Expanding on cross-price elasticity: Understanding tobacco product demand and substitution from the cross-price purchase task

We examine whether cigarettes serve as substitutes for electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS) among ENDS users and demonstrate methodological extensions of data from a cross-price purchase task to inform policies and interventions. During a clinical laboratory study, n = 19 exclusive ENDS users and n = 17 dual cigarette/ENDS users completed a cross-price purchase task with cigarettes available at a fixed price while prices of own-brand ENDS increased. We estimated cross-price elasticity using linear models to examine substitutability. We defined five additional outcomes: nonzero cross-price intensity (purchasing cigarettes if ENDS were free), constant null demand (not purchasing cigarettes at any ENDS price), cross-product crossover point (first price where participants purchased more cigarettes than ENDS), dual-demand score (percentage of prices where both products were purchased), and dual-use break point (minimum relative price to force complete substitution). The cross-price elasticity results indicated that cigarettes could serve as substitutes for ENDS among ENDS users on average, but this average effect masked substantial heterogeneity in profiles of demand (here, a measure of the drug's reinforcement potential). Policies and regulations that increase ENDS prices appear unlikely to steer most exclusive ENDS users toward cigarette use, as most would not purchase cigarettes at any ENDS price, but they could prompt some dual users to substitute cigarettes completely while others remain dual users. This heterogeneity in consumer responses suggests additional indices of cross-product demand are useful to characterize the anticipated and unanticipated effects of tobacco price policies more fully.     

Young adult e-cigarette users’ reasons for liking and not liking e-cigarettes: A qualitative study

Objective: To gain an in-depth understanding of what young adult electronic- or e-cigarette users like or dislike about e-cigarettes. We aimed to determine the reasons that may encourage young adults to use e-cigarettes or discourage them from using e-cigarettes.

Design: Twelve focus group discussions were conducted with 62 current daily e-cigarette users (63% men) of mean age = 25.1 years (standard deviation = 5.5). Data were analysed following principles of inductive content analysis.

Results: Results indicated 12 categories of reasons for liking e-cigarettes (e.g. recreation, smoking cessation) and 6 categories of reasons for not liking e-cigarettes (e.g. poor product quality, poor smoking experience).

Conclusions: Young adults’ motives for using or not using e-cigarettes appear to be varied and their relative importance in terms of predicting e-cigarette use initiation, dependence, and cigarette/e-cigarette dual use needs to be carefully studied in population-based, empirical studies. The current findings suggest that e-cigarettes may serve social, recreational, and sensory expectancies that are unique relative to cigarettes and not dependent on nicotine. Further, successful use of e-cigarettes in smoking cessation will likely need higher standards of product quality control, better nicotine delivery efficiency and a counselling component that would teach smokers how to manage e-cigarette devices while trying to quit smoking cigarettes.     

Changes of hardness and electronic work function of Zr41.2Ti13.8Cu12.5Ni10Be22.5 bulk metallic glass on annealing

The hardness and electronic work function (EWF) of a bulk metallic glass, namely Zr_41.2Ti_13.8Cu_12.5Ni₁₀Be_22.5, have been studied experimentally, with an emphasis on the effect of heat treatments. The glass was annealed at different time and temperatures, and its hardness and EWF measured using the Rockwell indentation technique and a scanning Kelvin probe system, respectively. It is found that the EWF decreases with annealing time and temperature, whereas the hardness increases. This study shows a close relationship between hardness and EWF, indicating that the EWF could be a sensitive parameter for characterising and investigating the mechanical behaviour of BMG at the electronic level.     

Potential fluctuations in phase change memory materials

Long-range potential fluctuations have been quantified in amorphous and crystallised thin films of a family of Ge–Sb–Te (GST) chalcogenide glasses. Among the compositions studied, the width of the potential fluctuations is the smallest for amorphous Ge₂Sb₂Te₅. This is also the most robust material in terms of the number of write–erase cycles for GST films when used as phase change memory materials. A plausible explanation for this observation is given and a criterion for selecting suitable compositions in optical memory devices is proposed.     

Toward Mapping Daily Challenges of Living with ADHD: Maternal and Child Perspectives Using Electronic Diaries

Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) has an impact on the family as well as the affected child. This study developed and tested an electronic diary for mapping the challenges of everyday family life in a sample of children with ADHD being treated with pharmacotherapy. Across 7 days, mothers and children (27 ADHD; 25 non-ADHD) independently reported their moods, behaviors, and social contexts every 30 min during nonschool hours. Symptomatic behaviors and negative moods were elevated in the ADHD group, combined with maternal perceptions of lower parenting effectiveness and quality of life. Differences in the contexts of maternal anger were salient, with mothers in the ADHD group more often angry when with their children and comparison mothers more often angry when not. Although mothers' diaries were more informative, children's diaries also distinguished the two groups, especially during mornings and weekends. The need for family-wide interventions, the utility of child self-reports, and the promise of electronic diaries are discussed.     

Electronic performance self-monitoring and engineered labor standards for “man-up” drivers in a distribution center

Electronic Performance Monitoring (EPM) represents the future of performance feedback where supervisors can electronically monitor the amount and quality of work an employee is producing and have objective indicators of employee performance immediately available and visible. In this study, immediate performance feedback and self-monitoring was delivered to employees in the warehouse on wireless vehicle-mounted computers. Order picking performance for “man-up” drivers (N = 10) was improved by three cases per hour per person in an auto-parts after-market distribution center when an intervention package that included the depiction of goal times and immediate performance feedback on wireless vehicle-mounted computers and a newly developed engineered labor standard (ELS). The implications of these findings and limitations are discussed in terms of operational and ethical issues regarding EPM in large industrial settings.