Kudos to Our Reviewers Ghione, Giovanni
IEEE transactions on electron devices,
2018-Dec., Volume:
65, Issue:
12
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
Open access
The ability of the IEEE Transactions on Electron Devices (T-ED) to publish high quality papers has been and will continue to be critically dependent upon the competence, diligence, and generosity of ...reviewers who voluntarily contribute their time for this purpose. The T-ED Editorial Board and I are well aware of our dependence on quality reviews and wish to acknowledge and recognize the individuals inside and out of the Electron Devices Society (EDS) who have so selflessly contributed to this effort. Within EDS, contributing to the welfare of the society and to the promotion of its goals is widely regarded as a duty of each member. Acting as a reviewer is one way to accomplish this duty.
•Heroin-, marijuana-, nicotine-, and alcohol-dependent individuals were less likely to be obese than their non-dependent counterparts.•Heroin-dependent individuals were least likely to be obese.•Main ...findings in this report are consistent with our prior report based on substance abuse treatment clinical trials.
To investigate associations between substance dependence and obesity.
Obesity (body mass index ≥ 30 kg/m2) status and the status of dependence on heroin, stimulant, marijuana, nicotine and alcohol (past-month status for nicotine and past-year status for all others) were identified from the U.S. National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH, 2015–2017) datasets. SAS Surveylogistic regression was used to estimate adjusted odds ratio (AOR) for the association between each substance dependence and obesity, adjusting for potentially confounding effects of sociodemographic factors and health condition.
It was estimated that 10.6 % of noninstitutional U.S. residents aged 12 years or older were nicotine-dependent, 3.0 % alcohol-dependent, 1.0 % marijuana-dependent, 0.6 % stimulant-dependent, and 0.2 % heroin-dependent. Heroin-dependent individuals had 59 % lower odds of obesity relative to their non-dependent counterparts (AOR = 0.41; 95 % CI: 0.28−0.60; p < 0.0001). Lower odds of obesity were also noted for marijuana-dependent (AOR = 0.64; 95 % CI: 0.56−0.73; p < 0.0001), nicotine-dependent (AOR = 0.68; 95 % CI: 0.64−0.72; p < 0.0001) and alcohol-dependent (AOR = 0.77, 95 % CI: 0.69−0.84; p < 0.0001) individuals, but not statistically significant for stimulant-dependent individuals (AOR = 0.84; 95 % CI: 0.68−1.02; p = 0.0825).
Heroin, marijuana, nicotine and alcohol dependence were associated with lower odds of obesity than their non-dependence counterparts. Main findings based on 2015–2017 NSDUH are consistent with findings from our prior report based on clinical trials data from National Institute on Drug Abuse Clinical Trials Network, and other epidemiological evidence in the literature. These findings can alert substance abuse treatment professionals to monitor weight change, especially among weight-concerned substance abusers.
The most promising initiative to challenge the Russian monopsony over the export of Central Asian gas has turned into a 'new' dependency on China. Central Asian exporters were hoping to decrease the ...extent of their vulnerability by using the corridor to China to bargain for better gas trading arrangements with Russia. However, Central Asia has fallen into the same trap of excessive dependence on another single customer with potentially far more severe consequences for the region's energy security, economy and reliability of energy relations. Farkhod Aminjonov shows that even massive Chinese investments used as leverage could not guarantee full compliance with the terms of agreements and may fail to prevent disputes in the future.
This paper presents a frequency selective surface (FSS) with a wideband second-order bandpass response in the dual-band of microwave and millimeter wave. The overall structure consists of three ...layers of metal pattern and two layers of thin dielectric substrate. The top and bottom metal layers have capacitive patches with integrated curled Jerusalem cross slot resonators, while the intermediate metal layer has an inductive grid structure with cross-shaped slot resonators. The incorporated slot resonators play a pivotal role in achieving the desired transmission poles or zeros, which enable a wideband second-order filtering response in the dual-band and a quick roll-off at the passband edges, increasing the efficacy of electromagnetic shielding. To fully investigate the structure's frequency response, an equivalent circuit model of the structure is created, spanning the complete frequency range of 5-50 GHz. Physical samples are created and measured to confirm the suggested approach's efficacy. The passband center frequencies of the FSS are found at f
= 19.42 GHz and f
= 42.78 GHz, and the - 3 dB bandwidth is 4.34 GHz (17.25-21.59 GHz) and 8.54 GHz (38.51-47.05 GHz), respectively. The simulation results align well with the experimental data. The transmission response rapidly transitions from the passband to the stopband at the passband boundaries.
With no established standard for assessing tobacco dependence (TD) across tobacco products in surveys, the Population Assessment of Tobacco and Health (PATH) Study provides a unique platform for ...examining the psychometric properties and validity of multiple indicators of tobacco dependence across a range of tobacco products.
A U.S. nationally representative sample from the 32,320 adult Wave 1 interviews with analyses focused on 14,287 respondents who were current established users of tobacco products.
This analysis confirms a single primary latent construct underlying responses to TD indicators for cigarettes, e-cigarettes, cigars, hookah, and smokeless tobacco products. Mutually exclusive past year tobacco-user groups included: cigarette only (n=8689), e-cigarette only (n=437), cigar only (traditional, cigarillo, or filtered) (n=706), hookah only (n=461), smokeless tobacco only (n=971), cigarette plus e-cigarette (n=709), and multiple tobacco product users (n=2314). Differential Item Functioning (DIF) analyses supported use of 16 of the 24 examined TD indicators for comparisons across tobacco users. With cigarette users as a reference (mean=0.0, SD=1.0), we observed a range of TD with hookah (mean=−1.71) and cigar (mean=−1.92) only users being the lowest, and cigarette plus e-cigarette product users being the highest (mean=0.35). Regression models including sociodemographic factors supported concurrent validity with increased product use frequency and TD among cigarette-only (p<0.001), e-cigarette only (p<0.002), cigar (p<0.001), hookah only (p<0.001), and smokeless tobacco users (p<0.001).
The PATH Study Adult Wave 1 Questionnaire provided psychometrically valid measures of TD that enables future regulatory investigations of nicotine dependence across tobacco products.
The smartphone, through its small size, ease of use, proliferation of free or cheap apps, and constant connectivity, changes our life in a way that goes well beyond what we experienced with previous ...media. This study examined smartphone users' perception and evaluation of their dependent behavior during the 2014 communication blackout (March 20) that lasted 6 h in South Korea. Based on the interviews with 70 smartphone users between March 22 and March 30, 2014, this study identified two types of dependence – functional dependence which stresses instrumental usefulness of the smartphone and existential dependence which focuses on obsessed, often unconscious, attachment to the smartphone. Although the two types of dependence may overlap each other, those who perceive existential dependence were more reluctant in acknowledging negative aspects of smartphone use than those who perceive functional dependence. In addition, functionally dependent users were more willing to change their dependent behaviors than existentially dependent people. Smartphone users, regardless of their types of dependence, denied that they were addicted to the smartphone.
•There are functional and existential dependence of smartphone heavy use.•Functional dependence stresses instrumental usefulness of the smartphone.•Existential dependence focuses on obsessive, often unconscious, attachment.•Existential dependent users are more reluctant in acknowledging negative effects.•Functionally dependent users are more willing to change heavy reliance on the smartphone.
Aims
This review provides an up‐to‐date curated source of information on alcohol, tobacco and illicit drug use and their associated mortality and burden of disease. Limitations in the data are also ...discussed, including how these can be addressed in the future.
Methods
Online data sources were identified through expert review. Data were obtained mainly from the World Health Organization, United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime and Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation.
Results
In 2015, the estimated prevalence among the adult population was 18.4% for heavy episodic alcohol use (in the past 30 days); 15.2% for daily tobacco smoking; and 3.8, 0.77, 0.37 and 0.35% for past‐year cannabis, amphetamine, opioid and cocaine use, respectively. European regions had the highest prevalence of heavy episodic alcohol use and daily tobacco use. The age‐standardized prevalence of alcohol dependence was 843.2 per 100 000 people; for cannabis, opioids, amphetamines and cocaine dependence it was 259.3, 220.4, 86.0 and 52.5 per 100 000 people, respectively. High‐income North America region had among the highest rates of cannabis, opioid and cocaine dependence. Attributable disability‐adjusted life‐years (DALYs) were highest for tobacco smoking (170.9 million DALYs), followed by alcohol (85.0 million) and illicit drugs (27.8 million). Substance‐attributable mortality rates were highest for tobacco smoking (110.7 deaths per 100 000 people), followed by alcohol and illicit drugs (33.0 and 6.9 deaths per 100 000 people, respectively). Attributable age‐standardized mortality rates and DALYs for alcohol and illicit drugs were highest in eastern Europe; attributable age‐standardized tobacco mortality rates and DALYs were highest in Oceania.
Conclusions
In 2015 alcohol use and tobacco smoking use between them cost the human population more than a quarter of a billion disability‐adjusted life years, with illicit drugs costing further tens of millions. Europeans suffered proportionately more, but in absolute terms the mortality rate was greatest in low‐ and middle‐income countries with large populations and where the quality of data was more limited. Better standardized and rigorous methods for data collection, collation and reporting are needed to assess more accurately the geographical and temporal trends in substance use and its disease burden.
Various methods have been developed over the past five decades for dependence modeling of multivariate variables in hydrology and water resources, but there has been no overall review of techniques ...commonly used in the field. This paper, therefore, introduces several methods focusing on dependence structure modeling, including parametric distribution, entropy, copula, and nonparametric. Recent advances in modeling dependences mainly reside in nonlinear dependence modeling (including extreme dependence) with flexible marginal distributions, and in high-dimension dependence modeling via the vine copula construction with flexible dependence structures. Strengths and limitations of different methods and avenues for future research, such as dependence modeling in a changing climate, are discussed to aid water resource planners and managers in the selection and application of suitable techniques.
The front cover artwork illustrates that by adjusting the level of natural cosolutes like TMAO, the deteriorating effect of deep‐sea hydrostatic pressures on tubulin association can be suppressed. ...Read the full text of the Article at 10.1002/cphc.201900115.
“We explore the effects of different types of cosolvents, such as trimethylamine‐N‐oxide (TMAO), sucrose and urea, and crowding agents to mimic cell‐like conditions, on the temperature and pressure stability of the building block of microtubules…” This and more about the story behind the front cover can be found in the Article at 10.1002/cphc.201900115.
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