Simple Phase Bias for Superconducting Circuits

A phase-bias tool, based on a trapped fluxoid in a ring, is proposed and demonstrated. It can provide arbitrary phase values and is simple to fabricate. The phase bias has been realized in two superconducting quantum interference devices, where the critical current versus magnetic flux is shown to be shifted by a \pi/2 and \pi.Comment: 5 pages, including 4 figures. Submitted to AP

Maternal Employment and Overweight Children

This paper investigates whether children are more or less likely to be overweight if their mothers work. The prevalence of both overweight children and working mothers has risen dramatically over the past few decades, although these parallel trends may be coincidental. The goal of this paper is to help determine whether a causal relationship exists between maternal employment and childhood overweight. To accomplish this, we mainly utilize matched mother/child data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth and employ three main econometric techniques, probit models, sibling difference models, and instrumental variables models in this analysis. Our results indicate that a child is more likely to be overweight if his/her mother worked more intensively (in the form of greater hours per week) over the child's life. This effect is particularly evident for children of white mothers, of mothers with more education, and of mothers with a high income level. Applying our estimates to the trend towards greater maternal employment indicates that the increased hours worked per week among mothers between 1975 and 1999 led to about a 0.4 to 0.7 percentage point increase in overweight children, which represents a relatively small share of the overall increase.

Maternal employment and overweight children

This paper seeks to determine whether a causal relationship exists between maternal employment and childhood overweight. We use matched mother/child data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth and employ econometric techniques to control for observable and unobservable differences across individuals and families that may influence both children's weight and their mothers' work patterns. Our results indicate that a child is more likely to be overweight if his/her mother worked more hours per week over the child's life. Analyses by subgroups show that it is higher socioeconomic status mothers whose work intensity is particularly deleterious for their children's overweight status.Employment (Economic theory) ; Overweight children

Economic perspectives on childhood obesity

Obesity rates in the U.S. have skyrocketed in the last 30 years. Among adults, obesity rates more than doubled from the early 1970s to the late 1990s. Children obesity rates nearly tripled over the same period. This article discusses why obesity is of interest from an economic perspective. It them examines changes in children's lives, particularly the increase in maternal employment, that may have contributed to increases in children's weight.Overweight children

Oxidative Stress Resulting From Helicobacter pylori Infection Contributes to Gastric Carcinogenesis.

Helicobacter pylori is a gram-negative, microaerophilic bacterium that infects the stomach and can lead to, among other disorders, the development of gastric cancer. The inability of the host to clear the infection results in a chronic inflammatory state with continued oxidative stress within the tissue. Reactive oxygen species and reactive nitrogen species produced by the immune and epithelial cells damage the host cells and can result in DNA damage. H pylori has evolved to evoke this damaging response while blunting the host's efforts to kill the bacteria. This long-lasting state with inflammation and oxidative stress can result in gastric carcinogenesis. Continued efforts to better understand the bacterium and the host response will serve to prevent or provide improved early diagnosis and treatment of gastric cancer

(1E,4E)-1-(3-Nitro­phen­yl)-5-phenyl­penta-1,4-dien-3-one

In the title compound, C17H13NO3, the dihedral angle between the benzene rings is 31.21 (5)°. In the crystal, inversion dimers linked by pairs of C—H⋯O hydrogen bonds occur. A C—H⋯π inter­action is also indicated

An Australian National Compact – Something old, something new?

The Australian Labor Party (ALP) formed government under Prime Minister Kevin Rudd in 2007 promising to consult with the not-for-profit sector on the development of a national compact. It was the government’s aim to forge a new settlement with the sector after eleven years of Liberal/National Coalition government during which contractual governance rather than relational governance was the norm. The provenance of the National Compact, launched in March 2010, can be traced back to similar framework documents for inter-sectoral cooperation in the United Kingdom (principally, The Compact) and Canada (the Accord). The National Compact) cannot be explained solely in terms of policy diffusion or the predilection of centre-right political parties for policy instruments of this sort. Rather, explanation requires a more nuanced contextual analysis of the political and policy environment within which these frameworks emerged. In this article we compare the range of factors contributing to the development of The Compact (UK), the Accord) (Canada) and the National Compact (Australia). We apply a similar analysis to policy frameworks in selected Australian states. We conclude that compacts arrive on the policy agenda via the opening of policy windows and through the actions of policy entrepreneurs. Policy windows and the attention of policy entrepreneurs might be both contextual and therefore, time-limited. We consider the range of factors that appear to have a bearing on the impact and durability of inter-sectoral policy frameworks in each jurisdiction in order to draw tentative conclusions about the prospects for the Australian National Compac

Pauci-immune glomerulonephritis in individuals with disease associated with levamisole-adulterated cocaine: a series of 4 cases.

Exposure to levamisole-adulterated cocaine can induce a distinct clinical syndrome characterized by retiform purpura and/or agranulocytosis accompanied by an unusual constellation of serologic abnormalities including antiphospholipid antibodies, lupus anticoagulants, and very high titers of antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibodies. Two recent case reports suggest that levamisole-adulterated cocaine may also lead to renal disease in the form of pauci-immune glomerulonephritis. To explore this possibility, we reviewed cases of pauci-immune glomerulonephritis between 2010 and 2012 at an inner city safety net hospital where the prevalence of levamisole in the cocaine supply is known to be high. We identified 3 female patients and 1 male patient who had biopsy-proven pauci-immune glomerulonephritis, used cocaine, and had serologic abnormalities characteristic of levamisole-induced autoimmunity. Each also had some other form of clinical disease known to be associated with levamisole, either neutropenia or cutaneous manifestations. One patient had diffuse alveolar hemorrhage. Three of the 4 patients were treated with short courses of prednisone and cyclophosphamide, 2 of whom experienced stable long-term improvement in their renal function despite ongoing cocaine use. The remaining 2 patients developed end-stage renal disease and became dialysis-dependent. This report supports emerging concern of more wide spread organ toxicity associated with the use of levamisole-adulterated cocaine