Managing the possible health risks of mobile telecommunications: Public understandings of precautionary action and advice

It has been suggested that precautionary approaches to managing possible health risks mobile telecommunications (MT) technology may cause or exacerbate public concerns. In contrast, precautionary approaches to managing such risks in the UK have been framed as a way of reducing public concerns. This article presents evidence from a series of focus groups about publics’ understandings of the actions taken and advice given about potential MT health risks by the UK government. Eight focus groups were conducted with members of the public that varied in their age, their awareness and concern about mast siting, and the self-reported level of mobile phone use. From the analyses a complex picture emerged in which publics’ understandings were not primarily framed in terms of precautionary action and advice either provoking concern or providing reassurance. People made sense of precaution by drawing upon a range of evidence from their understandings of costs and benefits of the technology, as well as the institutional context in which MT health risks were managed. For some of those involved in protesting against mast siting, precaution was seen as confirming existing concern. Further systematic exploration of the contexts within which different responses to precaution emerge is thus likely to be instructive.Mobile Telecommunications Health Research Programme

Life raft stabilizer

An improved life raft stabilizer for reducing rocking and substantially precluding capsizing is discussed. The stabilizer may be removably attached to the raft and is defined by flexible side walls which extend a considerable depth downwardly to one another in the water. The side walls, in conjunction with the floor of the raft, form a ballast enclosure. A weight is placed in the bottom of the enclosure and water port means are provided in the walls. Placement of the stabilizer in the water allows the weighted bottom to sink, producing submerged deployment thereof and permitting water to enter the enclosure through the port means, thus forming a ballast for the raft

Economic evaluation of a nursing-led intermediate care unit

Objectives: The aim of this paper is to examine the costs of introducing a nursing-led ward program together with examining the impact this may have on patients' outcomes. Methods; The study had a sample size of 177 patients with a mean age of 77, and randomized to either a treatment group (care on a nursing-led ward, n = 97) or a control group (standard care usually on a consultant-led acute ward, n = 80). Resource use data including length of stay, tests and investigations performed, and multidisciplinary involvement in care were collected. Results: There were no significant differences in outcome between the two groups. The inpatient costs for the treatment group were significantly higher, due to the longer length of stay in this group. However, the postdischarge costs were significantly lower for the treatment group. Conclusions: The provision of nursing-led intermediate care units has been proposed as a solution to inappropriate use of acute medical wards by patients who require additional nursing rather than medical care. Whether the treatment group is ultimately cost-additive is dependent on how long reductions in postdischarge resource use are maintained

The role of freestream turbulence scale in subsonic flow separation

The ojective of this work is the clarification of the role of freestream turbulence scale in determining the location of boundary layer separation. An airfoil in subsonic wind tunnel flow is the specific case studied. Hot-film and hot-wire anemometry, liquid-film visualization and pressure measurements are the principal diagnostic techniques in use. The Vanderbilt University subsonic wind tunnel is the flow facility being used

Simulation of 3-D viscous flow within a multi-stage turbine

This work outlines a procedure for simulating the flow field within multistage turbomachinery which includes the effects of unsteadiness, compressibility, and viscosity. The associated modeling equations are the average passage equation system which governs the time-averaged flow field within a typical passage of a blade row embedded within a multistage configuration. The results from a simulation of a low aspect ratio stage and a one-half turbine will be presented and compared with experimental measurements. It will be shown that the secondary flow field generated by the rotor causes the aerodynamic performance of the downstream vane to be significantly different from that of an isolated blade row

Liver transplant recipients’ experiences and perspectives of a telehealth-delivered lifestyle programme A qualitative study

Introduction Dietary modification and exercise are encouraged to address cardiometabolic risk factors after solid organ transplantation. However, the lived experience of attempting positive lifestyle changes for liver transplant recipients is not known. The aim of this study was to explore the experiences of liver transplant recipients and their perspectives of a 12-week telehealth lifestyle programme and assess the feasibility of this innovative health service. Methods Focus groups and one-on-one interviews were conducted with participants who had completed a 12-week, group-based, telehealth-delivered diet and exercise programme and thematic qualitative analysis was used to code and theme the data. Results In total, 19 liver transplant recipients participated in the study (25-68 years, median time since transplant 4.4 years, 63% male). Overarching themes included: (a) 'broad telehealth advantages' which highlighted that telehealth reduced the perceived burdens of face-to-face care; (b) 'impact of employment' which identified employment as a competing priority and appeared to effect involvement with the programme; (c) 'adapting Mediterranean eating pattern to meet individual needs' which identified the adaptability of the Mediterranean diet supported by sessions with the dietitian; (d) 'increasing exercise confidence' which recognised that a tailored approach facilitated confidence and acceptability of the exercise component of the programme. Discussion A telehealth lifestyle programme delivered by dietitians and exercise physiologists is an acceptable alternative to face-to-face care that can meet the needs of liver transplant recipients. There is a need to further innovate and broaden the scope of routine service delivery beyond face-to-face consultations

AlGaAs top solar cell for mechanical attachment in a multi-junction tandem concentrator solar cell stack

The AstroPower self-supporting, transparent AlGaAs top solar cell can be stacked upon any well-developed bottom solar cell for improved system performance. This is an approach to improve the performance and scale of space photovoltaic power systems. Mechanically stacked tandem solar cell concentrator systems based on the AlGaAs top concentrator solar cell can provide near term efficiencies of 36 percent (AMO, 100x). Possible tandem stack efficiencies greater than 38 percent (100x, AMO) are feasible with a careful selection of materials. In a three solar cell stack, system efficiencies exceed 41 percent (100x, AMO). These device results demonstrate a practical solution for a state-of-the-art top solar cell for attachment to an existing, well-developed solar cell

On the Quantum Phase Operator for Coherent States

In papers by Lynch [Phys. Rev. A41, 2841 (1990)] and Gerry and Urbanski [Phys. Rev. A42, 662 (1990)] it has been argued that the phase-fluctuation laser experiments of Gerhardt, B\"uchler and Lifkin [Phys. Lett. 49A, 119 (1974)] are in good agreement with the variance of the Pegg-Barnett phase operator for a coherent state, even for a small number of photons. We argue that this is not conclusive. In fact, we show that the variance of the phase in fact depends on the relative phase between the phase of the coherent state and the off-set phase $\phi_0$ of the Pegg-Barnett phase operator. This off-set phase is replaced with the phase of a reference beam in an actual experiment and we show that several choices of such a relative phase can be fitted to the experimental data. We also discuss the Noh, Foug\`{e}res and Mandel [Phys.Rev. A46, 2840 (1992)] relative phase experiment in terms of the Pegg-Barnett phase taking post-selection conditions into account.Comment: 8 pages, 8 figures. Typographical errors and misprints have been corrected. The outline of the paper has also been changed. Physica Scripta (in press