Explaining the Frequency of Alcohol Consumption in a Conflict Zone: Jews and Palestinians in Israel

Experiencing stress and exposure to terrorism may have an adverse effect on health risk behaviors. Few studies have examined alcohol use among adults living in Israel under chronic, stressful terrorism-related conditions. In this study, we examined the relationships of demographics, past stressful events, and terrorism exposure to the frequency of alcohol use and the mediating roles of depressive and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms. We used three waves of data from a 2007–2008 nationally representative sample of Jewish and Palestinian adults in Israel. We assessed past stressful events, in addition to direct and indirect exposures to terrorism. Results indicated that past stressful events and exposure to terrorism were not directly associated with alcohol use, but were indirectly associated and mediated by depressive and PTSD symptomology. Mental health symptoms were differentially associated with alcohol use. More frequent drinking was mediated by higher levels of depression, including for women and Palestinians; however, PTSD symptom severity was related to less frequent drinking. Mental health may play a prominent role in the frequency of alcohol use among adults exposed to terrorism in Israel. Alcohol use, as a coping mechanism, may differ by demographic characteristics (gender and ethnicity) and psychological symptomology for adults living in a conflict zone in Israel

What Drives Home Market Advantage?

In the automobile industry, as in many tradable goods markets, firms earn their highest market share within their domestic market. This home market advantage persists despite substantial integration of international markets during the past several decades. The goal of this paper is to quantify the supply- and demand-driven sources of the home market advantage and to understand their implications for international trade and investment. Building on the random coefficients demand model developed by Berry, Levinsohn, and Pakes (1995), we estimate demand and supply in the automobile industry for nine countries across three continents, allowing for unobserved taste and cost variation at the car model and market levels. While trade and foreign production costs as well as taste heterogeneity matter for market outcomes, we find that preference for domestic brands is the single most important driver of home market advantage - even after controlling for brand histories and dealer networks

Cardiorespiratory Fitness, Alcohol Intake, and Metabolic Syndrome Incidence in Men

Purpose To prospectively examine the independent and joint effects of alcohol consumption and cardiorespiratory fitness on the incidence of metabolic syndrome in a cohort of men. Methods A prospective examination of 3,411 apparently healthy men at baseline, who came to the Cooper Clinic (Dallas, Texas) for at least 2 preventive visits (1979–2010). Primary exposure variables were cardiorespiratory fitness and alcohol intake; the outcome measure was metabolic syndrome (MetS) and the components thereof. Cox proportional hazard models were computed to assess the relationship between the exposure variables and the incidence of MetS while adjusting for confounders. Results Over a mean follow-up period of 9 years (SD=7.8), 276 men developed MetS. In multivariable analysis, a dose-response relationship was observed between increased levels of fitness and reduced MetS risk (moderate fitness: HR=0.60, 95%CI 0.43–0.82; high fitness: HR=0.49, 95%CI 0.35–0.69). When examining the independent effects of alcohol, light drinking increased the risk for MetS by 66% (HR=1.66, 95%CI 1.11–2.48). No statistically significant interaction effect was observed between alcohol and fitness in relation to MetS (P = 0.32). When assessing the relation between each exposure and the components of MetS, higher fitness consistently reduced the risk of all components; whereas lower alcohol intake reduced the risk of elevated glucose and blood pressure and increased the risk for low HDL-c. Conclusions Among this cohort of men, higher fitness levels reduced the risk for MetS and its components. The relation between alcohol intake levels and metabolic risk was more complex and not reflected when examining MetS as a whole

A linear programming-based method for job shop scheduling

We present a decomposition heuristic for a large class of job shop scheduling problems. This heuristic utilizes information from the linear programming formulation of the associated optimal timing problem to solve subproblems, can be used for any objective function whose associated optimal timing problem can be expressed as a linear program (LP), and is particularly effective for objectives that include a component that is a function of individual operation completion times. Using the proposed heuristic framework, we address job shop scheduling problems with a variety of objectives where intermediate holding costs need to be explicitly considered. In computational testing, we demonstrate the performance of our proposed solution approach

The effect of supersymmetric CP phases on Chargino-Pair Production via Drell-Yan Process at the LHC

We compute the rates for pp annihilation into chargino-pairs via Drell-Yan process taking into account the effects of supersymmetric soft phases, at proton-proton collider. In particular, the phase of the mu parameter gains direct accessibility via the production of dissimilar charginos. The phases of the trilinear soft masses do not have a significant effect on the cross sections.Comment: 24 pages, 7 figure

The Energetic Particle Detector (EPD) Investigation and the Energetic Ion Spectrometer (EIS) for the Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) Mission

Abstract The Energetic Particle Detector (EPD) Investigation is one of 5 fields-and-particles investigations on the Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) mission. MMS comprises 4 spacecraft flying in close formation in highly elliptical, near-Earth-equatorial orbits targeting understanding of the fundamental physics of the important physical process called magnetic reconnection using Earth’s magnetosphere as a plasma laboratory. EPD comprises two sensor types, the Energetic Ion Spectrometer (EIS) with one instrument on each of the 4 spacecraft, and the Fly’s Eye Energetic Particle Spectrometer (FEEPS) with 2 instruments on each of the 4 spacecraft. EIS measures energetic ion energy, angle and elemental compositional distributions from a required low energy limit of 20 keV for protons and 45 keV for oxygen ions, up to \u3e0.5 MeV (with capabilities to measure up to \u3e1 MeV). FEEPS measures instantaneous all sky images of energetic electrons from 25 keV to \u3e0.5 MeV, and also measures total ion energy distributions from 45 keV to \u3e0.5 MeV to be used in conjunction with EIS to measure all sky ion distributions. In this report we describe the EPD investigation and the details of the EIS sensor. Specifically we describe EPD-level science objectives, the science and measurement requirements, and the challenges that the EPD team had in meeting these requirements. Here we also describe the design and operation of the EIS instruments, their calibrated performances, and the EIS in-flight and ground operations. Blake et al. (The Flys Eye Energetic Particle Spectrometer (FEEPS) contribution to the Energetic Particle Detector (EPD) investigation of the Magnetospheric Magnetoscale (MMS) Mission, this issue) describe the design and operation of the FEEPS instruments, their calibrated performances, and the FEEPS in-flight and ground operations. The MMS spacecraft will launch in early 2015, and over its 2-year mission will provide comprehensive measurements of magnetic reconnection at Earth’s magnetopause during the 18 months that comprise orbital phase 1, and magnetic reconnection within Earth’s magnetotail during the about 6 months that comprise orbital phase 2

A computational analysis of lower bounds for big bucket production planning problems

In this paper, we analyze a variety of approaches to obtain lower bounds for multi-level production planning problems with big bucket capacities, i.e., problems in which multiple items compete for the same resources. We give an extensive survey of both known and new methods, and also establish relationships between some of these methods that, to our knowledge, have not been presented before. As will be highlighted, understanding the substructures of difficult problems provide crucial insights on why these problems are hard to solve, and this is addressed by a thorough analysis in the paper. We conclude with computational results on a variety of widely used test sets, and a discussion of future research

A phase 3, open-label, randomized trial to evaluate the safety and efficacy of levofloxacin inhalation solution (APT-1026) versus tobramycin inhalation solution in stable cystic fibrosis patients

Background: Inhaled antibiotics are standard of care for persons with cystic fibrosis (CF) and chronic Pseudomonas aeruginosa airway infection. APT-1026 (levofloxacin inhalation solution, LIS) is fluoroquinolone in development. We compared the safety and efficacy of LIS to tobramycin inhalation solution (TIS) in persons ≥12 years old with CF and chronic P. aeruginosa infection. Methods: This multinational, randomized (2:1), non-inferiority study compared LIS and TIS over three 28-day on/off cycles. Day 28 FEV1 % predicted change was the primary endpoint. Time to exacerbation and patient-reported quality of life superiority were among secondary endpoints. Results: Baseline demographics for 282 subjects were comparable. Non-inferiority was demonstrated (1.86% predicted mean FEV1 difference [95% CI −0.66 to 4.39%]). LIS was well-tolerated, with dysguesia (taste distortion) the most frequent adverse event. Conclusions: LIS is a safe and effective therapy for the management of CF patients with chronic P. aeruginosa

Evaluation of Hungarian Wines for Resveratrol by Overpressured Layer Chromatography

A method, including solid phase extraction sample preparation, overpressured layer chromatographic separation and subsequent densitometric evaluation, was developed for measurement of total resveratrol (cis- and trans-isomers) content of wine. The amount of resveratrol was determined in wine samples from different winemaking regions of Hungary. The total resveratrol was high in Hungarian red wines (3.6–11 mg/L), and much lower in white ones (0.04–1.5 mg/L)