New Releases by Chris Braun

The Opioid Epidemic in the United States has continued to worsen in fatalities and loss of US treasure significantly in the last two decades (1999-2019). Although much research work has been done to study the epidemic, many avenues remain that could further contribute toward improving the treatment response to the crisis, as evidenced by increase of opioid related deaths every year for the past 20 years.This research offers a descriptive analysis of the population of US residents who have misused opioids or classify as having an opioid use disorder (OUD). While this group has received some attention, this research examines OUD from two distinct approaches: 1) the varying levels of OUD degree - mild, moderate, and severe - as prescribed by the fifth, and most recent volume, of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manuel of Mental Disorders (DSM-5), and 2) analyzing the substance use sequence history of these individuals.This research aspires to address the question: Could a probabilistic analysis of the substance use histories of US individuals and a trifurcation of the definition of Opioid Use Disorder (OUD) into three distinct levels (mild, moderate, severe) highlight key trends and predictors that identify high risk individuals in the opioid crisis?The three OUD classes are inspected for changes in trends over time (2016-2019), searching for subsets within certain sociodemographic characteristics that prove to be statistically significant in differing from the other subsets. Using an odds ratio test, the statistical significance can be established, and the z-statistic and interval can address the degree to which some groups within the sociodemographic are at elevated risk of OUD compared to the other members of the group. The extra precision of three levels of OUD, and evaluating the shifting trends over time, can provide more insight into which of the three OUD classes are shifting over time and what subsets within a characteristic are at greater risk. In this analysis, the effects of income, education, and age produced the strongest signals and negative trends that suggest these characteristics are strong predictors of negative patient outcomes.Additionally, drug use histories are mapped to the three OUD classes using 10 years of aggregated data (2010-2019) to trace the probabilities of a given substance sequence history possibly leading to opioid misuse or OUD. While some substances provide little probability separation - tobacco, marijuana, and alcohol - other substances map to extremely dangerous probabilities for OUD acquisition - heroin, methamphetamines, and cocaine - especially when presented in the context of being introduced early in an individual's substance sequence history. In examining in-depth individual health and demographic information data sets provided by the National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH), the aforementioned results emerged from the data to demonstrate the strong signals that illuminate the individuals that are at high risk for OUD and opioid misuse in the United States.

In this fourth book of the Galactic Treasure Hunt series, Galactic Treasure heroes Jake, Scott, and Nojo continue their adventuring when they get Lost in Time. The travelers take a wrong turn in a wormhole and arrive in the dangerous era of dinosaurs. The boys brave the mighty meat eaters and raging rivers of the past only to discover that alien criminals await them in the future. It's a thrill ride at both ends of time. Short chapters with illustrations on every page make it a great book for reading to children. The fantastic story is based on real science, so at the end of the book the author (a Boeing engineer) discusses the science. There is a special alien alphabet decoder in the book and clues written in the alien alphabet.

In this fifth and last book of the Galactic Treasure Hunt series, the adventures of Jake, Scott, and Nojo continue, only this time Nojo is missing. Jake and Scott travel back to the lost universe all on their own to rescue Nojo. Their journey is epic and dangerous. They must battle wicked beasts and evil warlords before finding what they are seeking. Short chapters with illustrations on every page make it a great book for reading to children. The fantastic story is based on real science, so at the end of the book the author (a Boeing engineer) discusses the science. Great fun, science and adventure for children!

In this third book of the Galactic Treasure Hunt series, Galactic Treasure heroes Jake, Scott, and Nojo return in an epic adventure that is literally out of this universe. The trio visits a strange planet in another universe, where the laws of physics are different, where Jake and Scott discover they have extraordinary powers. These prove handy when they battle a dark wizard and the dragony inhabitants of the planet. * Secret word at the beginning of each chapter written in an alien alphabet * Alphabet decoder at the end of the book lets you decode a secret message from Nojo • Clues written in the alien alphabet at the beginning of each chapter • Illustrations on every page • Short 4-6 page chapters • perfect for read-aloud or 7-11 early readers.