Personal pack display and active smoking at outdoor café strips: assessing the impact of plain packaging 1 year postimplementation

Aims: We observed tobacco pack display and smoking at outdoor venues over three summers to assess changes in their prevalence following Australia's introduction of plain tobacco packaging with larger pictorial health warnings. Methods: Between January and April 2012 (preplain packaging (PP)), 2013 (early post-PP) and 2014 (1 year post-PP), we counted patrons, smokers and tobacco packs at cafés, restaurants and bars with outdoor seating. Pack type (branded, plain or unknown) and orientation were noted. Rates of active smoking, pack display and pack orientation were analysed using multilevel Poisson regression. Results: Prevalence of pack display among patrons declined from pre-PP (1 pack per 8.7 patrons) to early post-PP (1 pack per 10.4), and remained low 1 year post-PP (1 pack per 10.3). This appeared to be driven by a sustained decline in active smoking post-PP (pre-PP: 8.4% of patrons were smoking; early post-PP: 6.4%; 1 year post-PP: 6.8%). Notably, active smoking declined more in venues with children present than in those without. While early post-PP, plain packs were less often displayed face-up (74.0%) and more often concealed (8.9%) than branded packs pre-PP (face-up: 85.2%; concealed: 4.0%), this was not sustained 1 year post-PP (face-up: 85.7%; concealed: 4.4%). Also, external case use increased from pre-PP (1.2%) to early post-PP (3.5%), but returned to pre-PP levels 1 year post-PP (1.9%). Conclusions: This study demonstrated a sustained reduction in visibility of tobacco products and smoking in public, particularly in the presence of children, from pre-PP to 1 year post-PP. This effect is likely to reduce smoking-related social norms, thereby weakening an important influence on smoking uptake and better supporting quit attempts.Meghan Zacher, Megan Bayly, Emily Brennan, Joanne Dono, Caroline Miller, Sarah Durkin, Michelle Scollo, Melanie Wakefiel

Local and Global Distinguishability in Quantum Interferometry

A statistical distinguishability based on relative entropy characterises the fitness of quantum states for phase estimation. This criterion is employed in the context of a Mach-Zehnder interferometer and used to interpolate between two regimes, of local and global phase distinguishability. The scaling of distinguishability in these regimes with photon number is explored for various quantum states. It emerges that local distinguishability is dependent on a discrepancy between quantum and classical rotational energy. Our analysis demonstrates that the Heisenberg limit is the true upper limit for local phase sensitivity. Only the `NOON' states share this bound, but other states exhibit a better trade-off when comparing local and global phase regimes.Comment: 4 pages, in submission, minor revision

Effectiveness of tobacco control television advertisements with different types of emotional content on tobacco use in England, 2004–2010

Aim: To examine the effects of tobacco control television advertisements with positive and negative emotional content on adult smoking prevalence and cigarette consumption. Design: Analysis of monthly cross-sectional surveys using generalised additive models. Setting: England. Participants: 60 000 adults aged 18 years or over living in England and interviewed in the Opinions and Lifestyle Survey from 2004 to 2010. Measurements: Current smoking status, daily cigarette consumption, tobacco control gross rating points (GRPs—a measure of per capita advertising exposure), cigarette costliness, concurrent tobacco control policies, sociodemographic variables. Results: After adjusting for cigarette costliness, other tobacco control policies and individual characteristics, we found that a 400-point increase in positive emotive GRPs was associated with 7% lower odds of smoking (odds ratio (OR) 0.93, 95% CI 0.87 to 0.98) 1 month later and a similar increase in negative emotive GRPs was significantly associated with 4% lower odds of smoking (OR 0.96, 95% CI 0.92 to 0.999) 2 months later. An increase in negative emotive GRPs from 0 to 400 was also associated with a significant 3.3% (95% CI 1.1 to 5.6) decrease in average cigarette consumption. There was no evidence that the association between positive emotive GRPs and the outcomes differed depending on the intensity of negative emotive GRPs (and vice versa). Conclusions: This is the first study to explore the effects of campaigns with different types of emotive content on adult smoking prevalence and consumption. It suggests that both types of campaign (positive and negative) are effective in reducing smoking prevalence, whereas consumption among smokers was only affected by campaigns evoking negative emotions

Experimental Constraints on the Neutrino Oscillations and a Simple Model of Three Flavour Mixing

A simple model of the neutrino mixing is considered, which contains only one right-handed neutrino field, coupled via the mass term to the three usual left-handed fields. This is a simplest model that allows for three-flavour neutrino oscillations. The existing experimental limits on the neutrino oscillations are used to obtain constraints on the two free mixing parameters of the model. A specific sum rule relating the oscillation probabilities of different flavours is derived.Comment: 10 pages, 3 figures in post script, Latex, IFT 2/9

Frequency of educational computer use as a longitudinal predictor of educational outcomes in young people with specific language impairment

Computer use draws on linguistic abilities. Using this medium thus presents challenges for young people with Specific Language Impairment (SLI) and raises questions of whether computer-based tasks are appropriate for them. We consider theoretical arguments predicting impaired performance and negative outcomes relative to peers without SLI versus the possibility of positive gains. We examine the relationship between frequency of computer use (for leisure and educational purposes) and educational achievement; in particular examination performance at the end of compulsory education and level of educational progress two years later. Participants were 49 young people with SLI and 56 typically developing (TD) young people. At around age 17, the two groups did not differ in frequency of educational computer use or leisure computer use. There were no associations between computer use and educational outcomes in the TD group. In the SLI group, after PIQ was controlled for, educational computer use at around 17 years of age contributed substantially to the prediction of educational progress at 19 years. The findings suggest that educational uses of computers are conducive to educational progress in young people with SLI

Radiation Testing of Electronics for the CMS Endcap Muon System

The electronics used in the data readout and triggering system for the Compact Muon Solenoid (CMS) experiment at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) particle accelerator at CERN are exposed to high radiation levels. This radiation can cause permanent damage to the electronic circuitry, as well as temporary effects such as data corruption induced by Single Event Upsets. Once the High Luminosity LHC (HL-LHC) accelerator upgrades are completed it will have five times higher instantaneous luminosity than LHC, allowing for detection of rare physics processes, new particles and interactions. Tests have been performed to determine the effects of radiation on the electronic components to be used for the Endcap Muon electronics project currently being designed for installation in the CMS experiment in 2013. During these tests the digital components on the test boards were operating with active data readout while being irradiated with 55 MeV protons. In reactor tests, components were exposed to 30 years equivalent levels of neutron radiation expected at the HL-LHC. The highest total ionizing dose (TID) for the muon system is expected at the inner-most portion of the CMS detector, with 8900 rad over ten years. Our results show that Commercial Off-The-Shelf (COTS) components selected for the new electronics will operate reliably in the CMS radiation environment

Self-illuminating 'glow-in-the-dark' vitrectomy trocar cannulas: A pilot study

Letter to the EditorWeng Onn Chan, Melissa K. Shields, Robert J. Casson, Shane R. Durki