Electrostatically-Driven Resonator on Soi with Improved Temperature Stability

This paper deals with a single-crystal-silicon (SCS) MEMS resonator with improved temperature stability. While simulations have shown that the temperature coefficient of resonant frequency can be down to 1 ppm/degrees C, preliminary measurements on non-optimised structures gave evidence of a temperature coefficient of 29 ppm/degrees C. Design, optimisation, experimental results with post process simulation and prospective work are presented.Comment: Submitted on behalf of TIMA Editions (http://irevues.inist.fr/tima-editions

Ground State of the Easy-Axis Rare-Earth Kagom\'e Langasite Pr3_3Ga5_5SiO14_{14}

We report muon spin relaxation ($\mu$SR) and $^{69,71}$Ga nuclear quadrupolar resonance (NQR) local-probe investigations of the kagom\'e compound Pr$_3$Ga$_5$SiO$_{14}$. Small quasi-static random internal fields develop below 40 K and persist down to our base temperature of 21 mK. They originate from hyperfine-enhanced $^{141}$Pr nuclear magnetism which requires a non-magnetic Pr$^{3+}$ crystal-field (CF) ground state. Besides, we observe a broad maximum of the relaxation rate at $\simeq 10$ K which we attribute to the population of the first excited magnetic CF level. Our results yield a Van-Vleck paramagnet picture, at variance with the formerly proposed spin-liquid ground state.Comment: minor change

Sexual Orientation Competence: Psychologists’ Perceived Competence and Relationships to Multicultural Competence, Training, Engagement, and Exposure to Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Individuals

Attitudes toward sexual orientation, specifically towards those who identify as lesbians, gay men, and bisexual (LGB) individuals, have varied temporally. Given the pervasiveness of heterosexism in American culture, it becomes quite important to understand if we, as psychologists, could unintentionally create heterosexist environments with our clients. This study looked at the following research question: What are the unique contributions of the predictor variables: exposure to persons of sexual minority status, training experience in sexual minority populations, perceived multicultural competence, and engagement in sexual minority specialization and practice to the criterion variable perceived sexual orientation competence within United States (US) licensed psychologists

Early life-history studies of nearshore rockfishes and lingcod off Central California, 1987-92

This study focused on the physical and biological processes that influence the distribution, abundance, growth, and survival of young-of-the-year (YOY) rockfishes and lingcod along the central California coast. The annual somatic and reproductive condition of adult female blue rockfish corresponded to annual upwelling. Resulting larval production may correspond to the reproductive potential of adults; however, ultimate recruitment success of YOY is also effected by oceanographic conditions during their planktonic stage. Within a year, each species of settled YOY was observed concurrently and in relatively similar abundances at all study dive sites along the central coast. Most species of YOY exhibited similar growth patterns among stations and years. We found a high degree of interannual variability in the condition of adults and relative abundances of YOY. We believe a large part of this variability is due to annual oceanographic conditions, specifically upwelling. Marine reserves, which would protect populations of reproductively mature rockfishes and lingcod and insure 1arval production, have been suggested as an alternative to present management strategies for these species. However, a crucial question is whether or not larvae from adult fish in reserves would significantly contribute to replenishing stocks in other areas. This study was undertaken to assist in determining the feasibility of reserves to enhance nearshore rockfish and lingcod populations. (78pp.

Challenges to Employment in Newly Emerging African Communities in Australia: A Review of the Literature

Newly emerging African communities (NEAC) in Australia face challenges in accessing employment, with consequences for both the immigrant and Australian host communities. This article presents a review of the literature on challenges to employment for NEAC in Australia. It gathers together, synthesises, and analyses previously fragmented evidence that should be used to inform social policy change and social program improvement. It focuses on African refugees and immigrants from the Horn of Africa region (Eritrea, Ethiopia, Somalia, and Sudan) who have settled in Australia in the past 10 years. The review documents the challenges to employment for this group and highlights policy and practice implications including: streamlining the qualification recognition process; introducing culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) specialised job networks; resisting anti-NEAC sentiments, challenging stereotypes, and promoting diversity; introducing incentives to undertake volunteer work; revitalising existing English as a second language pedagogy; empowering CALD-specialised counselling services; and establishing CALD-specialised research and advocacy entities

Quantifying uncertainty in pest risk maps and assessments : adopting a risk-averse decision maker’s perspective

Pest risk maps are important decision support tools when devising strategies to minimize introductions of invasive organisms and mitigate their impacts. When possible management responses to an invader include costly or socially sensitive activities, decision-makers tend to follow a more certain (i.e., risk-averse) course of action. We presented a new mapping technique that assesses pest invasion risk from the perspective of a risk-averse decision maker. We demonstrated the method by evaluating the likelihood that an invasive forest pest will be transported to one of the U.S. states or Canadian provinces in infested firewood by visitors to U.S. federal campgrounds. We tested the impact of the risk aversion assumption using distributions of plausible pest arrival scenarios generated with a geographically explicit model developed from data documenting camper travel across the study area. Next, we prioritized regions of high and low pest arrival risk via application of two stochastic ordering techniques that employed, respectively, first- and second-degree stochastic dominance rules, the latter of which incorporated the notion of risk aversion. We then identified regions in the study area where the pest risk value changed considerably after incorporating risk aversion. While both methods identified similar areas of highest and lowest risk, they differed in how they demarcated moderate-risk areas. In general, the second-order stochastic dominance method assigned lower risk rankings to moderate-risk areas. Overall, this new method offers a better strategy to deal with the uncertainty typically associated with risk assessments and provides a tractable way to incorporate decisionmaking preferences into final risk estimates, and thus helps to better align these estimates with particular decision-making scenarios about a pest organism of concern. Incorporation of risk aversion also helps prioritize the set of locations to target for inspections and outreach activities, which can be costly. Our results are especially important and useful given the huge number of camping trips that occur each year in the United States and Canada