Influence of household demographic and socio-economic factors on household expenditure on tobacco in six New Independent States

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>To identify demographic and socio-economic factors that are associated with household expenditure on tobacco in Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russian Federation, and Tajikistan.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Secondary analysis of the data available through the World Bank Living Standards Monitoring Survey conducted in aforementioned countries in 1995–2000. The role of different variables (e.g. mean age of household members, household area of residence, household size, share of adult males, share of members with high education) in determining household expenditure on tobacco (defined as tobacco expenditure share out of total monthly HH consumption) was assessed by using multiple regression analysis.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Significant differences were found between mean expenditure on tobacco between rich and poor – in absolute terms the rich spend significantly more compared with the poor. Poor households devote significantly higher shares of their monthly HH consumption for tobacco products. Shares of adult males were significantly associated with the share of household consumption devoted for tobacco. There was a significant negative association between shares of persons with tertiary education within the HH and shares of monthly household consumption devoted for tobacco products. The correlation between household expenditures on tobacco and alcohol was found to be positive, rather weak, but statistically significant.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Given the high levels of poverty and high rates of smoking in the New Independent States, these findings have important policy implications. They indicate that the impact and opportunity costs of smoking on household finances are more significant for the poor than for the rich. Any reductions in smoking prevalence within poor households could have a positive economic impact.</p

Planetary Nebulae Kinematics in M31

We present kinematics of 135 planetary nebulae in M31 from a survey covering 3.9 square degrees and extending out to 15 kpc from the southwest major axis and more than 20 kpc along the minor axis. The majority of our sample, even well outside the disk, shows significant rotational support (mean line-of-sight velocity 116 km/s). We argue that these PN belong to the outer part of M31's large de Vaucouleurs bulge. Only five PN have velocities clearly inconsistent with this fast rotating bulge. All five may belong to tidal streams in M31's outer halo. One is projected on the Northern Spur, and is counter-rotating with respect to the disk there. Two are projected along the major axis at X=-10 kpc and have M32-like velocities; they could be debris from that galaxy. The remaining two halo PN are located near the center of the galaxy and their velocities follow the gradient found by Ibata et al. (2004), implying that these PN could belong to the Southern Stream. If M31 has a non-rotating, pressure-supported halo, we have yet to find it, and it must be a very minor component of the galaxy.Comment: accepted to ApJ; main body of paper is 36 pages, including 14 figure

New distances to RAVE stars

Probability density functions are determined from new stellar parameters for the distance moduli of stars for which the RAdial Velocity Experiment (RAVE) has obtained spectra with S/N>=10. Single-Gaussian fits to the pdf in distance modulus suffice for roughly half the stars, with most of the other half having satisfactory two-Gaussian representations. As expected, early-type stars rarely require more than one Gaussian. The expectation value of distance is larger than the distance implied by the expectation of distance modulus; the latter is itself larger than the distance implied by the expectation value of the parallax. Our parallaxes of Hipparcos stars agree well with the values measured by Hipparcos, so the expectation of parallax is the most reliable distance indicator. The latter are improved by taking extinction into account. The effective temperature absolute-magnitude diagram of our stars is significantly improved when these pdfs are used to make the diagram. We use the method of kinematic corrections devised by Schoenrich, Binney & Asplund to check for systematic errors for general stars and confirm that the most reliable distance indicator is the expectation of parallax. For cool dwarfs and low-gravity giants tends to be larger than the true distance by up to 30 percent. The most satisfactory distances are for dwarfs hotter than 5500 K. We compare our distances to stars in 13 open clusters with cluster distances from the literature and find excellent agreement for the dwarfs and indications that we are over-estimating distances to giants, especially in young clusters.Comment: 20 pages accepted by MNRAS. Minor changes to the submitted versio

Marine-derived quorum-sensing inhibitory activities enhance the antibacterial efficacy of tobramycin against Pseudomonas aeruginosa.

Bacterial epiphytes isolated from marine eukaryotes were screened for the production of quorum sensing inhibitory compounds (QSIs). Marine isolate KS8, identified as a Pseudoalteromonas sp., was found to display strong quorum sensing inhibitory (QSI) activity against acyl homoserine lactone (AHL)-based reporter strains Chromobacterium violaceum ATCC 12472 and CV026. KS8 supernatant significantly reduced biofilm biomass during biofilm formation (-63%) and in pre-established, mature P. aeruginosa PAO1 biofilms (-33%). KS8 supernatant also caused a 0.97-log reduction (-89%) and a 2-log reduction (-99%) in PAO1 biofilm viable counts in the biofilm formation assay and the biofilm eradication assay respectively. The crude organic extract of KS8 had a minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of 2 mg/mL against PAO1 but no minimum bactericidal concentration (MBC) was observed over the concentration range tested (MBC > 16 mg/mL). Sub-MIC concentrations (1 mg/mL) of KS8 crude organic extract significantly reduced the quorum sensing (QS)-dependent production of both pyoverdin and pyocyanin in P. aeruginosa PAO1 without affecting growth. A combinatorial approach using tobramycin and the crude organic extract at 1 mg/mL against planktonic P. aeruginosa PAO1 was found to increase the efficacy of tobramycin ten-fold, decreasing the MIC from 0.75 to 0.075 µg/mL. These data support the validity of approaches combining conventional antibiotic therapy with non-antibiotic compounds to improve the efficacy of current treatments

A Catalog of Geologic Data for the Hanford Site

This report catalogs the existing geologic data that can be found in various databases, published and unpublished reports, and in individuals' technical files. The scope of this catalog is primarily on the 100, 200, and 300 Areas, with a particular emphasis on the 200 Areas. Over 2,922 wells are included in the catalog. Nearly all of these wells (2,459) have some form of driller's or geologist's log. Archived samples are available for 1,742 wells. Particle size data are available from 1,078 wells and moisture data are available from 356 wells. Some form of chemical property data is available from 588 wells. However, this catalog is by no means complete. Numerous individuals have been involved in various geologic-related studies of the Hanford Site. The true extent of unpublished data retained in their technical files is unknown. However, this data catalog is believed to represent the majority (&gt;90%) of the geologic data that is currently retrievable

p, He, and C to Fe cosmic-ray primary fluxes in diffusion models: Source and transport signatures on fluxes and ratios

The propagated fluxes of proton, helium, and heavier primary cosmic-ray species (up to Fe) are a means to indirectly access the source spectrum of cosmic rays. We check the compatibility of the primary fluxes with the transport parameters derived from the B/C analysis, but also if they bring further constraints. Proton data are well described in the simplest model defined by a power-law source spectrum and plain diffusion. They can also be accommodated by models with, e.g., convection and/or reacceleration. There is no need for breaks in the source spectral indices below $\sim 1$ TeV/n. Fits on the primary fluxes alone do not provide physical constraints on the transport parameters. If we let free the source spectrum $dQ/dE = q \beta^{\eta_S} {\cal R}^{-\alpha}$ and fix the diffusion coefficient $K(R)= K_0\beta^{\eta_T} {\cal R}^{\delta}$ such as to reproduce the B/C ratio, the MCMC analysis constrains the source spectral index $\alpha$ to be in the range $2.2-2.5$ for all primary species up to Fe, regardless of the value of the diffusion slope $\delta$. The $\eta_S$ low-energy shape of the source spectrum is degenerate with the low-energy shape $\eta_T$ of the diffusion coefficient: we find $\eta_S-\eta_T\approx 0$ for p and He data, but $\eta_S-\eta_T\approx 1$ for C to Fe primary species. This is consistent with the toy-model calculation in which the shape of the p/He and C/O to Fe/O data is reproduced if $\eta_S-\eta_T\approx 0-1$ (no need for different slopes $\alpha$). When plotted as a function of the kinetic energy per nucleon, the low-energy p/He ratio is shaped mostly by the modulation effect, whereas primary/O ratios are mostly shaped by their destruction rate.Comment: 18 pages, 14 figures: accepted in A&A (1 table added