10,695 research outputs found
National and Regional Estimates of the Prevalence of Opiate and/or Crack Cocaine use 2008-09: A summary of key findings
<p>This report summarises the results of a follow-up study
to a three year project to estimate the prevalence of
‘problem drug use’ (defined as use of opiates and/or
crack cocaine) nationally (England only), regionally and
locally. The follow-up was carried out two years after the
final sweep of the original project, so could therefore
be considered as ‘sweep 5’. An overview of the national
and regional estimates are presented in this report, as are
comparisons with the estimates produced by the third
(2006-07) sweep of the study. Estimates for 2007-08 are
not available as a study was not commissioned for that
year.</p>
<p>Information about the number of people who use illicit
drugs such as heroin, other opiates or crack cocaine
is key to formulating effective policies for tackling
drug-related harm as these drugs are associated with
the highest levels of harm. It also helps inform service
provision at the local level and provides a context
in which to understand the population impact of
interventions to reduce drug-related harm.</p>
<p>Direct enumeration of those engaged in a largely covert
activity such as the use of class A drugs is difficult
and standard household survey techniques tend to
underestimate the extent of such activity. Indirect
techniques making use of various data sources offer a
more reliable way of calculating prevalence estimates for
the use of opiates and/or crack cocaine. The estimates
presented in this report are derived using two indirect
measurement techniques: the capture-recapture
method (CRC ); and the multiple indicator (MIM ) method.
These methods are described in detail in Hay et al., 2006
and Hay et al., 2007a. Methodological developments
throughout the course of the previous three sweeps are
discussed elsewhere (Hay et al., 2007b, Hay et al., 2008).
The individuals covered by this study were people aged
15 to 64 and resident in each DAT area, and known to
be using heroin, methadone, other opiate drugs or
crack cocaine.</p>
A Dual Read-Out Assay to Evaluate the Potency of Compounds Active against Mycobacterium tuberculosis
PMCID: PMC3617142This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited
Searching for Star Formation Beyond Reionization
The goal of searching back in cosmic time to find star formation during the
epoch of reionization will soon be within reach. We assess the detectability of
high-redshift galaxies by combining cosmological hydrodynamic simulations of
galaxy formation, stellar evolution models appropriate for the first
generations of stars, and estimates of the efficiency for Lyman alpha to escape
from forming galaxies into the intergalactic medium. Our simulated observations
show that Lyman alpha emission at z ~ 8 may be observable in the near-infrared
with 8-meter class telescopes and present-day technology. Not only is the
detection of early star-forming objects vital to understanding the underlying
cause of the reionization of the universe, but the timely discovery of a z > 7
star-forming population -- or even an interesting upper limit on the emergent
flux from these objects -- will have implications for the design of the next
generation of ground- and space-based facilities.Comment: 4 pages, submitted to ApJ Letter
Constraint algebra in LQG reloaded : Toy model of a U(1)^{3} Gauge Theory I
We analyze the issue of anomaly-free representations of the constraint
algebra in Loop Quantum Gravity (LQG) in the context of a
diffeomorphism-invariant gauge theory in three spacetime dimensions. We
construct a Hamiltonian constraint operator whose commutator matches with a
quantization of the classical Poisson bracket involving structure functions.
Our quantization scheme is based on a geometric interpretation of the
Hamiltonian constraint as a generator of phase space-dependent diffeomorphisms.
The resulting Hamiltonian constraint at finite triangulation has a conceptual
similarity with the "mu-bar"-scheme in loop quantum cosmology and highly
intricate action on the spin-network states of the theory. We construct a
subspace of non-normalizable states (distributions) on which the continuum
Hamiltonian constraint is defined which leads to an anomaly-free representation
of the Poisson bracket of two Hamiltonian constraints in loop quantized
framework.Comment: 60 pages, 6 figure
Medical symptoms associated with tobacco smoking with and without marijuana abuse among crack cocaine-dependent patients.
Despite the widespread use of tobacco and marijuana by cocaine abusers, it remains unclear whether combined tobacco and marijuana smoking is more harmful than tobacco smoking alone in cocaine abusers. We investigated the differences in medical symptoms reported among 34 crack cocaine abusers who did not smoke tobacco or marijuana (C), 86 crack cocaine abusers who also smoked tobacco (C + T), and 48 crack abusers who smoked both tobacco and marijuana (C + T + M). Medical symptoms were recorded using a 134-item self-report instrument (MILCOM), and drug use was assessed using the Addiction Severity Index (ASI). After controlling for clinical and demographic differences, the C + T + M group reported significantly more total symptoms on the MILCOM as well as on the respiratory, digestive, general, and nose/throat subscales than the C + T or C groups. The C + T group reported higher total and respiratory and nose/throat symptoms than the C group. HOwever, the C group had the highest number of mood symptoms among the three groups. The C + T and C + T + M groups were comparable in number of cigarettes smoked and ASI scores. Although tobacco smoking is associated with higher reports of medical problems in crack abusers, smoking both marijuana and tobacco seems to be associated with greater medical problems than smoking tobacco alone. Tobacco smoking was not related to changes in cocaine use. Also, marijuana smoking does not appear to be associated with a reduction in tobacco or cocaine use
Information Technology Usage In Accounting Firms: The Best Versus The Rest
The purpose of this paper is to analyze information technology expenditures in public accounting firms from a multi-year sample. This study also focuses on identifying possible IT spending trends in public accounting firms and attempts to determine if additional spending on IT increased the profitability of these firms
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