The repeatability of self-reported exposure after miscarriage

BACKGROUND: The Avon Longitudinal Study of Pregnancy and Childhood is a prospective study of women who were resident in Avon and who were expected to deliver a baby between April 1991 and December 1992. METHODS: The study provided an opportunity to test the repeatability of responses from 220 women who experienced a miscarriage and who reported exposure to occupational substances and common household products and appliances in two questionnaires. The first questionnaire was completed in the early part of the pregnancy and the second after the miscarriage. Women were asked to score their frequency of exposure on a five-point scale from 'daily' to 'never'. Their responses were analysed to assess the degree of agreement between replies to identical questions in the two questionnaires using the kappa statistic. A new frequency variable was created which compared the replies for the two questionnaires; this was analysed for all exposures by cross-tabulation with possible explanatory variables (age of mother, social class, history of miscarriage and the time lag between questionnaires). RESULTS: In general there was good agreement in the reported exposures to 48 substances and products. The results showed a small and consistent pattern of reporting exposures less frequently in the second questionnaire, i.e. after miscarriage. This was not explained by the analysis of possible confounding variables. Given the literature, the authors had expected to find a shift in the opposite direction. CONCLUSION: The study reinforces the need to be cautious when using the results from single surveys of retrospective self-reported exposure

Relationship between the atomic pair distribution function and small angle scattering: implications for modeling of nanoparticles

Here we show explicitly the relationship between the functions used in the atomic pair distribution function (PDF) method and those commonly used in small angle scattering (SAS) analyses. The origin of the sloping baseline, $-4\pi r\rho_0$, in PDFs of bulk materials is identified as originating from the SAS intensity that is neglected in PDF measurements. The non-linear baseline in nanoparticles has the same origin, and contains information about the shape and size of the nanoparticles.Comment: 19 pages, 0 figure

The influence of Pentecostal social networks on Latino student college choice

This dissertation describes the experiences of Latino Pentecostal students of traditional college age with regard to their college decisions, along with the influence of Pentecostal social networks on Latinos\u27 college choice. Much research has focused on Latino students\u27 college choice processes but Latino Pentecostal students as a specific subgroup have received little attention. This dissertation provides a more nuanced approach to the college decisions of the increasing number of Latino Pentecostal students in the United States. Applying a phenomenological research design, I conducted semi-structured interviews in which participants described their Pentecostal social network\u27s role in their college choice process. In contrast to the traditional Pentecostal anti-college attitude suggested by previous research, I found that students had substantial college aspirations and received strong community support for them, suggesting a paradigm shift among the younger generation. The study suggests that Latino Pentecostal students are acquiring socio-religious capital from their religious social networks and using it to achieve successful transitions into college. Moreover, students\u27 desire to maintain participation in religious rituals results in a tendency for Latino Pentecostal students to choose colleges located close to their churches

Trading off Time, Carbon, Active Travel, and Health: What do People Really Think about Traffic-reduction Measures?

An online survey polled a socio-demographically representative sample of approximately 2,000 UK residents concerning their attitudes to traffic restrictions that lead to longer car trips. Specifically, to what extent would respondents accept delays to everyday local car journeys if these were offset by reductions in NO2, greenhouse gas emissions or vehicular traffic, or by increases in active travel? Responses suggested high levels of acceptance of delay but this varied by nature of impact (less openness to increased active travel) and socio-demographic attribute (gender, educational attainment, car ownership, ethnicity, housing tenure, prior presence of local traffic restrictions). In particular, there were lower levels of delay acceptance amongst men, respondents without degree-level qualifications, and those in households with two or more cars. These findings are relevant to those communicating about traffic restrictions, in terms of which audiences they target and how they present impacts

Stability and continuity of parentally reported child eating behaviours and feeding practices from 2 to 5 years of age

Previous research suggests that many eating behaviours are stable in children but that obesigenic eating behaviours tend to increase with age. This research explores the stability (consistency in individual levels over time) and continuity (consistency in group levels over time) of child eating behaviours and parental feeding practices in children between 2 and 5 years of age. Thirty one participants completed measures of child eating behaviours, parental feeding practices and child weight at 2 and 5 years of age. Child eating behaviours and parental feeding practices remained stable between 2 and 5 years of age. There was also good continuity in measures of parental restriction and monitoring of food intake, as well as in mean levels of children's eating behaviours and BMI over time. Mean levels of maternal pressure to eat significantly increased, whilst mean levels of desire to drink significantly decreased, between 2 and 5 years of age. These findings suggest that children's eating behaviours are stable and continuous in the period prior to 5 years of age. Further research is necessary to replicate these findings and to explore why later developmental increases are seen in children's obesigenic eating behaviours

Critical phenomena in globally coupled excitable elements

Critical phenomena in globally coupled excitable elements are studied by focusing on a saddle-node bifurcation at the collective level. Critical exponents that characterize divergent fluctuations of interspike intervals near the bifurcation are calculated theoretically. The calculated values appear to be in good agreement with those determined by numerical experiments. The relevance of our results to jamming transitions is also mentioned.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure