Macroeconomics and Drug Use: A Review of the Literature and Hypotheses for Future Research

Despite more than a century of drug prohibition, problems of addiction and drug abuse continue to be major global public health and criminal justice concerns (United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, 2015). It has long been obvious that many of these problems are entwined with other economic and social issues. The editors of The Economist, in reporting evidence of a decline in drug use in the UK, speculated on the impact of the concurrent economic slowdown and commented that, "few academics have studied the link between drug use and macroeconomic performance, and what work exists is inconclusive" (Drug use and abuse: The fire next time, 2011). The goal of this paper will be to examine the work that exists on this topic and to propose a set of hypotheses to be tested in future studies

A Brief History of Prohibition and Treatment Solutions for Substance Abusers

The predominant policy of prohibition (i.e. "War on Drugs") emerged in the early Twentieth Century. It has been expanded on since that time to become the primary thrust of drug policy in almost every nation today. We will examine how this came about and the ways in which it has contributed to the maltreatment of substance abuse disorders

On Rickettsia Nomenclature

On Rickettsia Nomenclatur

Molecular Simulation of Flow-Enhanced Nucleation in n-Eicosane Melts Under Steady Shear and Uniaxial Extension

Non-equilibrium molecular dynamics is used to study crystal nucleation of n-eicosane under planar shear and, for the first time, uniaxial extension. A method of analysis based on the mean first-passage time is applied to the simulation results in order to determine the effect of the applied flow field type and strain rate on the steady-state nucleation rate and a characteristic growth rate, as well as the effects on kinetic parameters associated with nucleation: the free energy barrier, critical nucleus size, and monomer attachment pre-factor. The onset of flow-enhanced nucleation (FEN) occurs at a smaller critical strain rate in extension as compared to shear. For strain rates larger than the critical rate, a rapid increase in the nucleation rate is accompanied by decreases in the free energy barrier and critical nucleus size, as well as an increase in chain extension. These observations accord with a mechanism in which FEN is caused by an increase in the driving force for crystallization due to flow-induced entropy reduction. At high applied strain rates, the free energy barrier, critical nucleus size, and degree of stretching saturate, while the monomer attachment pre-factor and degree of orientational order increase steadily. This trend is indicative of a significant diffusive contribution to the nucleation rate under intense flows that is correlated with the degree of global orientational order in a nucleating system. Both flow fields give similar results for all kinetic quantities with respect to the reduced strain rate, which we define as the ratio of the applied strain rate to the critical rate. The characteristic growth rate increases with increasing strain rate, and shows a correspondence with the nucleation rate that does not depend on the type of flow field applied. Additionally, a structural analysis of the crystalline clusters indicates that the flow field suppresses the compaction and crystalline ordering of clusters, leading to the formation of large articulated clusters under strong flow fields, and compact well-ordered clusters under weak flow fields

Analysis of nucleation using mean first-passage time data from molecular dynamics simulation

We introduce a method for the analysis of nucleation using mean first-passage time (MFPT) statistics obtained by molecular dynamics simulation. The method is based on the Becker-Döring model for the dynamics of a nucleation-mediated phase change and rigorously accounts for the system size dependence of first-passage statistics. It is thus suitable for the analysis of systems in which the separation between time scales for nucleation and growth is small, due to either a small free energy barrier or a large system size. The method is made computationally practical by an approximation of the first-passage time distribution based on its cumulant expansion. Using this approximation, the MFPT of the model can be fit to data from molecular dynamics simulation in order to estimate valuable kinetic parameters, including the free energy barrier, critical nucleus size, and monomer attachment pre-factor, as well as the steady-state rates of nucleation and growth. The method is demonstrated using a case study on nucleation of n-eicosane crystals from the melt. For this system, we found that the observed distribution of first-passage times do not follow an exponential distribution at short times, rendering it incompatible with the assumptions made by some other methods. Using our method, the observed distribution of first-passage times was accurately described, and reasonable estimates for the kinetic parameters and steady-state rates of nucleation and growth were obtained

Natural history of stage II/III breast cancer, bone metastasis and the impact of adjuvant zoledronate on distribution of recurrences

Aim: The prognosis for women with breast cancer has improved markedly over recent decades. However, mortality from breast cancer remains high and, for those developing metastatic disease, curative therapy is not possible. Here, we report the frequency and distribution of disease recurrence(s) in a large population of women with AJCC stage II/III breast cancer and evaluate the impact of adjuvant treatment with the bisphosphonate zoledronate on clinical outcomes. Patients and methods: In the context of the AZURE study (ISRCTN7981382), 3359 patients with histologically confirmed stage II/III breast cancer were randomised to receive standard adjuvant treatment ± zoledronate for five years. Patients were followed up for 10 years and all patients with recurrent disease in that time identified. The site of first recurrence, the first distant recurrence site(s) and bone metastasis at any time were recorded and outcomes in the control and zoledronate treatment groups compared. Survival after recurrence was also evaluated. Results: In the study population as a whole, disease recurrence at a median follow-up of 117 months occurred in 1010/3359 (30%) women with a relatively constant rate of disease relapse of around 3% per year. 727 (72%) first recurrences were at distant sites, 178 locoregional (18%) and 105 (10%) both locoregional and distant relapses occurred synchronously. Bone was the most frequent first recurrence site occurring in 463 (14%) of all patients and was the only distant metastatic site in 265 (7.9%). 69% of the control group who developed recurrent disease had bone metastases identified. Bone metastases were more frequent in those with oestrogen receptor (ER) positive disease and recurrences overall, especially at visceral sites, were more likely with ER negative disease. Zoledronate reduced bone metastases in both ER subgroups but increased the proportion with extra-skeletal metastases, particularly in women who were not definitely postmenopausal at study entry. Adjuvant zoledronate also reduced bone metastases after recurrence at an extra-skeletal site. Conclusions: This analysis provides contemporary information on the frequency and pattern of recurrences after treatment for stage II/III breast cancer that may be of value in planning future adjuvant trials. It confirms the ongoing importance of bone metastases and describes in detail for the first time the effects of adjuvant zoledronate on the pattern of metastasis

Event-based object detection and tracking for space situational awareness

In this work, we present an optical space imaging dataset using a range of event-based neuromorphic vision sensors. The unique method of operation of event-based sensors makes them ideal for space situational awareness (SSA) applications due to the sparseness inherent in space imaging data. These sensors offer significantly lower bandwidth and power requirements making them particularly well suited for use in remote locations and space-based platforms. We present the first publicly-accessible event-based space imaging dataset including recordings using sensors from multiple providers, greatly lowering the barrier to entry for other researchers given the scarcity of such sensors and the expertise required to operate them for SSA applications. The dataset contains both day time and night time recordings, including simultaneous co-collections from different event-based sensors. Recorded at a remote site, and containing 572 labeled targets with a wide range of sizes, trajectories, and signal-to-noise ratios, this real-world event-based dataset represents a challenging detection and tracking task that is not readily solved using previously proposed methods. We propose a highly optimized and robust feature-based detection and tracking method, designed specifically for SSA applications, and implemented via a cascade of increasingly selective event filters. These filters rapidly isolate events associated with space objects, maintaining the high temporal resolution of the sensors. The results from this simple yet highly optimized algorithm on the space imaging dataset demonstrate robust high-speed event-based detection and tracking which can readily be implemented on sensor platforms in space as well as terrestrial environments

Discretized Wiener-Khinchin theorem for Fourier-Laplace transformation: application to molecular simulations

The Wiener-Khinchin theorem for the Fourier-Laplace transformation (WKT-FLT) provides a robust method to calculate numerically single-side Fourier transforms of arbitrary autocorrelation functions from molecular simulations. However, the existing WKT-FLT equation produces two artifacts in the output of the frequency-domain relaxation function. In addition, these artifacts are more apparent in the frequency-domain response function converted from the relaxation function. We find the sources of these artifacts that are associated with the discretization of the WKT-FLT equation. Taking these sources into account, we derive the new discretized WKT-FLT equations designated for both the frequency-domain relaxation and response functions with the artifacts removed. The use of the discretized WKT-FLT equations is illustrated by a flow chart of an on-the-fly algorithm. We also give application examples of the discretized WKT-FLT equations for computing dynamic structure factor and wave-vector-dependent dynamic susceptibility from molecular simulations