Smoking cessation by socioeconomic status and marital status: the contribution of smoking behavior and family background.

We studied socioeconomic status and marital status as predictors of smoking cessation, adjusting for previous smoking behavior and family background by using a large Finnish prospective twin dataset unselected for smoking behavior. The data were collected by postal surveys in 1981 and 1990, and the sample comprised 3,069 current smokers, of whom 20% had quit smoking by 1990. Logistic regression analyses of all twin individuals and conditional logistic regression analysis of discordant pairs were used to predict smoking cessation. High education predicted smoking cessation among both men (OR=2.32, 95% CI=1.31-4.10) and women (OR=3.98, 95% CI=1.85-8.51) as did high social class among women. Additionally, starting at a late age, smoking a small number of cigarettes per day, and a low level of nicotine per cigarette predicted cessation. Socioeconomic differences in cessation diminished only slightly when we adjusted for smoking behavior factors. Among the twin pairs who were discordant in terms of smoking cessation, the twin who continued smoking also smoked more on average at baseline (men: OR=.94, 95% CI=.89-.99; women: OR=.82, 95% CI=.71-.94). The male twins who continued smoking had a smaller probability of getting married during the follow-up than had the cotwin who had quit smoking (OR=3.91, 95% CI=1.02-15.02). Indicators of socioeconomic status were important predictors of smoking cessation even when we adjusted for previous smoking behavior. For men, marriage was associated with an increased probability of cessation     

Unsteady Pressure Field in a Vaneless Diffuser of a Centrifugal Compressor: An Experimental and Computational Analysis

Unsteady static pressure was measured and time-accurate numerical simulations were conducted in order to analyze unsteady behaviour of the centrifugal compressor diffuser. The unsteady static pressure was measured at the diffuser inlet and outlet at three different circumferential positions. Operation points near the surge, the design operation point and operation point near the choke were used in measurements. The time-accurate simulations were conducted at the design operation point and operation point near the choke. The whole compressor was modelled and the low Reynolds number k-εturbulence model was utilized in numerical simulations. The gathered numerical and experimental unsteady pressures were compared with each other.     

Comprehensive two-dimensional field-flow fractionation-liquid chromatography in the analysis of large molecules

A novel, comprehensive two-dimensional asymmetric field-flow fractionation-liquid chromatographic system is described (AsFlFFF-RPLC). The interface is based on a switching valve, and the whole sample is analyzed in both dimensions. The system proved to be repeatable and quantitative in the characterization of egg white proteins. Four peaks at 4, 5.5-6.0, 7.5-8.0, and 10.0-11.0 nm, and corresponding to lysozyme, ovalbumin, transferrin, and a dimer of transferrin, were obtained in the AsFlFFF first-dimension system. Lysozyme also produced an additional peak, which overlapped with ovalbumin. Twelve compounds were separated in the LC second-dimension system. Identifications were made with the help of standards (ovalbumin, ovotransferrin, lysozyme) and by comparison of the peak areas, particle sizes, and retention data with values given in the literature. The effect of heat on egg white denaturation was studied, and the unfolding of peptide bonds of the protein was found to be pronounced when the sample was heated in phosphate solution.     

Faster Edge-Path Bundling through Graph Spanners

Edge-Path bundling is a recent edge bundling approach that does not incur ambiguities caused by bundling disconnected edges together. Although the approach produces less ambiguous bundlings, it suffers from high computational cost. In this paper, we present a new Edge-Path bundling approach that increases the computational speed of the algorithm without reducing the quality of the bundling. First, we demonstrate that biconnected components can be processed separately in an Edge-Path bundling of a graph without changing the result. Then, we present a new edge bundling algorithm that is based on observing and exploiting a strong relationship between Edge-Path bundling and graph spanners. Although the worst case complexity of the approach is the same as of the original Edge-Path bundling algorithm, we conduct experiments to demonstrate that the new approach is 5 – 256 times faster than Edge-Path bundling depending on the dataset, which brings its practical running time more in line with traditional edge bundling algorithms.