Attacks on midwives, attacks on women’s choices

Nadine Edwards, Jo Murphy-Lawless, Mavis Kirkham and Sarah Davies ask whether recent attacks on midwives are a Human Rights issu

Analysis of United Kingdom Off-Highway Construction Machinery Market and Its Consumers Using New-Sales Data

The off-highway construction machinery market and its consumers have attracted minimal previous research. This study addresses that void by analyzing annual United Kingdom (UK) (volume/portfolio) new-sales data for the 10 most popular products within that market, 1990–2010 inclusive. Graphical, descriptive statistical, Pearson-correlational, autocorrelational, and elementary modeling are employed to identify contrasts in sales regarding (1) high- and low-volume items; (2) growth trends and significant recessionary effects on volumes; (3) a demand change point circa 1997, since when annual product portfolio has changed little; and (4) product associations in consumer demand. Significant association is demonstrated between demand and construction output, especially with the value of new housing. Subsequently, consumption of wheeled loaders is modeled using construction volume, and demand for mini and crawler excavators is modeled using new-housing data. Time series trends for these machinery types are presented and forecast through 2015. The primary contribution of this study is a deeper understanding of the UK new-machinery market and the predilections of its consumers over the last two decades (to present)

Culture Counts: Examinations of Recent Applications of the Penn Resiliency Program or, Toward a Rubric for Examining Cultural Appropriateness of Prevention Programming

It is imperative that researchers pay close attention to the influences of culture on mental health, and acknowledge a cultural context of illness and change when designing prevention programming. Researchers E. V. Cardemil, K. J. Reivich, and M. E. P. Seligman (2002) and D. L. Yu and M. E. P. Seligman (2002) have made attempts at adapting the existing Penn Resiliency Program (PRP) for culturally appropriate use cross-culturally and interculturally. The success of these modifications is discussed within a framework of guidelines designed to remind scientists how much culture counts. Finally, informative resources and a rubric are shared with prevention scientists for use in future development of culturally appropriate prevention programming

Algorithm based comparison between the integral method and harmonic analysis of the timing jitter of diode-based and solid-state pulsed laser sources

AbstractA comparison between two methods of timing jitter calculation is presented. The integral method utilizes spectral area of the single side-band (SSB) phase noise spectrum to calculate root mean square (rms) timing jitter. In contrast the harmonic analysis exploits the uppermost noise power in high harmonics to retrieve timing fluctuation. The results obtained show that a consistent timing jitter of 1.2ps is found by the integral method and harmonic analysis in gain-switched laser diodes with an external cavity scheme. A comparison of the two approaches in noise measurement of a diode-pumped Yb:KY(WO4)2 passively mode-locked laser is also shown in which both techniques give 2ps rms timing jitter

Modelling an isolated dust grain in a plasma using matched asymptotic expansions

The study of dusty plasmas is of significant practical use and scientific interest. A characteristic feature of dust grains in a plasma is that they are typically smaller than the electron Debye distance, a property which we exploit using the technique of matched asymptotic expansions. We first consider the case of a spherical dust particle in a stationary plasma, employing the Allen–Boyd–Reynolds theory, which assumes cold, collisionless ions. We derive analytical expressions for the electric potential, the ion number density and ion velocity. This requires only one computation that is not specific to a single set of dust–plasma parameters, and sheds new light on the shielding distance of a dust grain. The extension of this calculation to the case of uniform ion streaming past the dust grain, a scenario of interest in many dusty plasmas, is less straightforward. For streaming below a certain threshold we again establish asymptotic solutions but above the streaming threshold there appears to be a fundamental change in the behaviour of the system