Cannabis consumers’ preferences for legal and illegal cannabis: evidence from a discrete choice experiment

BackgroundIn U.S. states that legalized and commercialized recreational cannabis, cannabis sales in illegal markets are still sizable or even larger than those in legal markets. This study aimed to assess cannabis consumers' preferences for purchasing cannabis from legal and illegal markets and estimate the trade-offs under various policy scenarios.Methods963 adults were recruited, who used cannabis in the past year and lived in a state with recreational cannabis legalization. In a discrete choice experiment, participants chose purchasing cannabis from a legal dispensary or an illegal dealer with varying levels in product attributes including quality, safety, accessibility, potency, and price. Mixed logit models were used to analyze preferences.ResultsThe likelihood of choosing legal cannabis increased with a higher quality, the presence of lab test, a shorter distance to seller, a higher tetrahydrocannabinol level, and a lower price. The likelihood of choosing illegal cannabis increased with a higher quality, a shorter distance to seller, and a lower price. Among product attributes, quality and accessibility were perceived to be the most important for legal cannabis and price was perceived to be the most important for illegal cannabis. Policy simulations predicted that improving quality, ensuring safety, allowing delivery services, increasing dispensary density, and lowering prices/taxes of legal cannabis may reduce illegal cannabis market share.ConclusionsIn the U.S., cannabis consumers' preferences for illegal cannabis were associated with both legal and illegal cannabis product attributes. Policies regulating legal cannabis markets should consider potential spillover effects to illegal markets

Leptonic ZZ decays in the littlest HiggsHiggs model with T-parity

The littlest $Higgs$ model with T-parity (called the $LHT$ model) predicts the existence of the T-odd leptons, which can generate contributions to some leptonic processes at the one-loop level. We calculate their contributions to the leptonic $Z$ decay processes $Z\to l\bar{l'}$, $Z\to l\bar{l}$, and Z\rightarro \nu\bar{\nu}. We find that the T-odd leptons can give significant contributions to the branching ratios of these decay processes in most of the parameter space. The experimental measurement values might generate constraints on the free parameters of the $LHT$ model.Comment: 16 pages, 8 figures, minor corrections; final version published in Phys.Rev.

Light baryon in three quark picture light front approach and its application: hyperon weak radiative decays

Motivated by recent experimental data on $\Sigma^+\to p\gamma$ at BESIII, we investigate a class of hyperon weak radiative decays. To estimate these processes, in our research, we employ a new type of light-front quark model with a three-quark picture for octet baryons. In the three-quark picture, with the use of $SU(3)_f$ and spin symmetries, we present a general form of the light front wave function for each octet baryon. By including contributions from the penguin diagram and W exchange diagram, we perform a complete calculation on the branching ratios ($Br$) and the asymmetry parameter ($\alpha$) for hyperon weak radiative decay processes. Our results are helpful for discovering additional hyperon weak radiative decay processes in experimental facilities, and our research will promote the theoretical study of baryons.Comment: 15 pages, 2 figures, 5 table

HAZ Phase Transformation and Thermal Damage for Laser Remanufacturing a High-Strength Stainless Steel

It briefly introduced laser remanufacturing, which was an advanced repairing method to refabricate damaged components based on laser forming technologies. The possible factors in determining the performance of the laser remanufacturing FV520B were studied by numerical simulation and experimental methods. First, the results of free dilatometry test showed that the volume effect of phase transformations were corresponding to the transformation temperatures and heating rate of the laser process had remarkable effects on the kinetics of phase transformation. In addition, the evolution of temperature fields of the single-pass and multi-layer laser cladding processes were analyzed by numerical simulation method based on deactivate and reactivate element theory. A combined method of dilatometry and metallography was conducted to reveal the effect of cooling condition and phase transformation on the microstructure of HAZ. The maximum temperature of thermal cycle had a dominating effect on the microstructure, microhardness and phase transformation temperature rather than cooling rate. Thermal cycles had a significant effect on the metallographic transformation and consequently decided the mechanical performance. Microhardness and tensile tests were conducted and the results showed that strength and ductility of laser remanufacturing FV520B were equivalent to that of forgings

Nonlocal elasticity theory for the buckling of double-layer graphene nanoribbons based on a continuum model

The mechanical stability of graphene nanoribbons (GNRs) is an important mechanical property to study, when GNRs are used as components in sensors or other nanodevices. In this paper, nonlocal effects are considered in a continuum model based theoretical analysis of the critical buckling stress of cantilevered double-layer GNRs (DLGNRs) that are subjected to an axial compressive load. The results show that the nonlocal effect has an inverse relationship with the buckling stress, and the nonlocal effect decreases with increasing aspect ratio of DLGNRs. Moreover, to the best of our knowledge this is the first report that, for DLGNRs in anti-phase modes, lower buckling mode can endure higher buckling stress because of van der Waals (vdW) interaction.ArticleCOMPUTATIONAL MATERIALS SCIENCE. 50(11):3085-3090 (2011)journal articl

Nonlocal vibration of embedded double-layer graphene nanoribbons in in-phase and anti-phase modes

Graphene nanoribbons (GNRs), the finite-wide counterparts of crystalline graphene sheets, have been potential materials used in nano-devices because of their excellent electronic, thermal and mechanical properties. In this work, a theoretical analysis of nonlocal elasticity theory for the free vibrational characteristics of embedded double-layer GNRs (DLGNRs) is proposed based on continuum and Winkler spring models. We find two types of vibrational modes, in-phase mode (IPM) and anti-phase mode (APM). The results show that the vibrational properties of DLGNRs show different behaviors in IPM and APM. The natural frequencies of DLGNR embedded in an elastic matrix are significantly influenced by nonlocal effects, the aspect ratio of DLGNRs and the Winkler foundation modulus.ArticlePHYSICA E-LOW-DIMENSIONAL SYSTEMS & NANOSTRUCTURES. 44(7-8):1136-1141 (2012)journal articl

Radial breathing vibration of double-walled carbon nanotubes subjected to pressure

A theoretical vibrational analysis of the radial breathing mode (RBM) of double-walled carbon nanotubes (DWCNTs) subjected to pressure is presented based on an elastic continuum model. The results agree with reported experimental results obtained under different conditions. Frequencies of the RBM in DWCNTs subjected to increasing pressure depend strongly on circumferential wave numbers, but weakly on the aspect ratio and axial half-wave numbers. For the inner and outer tubes of DWCNTs, the frequency of the RBM increases obviously as the pressure increases under different conditions. The range of variation is smaller for the inner tube than the outer tube.ArticlePHYSICS LETTERS A. 375(24):2416-2421 (2011)journal articl