between craving and lapse (any smoking following a period of abstinence) among adolescent smokers during the treatment phase of a clinical trial. A visit was considered a lapse visit if the participant reported smoking or had a carbon monoxide level of 7 ppm or greater subsequent to an abstinent visit. A total of 34 participants (mean age = 14.9 years [SD = 1.3]; mean cigarettes/day = 18.0 [SD = 7.6]; mean Fagerstr?m Test for Nicotine Dependence score = 6.8 [SD = 1.34]; 65% female), were included in the present analysis of 167 treatment visits. Logistic regression analyses showed a positive relationship between degree of craving, measured by the Questionnaire on Smoking Urges, and lapse during smoking cessation treatment (p = .013). Additionally, linear regression analyses demonstrated a strong positive association between cigarettes smoked per day and craving scores (p<.001). Taken together with other data, these findings suggest that degree of craving might influence tobacco abstinence for adolescent smokers. Thus monitoring and addressing craving appears useful to increase the success of adolescent smoking cessation.     

Indoor temperature changes in retrofit homes

The behavioral response (e.g. changes in indoor temperatures, attention to window and door openings) to residential technical efficiency improvements (e.g. attic insulation, storm windows) is an important and largely unresolved issue. Although there is considerable discussion concerning the extent to which households take back some of the energy savings due to technical efficiency improvements in increased comfort, there is almost no empirical evidence on the subject.Detailed electricity billing data (from mid-1981 to mid-1983) were analyzed for 79 households that received financial assistance from the Bonneville Power Administration to retrofit their homes in mid-1982. The mean retrofit expenditure in these homes was $1900; the mean reduction in annual electricity use was 4700 kWh, of which 83% was due to reductions in space heating electricity use. Analysis of the electricity billing data suggests that these households increased their indoor temperature settings after retrofit by almost 1 °F on average. This temperature increase led to an estimated average loss of almost 600 kWh of electricity saving. In other words, roughly 10% of the energy saving due to retrofit was taken back in terms of increased comfort. These results concerning changes in indoor temperatures should be viewed cautiously because of limitations in the analytical method and the large variation across households.     

A comparison of commonly used hydrologic design methods for rainwater collectors

Rainwater collection as a possible water source in developing countries is introduced. The major parameters in calculating the size of the tank are defined. Six methods that have been used previously to relate demand, storage, reliability and the rainfall pattern are compared to the Ottawa Model over a wide range of demands.     

The impact of presentation graphics on students’ experience in the classroom

To investigate the benefits and perceived effectiveness of instructional technology, students enrolled in several courses were compared on student evaluations of instruction, grades and an attitudinal questionnaire. The instructors of the courses taught the same course across two successive semesters, using traditional “chalk-and-talk” methods the first semester, and PowerPoint the next; all other techniques (e.g., exams, lecture material) were held constant. Results suggest that organization and clarity, entertainment and interest, professor likeability, and good professor behaviors were enhanced with PowerPoint although final grades were not.     

Physical degradation of genomic DNA of soybean flours does not impair relative quantification of its transgenic content

In this paper, four different physical treatments (microwaves, heating by conduction, sonication and pressure autoclaving) were performed to degrade a pure DNA extract, and their influence on GMO quantification was studied. The aim was to check the hypothesis that processing of agrofood products results in a similar degradation rate for both the transgenic target and the specific target. Indeed we could observe that even if the used physical treatments could lead to a significant increase of C _t values for both transgenic and specific targets, the resulting ΔC _t remained stable. So, the main conclusion of the study is that the aforementioned hypothesis seems valid and thus a physical degradation of DNA will not affect the relative quantitation of the GMO content, provided that both the specific and transgenic targets have very similar size. A second important issue of the experiments performed was that DNA is a very robust molecule as it is extremely difficult to reach a mean size below 100 bp. The study also gives evidence of the importance of using small targets.     

The advancing-front mesh generation method revisited

This paper presents a mesh generation method of the advancing-front type which is designed in such a way that the well-known difficulties of the classical advancing-front method are not present. The retained solution consists of using the first steps of a Voronoï–Delaunay method to construct a background mesh which is then used to govern the algorithm. The two-dimensional case is considered in detail and possible extensions to adaption problems and three dimensions are indicated.     

The case of Gary: In search of post-hoc quixotic flexibility.

Responds to M. F. Hoyt's (see record 1995-22250-001) commentary on T. F. Van Denburg and E. J. Van Denburg's (see record 1994-18427-001) response to Hoyt's (see record 1994-18395-001) commentary on Van Denburg and Van Denburg's (see record 1993-06526-001) article about a case of premature therapy termination. Issues related to limits and flexibility in treatment are addressed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Dislocations and flux pinning in YBa2Cu3O7

The dislocation structures of bulk textured and epitaxial thin film YBa₂Cu₃O₇ superconductors are examined. Correlations between increases in flux pinning and dislocation densities are noted. A model for flux pinning by individual dislocations is presented. This gives a treatment of strain induced effects and effects of normal state region interactions. It is shown that the values of pinning predicted are in line with experimental observations.