903 research outputs found
Social exclusion of Australian childless women in their reproductive years
Research suggests Australian childless women are at risk of pronatalism-driven social exclusion. This exploratory, mixed methods, cross-sectional study described and explored the social exclusion of Australian childless women aged 25 to 44 years, and asked: what are the nature and extent of social exclusion of childless women; and do the nature and extent of exclusion vary for different types of childless women? A total of 776 childless female Australian residents aged 25 to 44 years completed a self-administered questionnaire. Quantitative data were collected on childlessness types, indicators of exclusion and perceived stigmatisation and exclusion due to being childless. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics, One Way ANOVAs and Kruskal Wallis Analysis of Ranks. Qualitative data on childless women’s experiences were inductively thematically analysed. Findings suggest societal-level pronatalism drives exclusion of Australian childless women. While exclusion occurs in all domains of life, childless women experience more exclusion, and perceive more exclusion due to being childless, in the social and civic domains than the service and economic domains. Circumstantially and involuntarily childless women, followed by voluntarily childless women, perceive more exclusion due to being childless than undecided and future childed women. Experiences are influenced by the nature of women’s ‘deviance’ from pronatalism
Behavioral sleep problems and their potential impact on developing executive function in children
Bedtime resistance and night waking are common sleep problems throughout childhood, especially in the early years. These sleep problems may lead to difficulties in neurobehavioral functioning, but most research into childhood sleep problems has not emphasized the importance of the developmental context in which disruptions in neurobehavioral and daytime functioning occur. We review the development of sleep as well as executive functioning (EF) in childhood and suggest that EF may be particularly vulnerable to the effects of these common childhood sleep problems because of its prolonged course of maturation. Behavioral problems associated with common sleep problems suggest poor self-regulation in the context of sleep loss, and developing EF skills play important roles in self-regulation. A research agenda that considers a developmental approach to sleep and sleep problems in the context of childhood EF performance is outlined to promote future research in this area
Inclusive Policy? An Intersectional Analysis of Policy Influencing Women's Reproductive DecisionâMaking
Policy can be used and experienced as a tool for social inclusion or exclusion; it can empower or disenfranchise. Womenâs reproductive decisionâmaking and health is impacted by policy, and womenâs experiences of diverse and intersecting marginalised social locations can influence their experiences of policy. This research aimed to explore how intersectionality is considered within Victorian state government policies that influence and impact womenâs reproductive decision-making. A systematic search of Victorian (Australia) government policy instruments was undertaken, identifying twenty policy instruments. Policies were analysed using an intersectional policy analysis framework using a twoâstage process involving deductive coding into the domains of the framework, followed by inductive thematic analysis within and across domains. Findings reveal inconsistencies within and across policies in how they consider intersecting social relations of power in the representation of problems, women's positionings, policy impacts, and policy solutions. These gaps could exclude and marginalise individuals and groups and contribute to systemic inequities in womenâs reproductive decision-making and the outcomes of those decisions, particularly among already marginalised groups. The lack of women's voices in policy further excludes and marginalises those impacted by the policy and limits the representation of all women in policy. Policy development needs to meaningfully involve women with diverse and intersecting marginalised social locations, and critical reflexivity of all stakeholders, to ensure policies can better account for the experiences of, and impacts upon, women who are marginalised and effect change to promote social inclusion and equity in womenâs reproductive decisionâmaking
Low-threshold organic laser based on an oligofluorene truxene with low optical losses
A blue-emitting distributed feedback laser based on a star-shaped oligofluorene truxene molecule is presented. The gain, loss, refractive index, and (lack of) anisotropy are measured by amplified spontaneous emission and variable-angle ellipsometry. The waveguide losses are very low for an organic semiconductor gain medium, particularly for a neat film. The results suggest that truxenes are promising for reducing loss, a key parameter in the operation of organic semiconductor lasers. Distributed feedback lasers fabricated from solution by spin-coating show a low lasing threshold of 270 W/cm(2) and broad tunability across 25 nm in the blue part of the spectrum
Ultra-portable explosives sensor based on a CMOS fluorescence lifetime analysis micro-system
The paper published in AIP Advances (a new journal from the American Institute of Physics) had 1100 article downloads in the first 5 months after publication, and was on the journalâs âmost readâ list for 4 months. The work was featured by AIP in a Physics News Highlight and press release which resulted in >50 international internet articles and an article in Laser Focus World.This work explores the use of a green-light-emitting copolymer as a chemosensor to detect nitroaromatic-based explosive vapors by recording photoluminescence (PL) and time-resolved PL decay. We show successful detection of 10 ppb 1,4-dinitrobenzene (DNB) vapor. Both a conventional time-correlated single photon counting (TCSPC) device and CMOS time-resolved fluorescence lifetime microsystem are used in the DNB detection. An ultra-portable on-site explosive sensor based on the micro-system has also been demonstrated. This gives rise to the potential for real-time, reliable, inexpensive organic/inorganic hybrid explosives detection.Peer reviewe
RGB-single-chip OLEDs for high-speed visible-light communication by wavelength- division multiplexing
Funding: Engineering and Physical Science Research Council (EP/Y037243/1; EP/R035164/1).Organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) have been developed for high-speed transmitters of visible-light communication (VLC) but so far the possibility of direct fabrication of multiple colors on a single substrate has not been exploited for multi-Gbps data transmission. Very fast red-, green-, and blue (RGB)-emitting OLEDs are developed on a single substrate to realize high data transmission speed by wavelength division multiplexing (WDM). â6 dB electrical bandwidth of over 100 MHz is achieved for all colors by selecting fluorescent materials with nanosecond emission lifetimes and little overlap between their emission spectra and incorporating them into OLEDs designed for high-speed operation. Optical microcavities in top-emitting OLED structures are used to minimize spectral overlap. A record data transmission rate for an OLED transmitter system of 3.2 Gbps is demonstrated, by transmitting data with the 3 colors simultaneously and separating each data by dichroic mirrors. The results show that WDM with integrated RGB pixels is a useful way to increase the data transmission rate of a VLC system based on OLED transmitters, which has the potential to enable multi-gigabit transmission by displays. The availability of high-speed multiple-color devices as developed here also expands applications of OLEDs for spectroscopy, sensing, and ranging.Peer reviewe
Green perovskite distributed feedback lasers
This work was supported by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) of the UK Grants; EP/K503162/1, EP/M506631/1, EP/M025330/1 and EP/L017008/1. IDWS acknowledges funding from a Royal Society Wolfson research merit award.A visible perovskite distributed feedback laser is fabricated for the first time. Through the use of nanocrystal pinning, highly luminescent methylammonium lead bromide films are used to produce stable lasers emitting at 550ânm, with a low threshold of 6 ”Jcmâ2. The lasers were able to support multiple polarisations, and could be switched between transverse magnetic and transverse electric mode operation through simple tuning of the distributed feedback grating period.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe
Electrically driven organic laser using integrated OLED pumping
Funding: Authors thank the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council of the UK for the financial support from grants EP/R035164/1, EP/R03480X/1 and EP/L017008/1. J.G. thanks the China Scholarship Council (grant no. 201806100005) for financial support.Organic semiconductors are carbon-based materials that combine optoelectronic properties with simple fabrication and the scope for tuning by changing their chemical structure1,2,3. They have been successfully used to make organic light-emitting diodes2,4,5 (OLEDs, now widely found in mobile phone displays and televisions), solar cells1, transistors6 and sensors7. However, making electrically driven organic semiconductor lasers is very challenging8,9. It is difficult because organic semiconductors typically support only low current densities, suffer substantial absorption from injected charges and triplets, and have additional losses due to contacts10,11. In short, injecting charges into the gain medium leads to intolerable losses. Here we take an alternative approach in which charge injection and lasing are spatially separated, thereby greatly reducing losses. We achieve this by developing an integrated device structure that efficiently couples an OLED, with exceptionally high internal-light generation, with a polymer distributed feedback laser. Under the electrical driving of the integrated structure, we observe a threshold in light output versus drive current, with a narrow emission spectrum and the formation of a beam above the threshold. These observations confirm lasing. Our results provide an organic electronic device that has not been previously demonstrated, and show that indirect electrical pumping by an OLED is a very effective way of realizing an electrically driven organic semiconductor laser. This provides an approach to visible lasers that could see applications in spectroscopy, metrology and sensing.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe
Organic solar cells as high-speed data detectors for visible light communication
Funding: Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) (EP/I00243X, EP/K00042X/1, EP/K008757/1).We show that solar cells, widely used in portable devices for power generation, can simultaneously extract a high-speed data signal in an optical wireless communication link. This Letter reports, to the best of our knowledge, the first use of an organic solar cell as an energy-harvesting receiver for visible light communications (VLCs). While generating maximum power in the cell, the communication link can deliver a data rate of 34.2 Mbps with a bit error rate of 4.08 x 10(-4) using an implementation of orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing. This approach could lead to printed optical data receivers in future eco-friendly VLC systems. Simultaneous functions of data communication and energy harvesting have great implications for the connectivity of future smart devices, many of which could become self-powered units as part of the "Internet of Things."PostprintPeer reviewe
Advances in optical sensing of explosive vapours
This project has received funding from the European Unionâs Seventh Framework Programme for research, technological development and demonstration under agreement no 284747, and the EPSRC under EP/K503940/1, EP/K503162/1, and EP/N509759/1. IDWS acknowledges a Royal Society Wolfson Research Merit Award.Optical techniques for the detection of explosives are receiving increasing interest due to potentially fast responding, highly-sensitive systems. Conjugated polymers are suitable probe materials for this application since their fluorescence is quenched by electronegative materials including explosives. This can be used to make a sensor for explosive vapour, which can then give chemical information to help identify explosive devices, and complements other approaches such as metal detectors and ground penetrating radar. Whilst the principle has been known for some time, its practical implementation requires considerable development of instrumentation and materials, including preconcentration materials. This paper reports our current efforts to address these challenges, with particular emphasis on humanitarian demining and looking towards application in Improvised Explosive Device (IED) detection.Publisher PD
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