Military tobacco use: a synthesis of the literature on prevalence, factors related to use, and cessation interventions

Tobacco use remains the number one cause of preventable morbidity and premature death in the United States. As a result, military leaders are recognizing that tobacco can adversely affect military fitness levels, deployment readiness, and safety and can increase health care costs. Yet military members continue to use tobacco. Tobacco may be viewed as part of the military culture since military members have used tobacco for many decades for pleasure, comfort, and currency and as a morale booster. Most recently, the military has seen an increase in tobacco use among young military members. A number of research studies have examined the prevalence of tobacco and factors related to use in the military, and several have evaluated cessation and prevention interventions. This article provides a brief historical perspective of military tobacco use in the 20th century and a critical review of the literature published between 1991 and 2006 describing prevalence of tobacco use, factors influencing use, and cessation interventions in the military. Recommendations for future research and for interventions are provided.     

Electron-phonon coupling in A3C60: Contributions from intermolecular modes

An accurate tight-binding fit to the full valence-conduction band region in K₃C₆₀ is used to generate deformation potentials for several phonon modes, including the optic intermolecular vibrations and librations that have not been investigated previously. The resulting electron-phonon coupling constants indicate coupling that is likely to be crucial in understanding electronic transport in the fullerides, and will provide contributions to superconducting pairing. Results for the intramolecularA _g (2) “pentagonal pinch” mode suggests nonadiabatic behavior for this (and possibly other) very high frequency modes.     

无线、智能、安全是智能家居的关键词

1 智能家居的应用 最近,我们看到了家庭自动化和安全解决方案的广泛采用,其中包括照明、温度控制、安防、娱乐以及无处不在的传感器.短期内我们将看到的一大趋势是远距离应用,其将延伸到家庭之外的范围,例 如 Z-Wave Long?Range和Sidewalk,它们将开启一系列新的应用场景.     

The effect of isothermal aging on transverse crack development in carbon fiber reinforced cross-ply laminates

An investigation into the effect of isothermal aging on the development of transverse cracks in cross-ply laminates of two high temperature composite systems was performed. The composite materials investigated were BASF X5260/640–800 and DuPont Avimid K/IM6. Changes in the glass transition temperature, composite weight loss, crack density, and mode I intralaminar fracture toughness were monitored during isothermal aging in air at 177°C for up to 2232 h. The two laminate configurations used in this study include two variations of the generic cross-ply configuration [0₂/90_n]_s, in which n equals 1 and 2. The results of this investigation show that a layer of degraded material forms at the surface of the X5260/640–800 bismaleimide laminates and that the thickness of the degraded layer increases with aging time. After 744 h of aging, transverse cracks form in the surface plies and an increasing crack density evolves as aging time is increased; however, transverse cracks do not form in the inner 90° ply groups with aging during the time period investigated. The Avimid K/IM6 thermoplastic polyimide laminates, which show evidence of cracking prior to aging, do not exhibit any significant change in crack density with aging. The results of the aging experiments also show that the bismaleimide system exhibits a weight loss of 1.5% and an increase in glass transition temperature from 250°C to 300°C after 2232 h of aging at 177°C, while the thermoplastic polyimide system shows a weight loss of only 0.05% and an increase in glass transition temperature from 280 to 285°C after 2232 h. Changes in the resistance to crack formation are also seen in these materials during aging. The mode I intralaminar fracture toughness, a measure of resistance to transverse crack formation, shows a 50% decrease after aging for 2232 h for the bismaleimide system, while the behavior exhibited by the thermoplastic polyimide shows little evidence of a reduction.     

Reliability and validity of a demand curve measure of alcohol reinforcement.

Recent clinical research suggests that several self-report behavioral economic measures of relative reinforcing efficacy (RRE) may show utility as indices of substance abuse problem severity. The goal of the present study was to evaluate the reliability and validity of the Alcohol Purchase Task (APT), a RRE measure that uses hypothetical choices regarding alcohol purchases at varying prices (demand curves) to generate several indices of alcohol-related reinforcement. Participants were 38 college students who reported recent alcohol consumption. Both the raw alcohol purchase/consumption values and several of the computed reinforcement parameters (intensity & Omax) showed good to excellent 2-week test–retest reliability. Reinforcement parameters derived from both a linear-elasticity (Hursh, Raslear, Bauman, & Black, 1989) and an exponential (Hursh & Silberberg, 2008) demand curve equation were generally less reliable, despite the fact that both equations provided a good fit to participants’ reported consumption data. The APT measures of demand intensity (number of drinks consumed when price = 0), Omax (maximum expenditure), and elasticity (α) were correlated with weekly drinking, alcohol-related problems, and other self-report RRE measures (relative discretionary monetary expenditures toward alcohol and/or relative substance-related activity participation and enjoyment). Demand intensity was uniquely associated with problem drinking in a regression model that controlled for weekly consumption. These results provide support for the reliability and validity of the RRE indices generated with the APT. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A frequency-locked adaptive filter

A frequency-locked RC active ladder filter is described, which is frequency-locked to a sinusoidal control tone. The tunable ladder filter is used as a frequency discriminator by using two of the filter branch voltages to generate a control voltage. The control voltage is then used to tune or frequency-scale the ladder filter transfer function to lock the filter to the frequency of the control tone. A simple linear frequency-signal control system is developed to describe the frequency-locked performance of the adaptive filter. The frequency-locked filter can be designed so that the sinusoidal control tone is rejected at the filter output, making it possible to adapt the filter transfer function during transmission of a message. A practical frequency-locked filter is given in which a frequency-locked third order elliptic lowpass filter is designed. The performance of the practical filter is analysed using a simple linear control system model.     

Comparison of hypnosis plus counseling, counseling alone, and hypnosis alone in a community service smoking withdrawal program.

3- and 10-mo follow-up data on 48 volunteers in a smoking withdrawal program indicate that neither hypnosis alone nor group contact alone yielded satisfactory results; however, the combined use of these procedures yielded a fairly high success rate (56.25 and 50% for the 3- and 10-mo assessments, respectively). (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Male gender role conflict and willingness to seek counseling: Testing a mediation model on college-aged men.

Men who experience negative consequences of their socialized gender roles--that is, have greater gender role conflict--report less positive attitudes and willingness to seeking counseling. Using structural equation modeling with data from 575 undergraduate men, the authors examined 3 mediators (self-stigma associated with seeking counseling, tendency to disclose distressing information, and attitudes toward seeking counseling) regarding the link between gender role conflict and willingness to seek counseling for psychological and interpersonal concerns. Results indicated that this link was partially mediated by these 3 factors. Men experiencing greater gender role conflict were more likely to self-stigmatize and less likely to self-disclose. High self-stigma and less disclosure then led to less positive attitudes and subsequently to less willingness to seek counseling. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Physical and functional interactions between the herpes simplex virus UL15 and UL28 DNA cleavage and packaging proteins

Herpes simplex virus (HSV) DNA is cleaved from concatemers and packaged into capsids in infected cell nuclei. This process requires seven viral proteins, including UL15 and UL28. UL15 expressed alone displays a nuclear localization, while UL28 remains cytoplasmic. Coexpression with UL15 enables UL28 to enter nuclei, suggesting an interaction between the two proteins. Additionally, UL28 copurified with UL15 from HSV-infected cells after ion-exchange and DNA affinity chromatography, and the complex sedimented as a 1:1 heterodimer upon sucrose gradient centrifugation. These findings are evidence of a physical interaction of UL15 and UL28 and a functional role for UL15 in directing UL28 to the nucleus.