scholarly journals “It’s Cool, Modifying and All, but I Don’t Want Anything Blowing Up on Me:” A Focus Group Study of Motivations to Modify Electronic Nicotine Delivery Systems (ENDS)

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (22) ◽  
pp. 11735
Author(s):  
Zachary B. Massey ◽  
Robert T. Fairman ◽  
Victoria Churchill ◽  
David L. Ashley ◽  
Lucy Popova
Keyword(s):  
Health Risks ◽  
Perceived Risk ◽  
Delivery Systems ◽  
Decision Makers ◽  
Focus Group Study ◽  
Product Availability ◽  
Regulatory Decision ◽  
The Past ◽  
Blowing Up ◽  
Over Time

Introduction: Modifications to electronic nicoti ne delivery systems (ENDS) can pose health risks to users. This study explored users’ motivations for modifying ENDS devices and how perceived risks of modifications influenced modification behaviors as product availability and device characteristics changed over time. Method: We conducted nine focus groups (February–June 2020) with 32 current ENDS users (18+, used ENDS in the past 30 days, and had been using ENDS for more than 2 months). Results: Participants primarily modified ENDS devices to improve their experiences, such as experimenting with flavor, controlling nicotine levels, or using cannabis products with ENDS. Another reason for modifying was routine maintenance to ensure a satisfactory experience, including maintaining coils and keeping batteries charged. The broader availability of ENDS products shifted modification behaviors over time, with newer devices making some modifications (e.g., coil replacement) easier and making more intricate modifications (e.g., building coil from scratch) less common. Participants were aware of modification dangers and cited perceived risk as the reason for avoiding certain modifications, such as battery alterations. Conclusions: Modifications of ENDS are ongoing and evolving among users and should be considered by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and other regulatory decision-makers as product authorization reviews are conducted and product standards are developed.

scholarly journals Users’ Modifications to Electronic Nicotine Delivery Systems (ENDS): Interviews with ENDS Enthusiasts

2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (3) ◽  
pp. 918 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yachao Li ◽  
Robert T. Fairman ◽  
Victoria Churchill ◽  
David L. Ashley ◽  
Lucy Popova
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Consumer Preferences ◽  
Delivery Systems ◽  
Decision Making Process ◽  
Product Characteristics ◽  
Electronic Nicotine Delivery Systems ◽  
Regulatory Decision ◽  
The Past ◽  
Nicotine Delivery ◽  
Regulatory Actions

Users’ modifications to electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS) products could increase initiation, inhibit cessation, or change the toxicity of the product. This study aims to begin to identify consumers’ common ENDS modification behaviors. We conducted audio-recorded, in-depth one-on-one interviews with 13 adult ENDS users in the metropolitan Atlanta area, who self-reported extensive modification experience. Modifications to coils, batteries, and e-liquids were commonly mentioned. Participants indicated that users modified devices to produce large clouds, change levels of nicotine delivery, alter tastes of e-liquids, and experience different throat hits. Because manufacturers have changed product characteristics to be in line with consumer preferences, interviewees indicated that fewer users currently engage in modifications to coils and batteries compared to the more widespread practice a few years ago. Hobbyists continue to perform modifications and many users continue to misuse or abuse e-liquids, despite the view that fewer users currently alter their ENDS than in the past. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulatory actions that limit certain product characteristics may unintentionally increase the likelihood that users will once again make more extensive modifications to their products, and this should be considered as part of the FDA’s regulatory decision-making process.

An Estimation of Endogenous Formaldehyde Exposure due to Consumption of Indonesian Opah Fish (Lampris guttatus) in Three Major Export Destination Countries

2019 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 1 ◽  
Author(s):  
Umi Anissah ◽  
Ajeng Kurniasari Putri ◽  
Giri Rohmad Barokah
Keyword(s):  
Risk Assessment ◽  
Health Risks ◽  
Health Problem ◽  
International Market ◽  
Formaldehyde Content ◽  
Export Volume ◽  
Formaldehyde Exposure ◽  
Export Destination ◽  
Export Product ◽  
Over Time

The demand for Indonesian opah fish as an export product is increasing in the international market. Three countries (Malaysia, Mauritius, and Taiwan) recorded as the leading export destination of Indonesian opah fish. However, as the fish kept in a frozen state during export transportation, the endogenous formaldehyde may increase over time. This research presented the health risk assessment of population in the leading export destination countries that consumed opah fish from Indonesia. The study aimed to reveal the most potential export destination country that may accept an increasing volume of opah fish supply from Indonesia. The potency was determined from current export volume, the amount of endogenous formaldehyde content, and fish consumption at each country. The data were calculated with @Risk®7.0 software. The results showed opah fish consumed by Malaysian can be categorized as safe. Increasing the number of opah fish imported by Malaysian as much as six times, 12 times, 18 times, 27 and 36 times relatively does not cause health risks related to the presence of its endogenous formaldehyde. Moreover, opah fish consumed by Taiwanese is also safe, but with increasing the number of consumptions by more than 26 times is suspected to be potentially causing a health problem. However, opah fish consumed in Mauritius was categorized as unsafe and potentially caused health risks. Based on these results, Indonesia may consider to increase the opah fish export to Malaysia and Taiwan in the future.

Nanotechnology Based Delivery Systems of Drugs Currently Used to Treat Alzheimer’s Disease

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 228-247
Author(s):  
Niloufar Choubdar ◽  
Sara Avizheh
Keyword(s):  
Alzheimer’S Disease ◽  
Alzheimer's Disease ◽  
Polymeric Nanoparticles ◽  
Biological Fluids ◽  
Delivery Systems ◽  
Original Research ◽  
Sustained Drug Release ◽  
The Past ◽  
Site Of Action ◽  
Therapeutic Compound

Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) is one of the most common forms of dementia affecting over 46 million people, according to AD International. Over the past few decades, there has been considerable interest in developing nanomedicines. Using nanocarriers, the therapeutic compound could be delivered to the site of action where it gets accumulated. This accumulation, therefore, reduces the required doses for therapy. Alternatively, using nanocarriers decreases the side effects. Nanotechnology has had a great contribution in developing Drug Delivery Systems (DDS). These DDS could function as reservoirs for sustained drug release or control the pharmacokinetics and biodistribution of the drugs. In the current review, we have collected 38 original research articles using nanotechnology as DDS for the clinically used cholinesterase inhibitor drugs donepezil (DPZ), Rivastigmine (Riv), and galantamine (Gal) used for AD treatment from 2002 to 2017 from Scopus and PubMed databases. Regarding DDS used for DPZ, most of the research in recent years dealt with polymeric nanoparticles (NPs) including Poly-D, L-Lactide-Co-Glycolide (PLGA), and chitosans (CHs), then Liposomes (LPs), nanogels, and natural products, respectively. In terms of Riv most of the research performed was focused on polymeric NPs including PLGA, polylactic acid (PLA), Poly-Ε-Caprolactone (PCL), poly-alkyl-cyanoacrylates, CH, gelatin and then LPs. The highest application of NPs in regard to Gal was related to modified LPs and polymeric NPs. Polymeric NPs demonstrate safety, higher stability in biological fluids and against enzymatic metabolism, biocompatibility, bioavailability, and improved encapsulation efficacy. LPs, another major delivery system used, demonstrate biocompatibility, ease of surface modification, and amphiphilic nature.

Introduction

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Telesca Giuseppe
Keyword(s):  
Structural Analysis ◽  
Institutional Change ◽  
Cultural Context ◽  
The Past ◽  
Final Goal ◽  
Social Structural ◽  
Country Analysis ◽  
Cross Country ◽  
Over Time

The ambition of this book is to combine different bodies of scholarship that in the past have been interested in (1) providing social/structural analysis of financial elites, (2) measuring their influence, or (3) exploring their degree of persistence/circulation. The final goal of the volume is to investigate the adjustment of financial elites to institutional change, and to assess financial elites’ contribution to institutional change. To reach this goal, the nine chapters of the book introduced here look at financial elites’ role in different European societies and markets over time, and provide historical comparisons and country and cross-country analysis of their adaptation and contribution to the transformation of the national and international regulatory/cultural context in the wake of a crisis or in a longer term perspective.

Newman's Early Roman Catholic Legacy, 1845-1854

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. Michael Shea
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Catholic Church ◽  
Roman Catholic ◽  
Roman Catholic Church ◽  
John Henry Newman ◽  
Christian Doctrine ◽  
European Continent ◽  
The Past ◽  
Immaculate Conception ◽  
Over Time

For the past several decades, scholars have stressed that the genius of John Henry Newman remained underappreciated among his Roman Catholic contemporaries, and in order to find the true impact of his work, one must look to the century after his death. This book takes direct aim at that assumption. Examining a host of overlooked evidence from England and the European continent, Newman’s Early Legacy tracks letters, recorded conversations, and obscure and unpublished theological exchanges to show how Newman’s 1845 Essay on the Development of Christian Doctrine influenced a cadre of Catholic teachers, writers, and Church authorities in nineteenth-century Rome. The book explores how these individuals then employed Newman’s theory of development to argue for the definability of the new dogma of the Immaculate Conception of Mary during the years preceding the doctrine’s promulgation in 1854. Through numerous twists and turns, the narrative traces how the theory of development became a factor in determining the very language that the Roman Catholic Church would use in referring to doctrinal change over time. In this way, Newman’s Early Legacy uncovers a key dimension of Newman’s significance in modern religious history.

Introduction

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephanie Downes ◽  
Sally Holloway ◽  
Sarah Randles
Keyword(s):  
Material World ◽  
The Past ◽  
Over Time

This book is about the ways in which humans have been bound affectively to the material world in and over time; how they have made, commissioned, and used objects to facilitate their emotional lives; how they felt about their things; and the ways certain things from the past continue to make people feel today. The temporal and geographical focus of ...

Anti-corruption in History

2017 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Financial Institutions ◽  
Global Media ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
The Past ◽  
Human Wellbeing ◽  
Modern Period ◽  
Legitimate Power ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Scant Attention ◽  
Over Time

Anticorruption in History is the first major collection of case studies on how past societies and polities, in and beyond Europe, defined legitimate power in terms of fighting corruption and designed specific mechanisms to pursue that agenda. It is a timely book: corruption is widely seen today as a major problem, undermining trust in government, financial institutions, economic efficiency, the principle of equality before the law and human wellbeing in general. Corruption, in short, is a major hurdle on the “path to Denmark”—a feted blueprint for stable and successful statebuilding. The resonance of this view explains why efforts to promote anticorruption policies have proliferated in recent years. But while the subjects of corruption and anticorruption have captured the attention of politicians, scholars, NGOs and the global media, scant attention has been paid to the link between corruption and the change of anticorruption policies over time and place. Such a historical approach could help explain major moments of change in the past as well as reasons for the success and failure of specific anticorruption policies and their relation to a country’s image (of itself or as construed from outside) as being more or less corrupt. It is precisely this scholarly lacuna that the present volume intends to begin to fill. A wide range of historical contexts are addressed, ranging from the ancient to the modern period, with specific insights for policy makers offered throughout.

scholarly journals Shopping Centres, Cycling Accessibility and Planning—The Case of Nova Lund in Sweden

Urban Science ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (4) ◽  
pp. 70
Author(s):  
Till Koglin ◽  
Lucas Glasare
Keyword(s):  
Conflicts Of Interest ◽  
Current Situation ◽  
Decision Makers ◽  
Power Structures ◽  
Literature Study ◽  
Shopping Centre ◽  
The Past ◽  
Whole Process ◽  
The Subject

This paper evaluates the history and cycling accessibility of Nova, a shopping centre established in Lund, Sweden, in 2002. The current situation was also analysed through observation and a literature review. Moreover, the study conducted a closer analysis of the history and role of the municipality based on further literature study and interviews with officials. The conclusion of the analysis indicates poor and unsafe bikeways caused by conflicts of interest between politicians, officials, landowners and the general public. It also depicts a situation in which the municipality’s master plan has been ignored, and, in contrast to the local goals, cycling accessibility at Nova has seen no significant improvement since the shopping centre was first established. The reasons for this, arguably, are a relatively low budget for bikeway improvements in the municipality, as well as a situation in which decision-makers have stopped approaching the subject, as a result of the long and often boisterous conflicts it has created in the past. Lastly, it must be noted that it is easy to regard the whole process of Nova, from its establishment to the current situation, as being symptomatic of the power structures between drivers and cyclists that still affect decision-makers at all levels.

scholarly journals Perceived risk of lock-in in the front-end phase of major transportation projects

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chantal C. Cantarelli ◽  
David Oglethorpe ◽  
Bert van Wee
Keyword(s):  
Perceived Risk ◽  
Risk Perceptions ◽  
Decision Makers ◽  
Project Proposal ◽  
Implementation Phase ◽  
Perceptions Of Risk ◽  
Transportation Projects ◽  
Front End ◽  
Mediating Factor ◽  
Lock In

AbstractLock-in is defined as the tendency to continue with an inefficient decision or project proposal. The front-end phase is critical to project success, yet most studies have focused on lock-in in the implementation phase. Moreover, little is known about the way in which decision-makers perceive the risk of lock-in. In this paper we identify determinants of lock-in in the front-end phase and we reveal decision-makers’ perceptions of risk of lock-in. Our findings show that risk attitudes towards lock-in vary with the level of risk aversion. However, this is not sufficiently acute to drive the level of regret needed to avoid lock-in. This implies that decision-makers do not accurately assess the risk of lock-in and as such their risk perceptions are a mediating factor in the formation of lock-in. Based on escalation of commitment, path dependency, and prospect theory, the main contribution lies in providing a more comprehensive understanding of lock-in in the front-end phase.

scholarly journals Teaching Science in Today’s Society: The Case of Particle Physics for Primary Schools

Universe ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (6) ◽  
pp. 169
Author(s):  
Cristina Lazzeroni ◽  
Sandra Malvezzi ◽  
Andrea Quadri
Keyword(s):  
Particle Physics ◽  
Primary Schools ◽  
Scientific Information ◽  
Decision Makers ◽  
Educational Institutions ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Past ◽  
Rapid Changes ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Ongoing Project

The rapid changes in science and technology witnessed in recent decades have significantly contributed to the arousal of the awareness by decision-makers and the public as a whole of the need to strengthen the connection between outreach activities of universities and research institutes and the activities of educational institutions, with a central role played by schools. While the relevance of the problem is nowadays unquestioned, no unique and fully satisfactory solution has been identified. In the present paper we would like to contribute to the discussion on the subject by reporting on an ongoing project aimed to teach Particle Physics in primary schools. We will start from the past and currently planned activities in this project in order to establish a broader framework to describe the conditions for the fruitful interplay between researchers and teachers. We will also emphasize some aspects related to the dissemination of outreach materials by research institutions, in order to promote the access and distribution of scientific information in a way suited to the different age of the target students.

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