An off-board quantum point contact as a sensitive detector of cantilever motion

Recent advances in the fabrication of microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) and their evolution into nanoelectromechanical systems (NEMS) have allowed researchers to measure extremely small forces, masses, and displacements. In particular, researchers have developed position transducers with resolution approaching the uncertainty limit set by quantum mechanics. The achievement of such resolution has implications not only for the detection of quantum behavior in mechanical systems, but also for a variety of other precision experiments including the bounding of deviations from Newtonian gravity at short distances and the measurement of single spins. Here we demonstrate the use of a quantum point contact (QPC) as a sensitive displacement detector capable of sensing the low-temperature thermal motion of a nearby micromechanical cantilever. Advantages of this approach include versatility due to its off-board design, compatibility with nanoscale oscillators, and, with further development, the potential to achieve quantum limited displacement detection.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figure

Performance of Small Cluster Surveys and the Clustered LQAS Design to estimate Local-level Vaccination Coverage in Mali

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Estimation of vaccination coverage at the local level is essential to identify communities that may require additional support. Cluster surveys can be used in resource-poor settings, when population figures are inaccurate. To be feasible, cluster samples need to be small, without losing robustness of results. The clustered LQAS (CLQAS) approach has been proposed as an alternative, as smaller sample sizes are required.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>We explored (i) the efficiency of cluster surveys of decreasing sample size through bootstrapping analysis and (ii) the performance of CLQAS under three alternative sampling plans to classify local VC, using data from a survey carried out in Mali after mass vaccination against meningococcal meningitis group A.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>VC estimates provided by a 10 × 15 cluster survey design were reasonably robust. We used them to classify health areas in three categories and guide mop-up activities: i) health areas not requiring supplemental activities; ii) health areas requiring additional vaccination; iii) health areas requiring further evaluation. As sample size decreased (from 10 × 15 to 10 × 3), standard error of VC and ICC estimates were increasingly unstable. Results of CLQAS simulations were not accurate for most health areas, with an overall risk of misclassification greater than 0.25 in one health area out of three. It was greater than 0.50 in one health area out of two under two of the three sampling plans.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Small sample cluster surveys (10 × 15) are acceptably robust for classification of VC at local level. We do not recommend the CLQAS method as currently formulated for evaluating vaccination programmes.</p

Attachment styles and personal growth following romantic breakups: The mediating roles of distress, rumination, and tendency to rebound

© 2013 Marshall et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.This article has been made available through the Brunel Open Access Publishing Fund.The purpose of this research was to examine the associations of attachment anxiety and avoidance with personal growth following relationship dissolution, and to test breakup distress, rumination, and tendency to rebound with new partners as mediators of these associations. Study 1 (N = 411) and Study 2 (N = 465) measured attachment style, breakup distress, and personal growth; Study 2 additionally measured ruminative reflection, brooding, and proclivity to rebound with new partners. Structural equation modelling revealed in both studies that anxiety was indirectly associated with greater personal growth through heightened breakup distress, whereas avoidance was indirectly associated with lower personal growth through inhibited breakup distress. Study 2 further showed that the positive association of breakup distress with personal growth was accounted for by enhanced reflection and brooding, and that anxious individuals’ greater personal growth was also explained by their proclivity to rebound. These findings suggest that anxious individuals’ hyperactivated breakup distress may act as a catalyst for personal growth by promoting the cognitive processing of breakup-related thoughts and emotions, whereas avoidant individuals’ deactivated distress may inhibit personal growth by suppressing this cognitive work

Measuring discomfort from glare: recommendations for good practice

This article presents a review of the methods used for subjective evaluation of discomfort from glare, focusing on the two procedures most frequently used in past research – adjustment and category rating. Evidence is presented to demonstrate that some aspects of these procedures influence the evaluation, such as the range of glare source luminances available in an adjustment procedure, leading to biased evaluations and which hence reduce the reliability and validity of the data. The article offers recommendations for good practice when using these procedures and also suggests alternative methods that might be explored in further work

The Red Sea, Coastal Landscapes, and Hominin Dispersals

This chapter provides a critical assessment of environment, landscape and resources in the Red Sea region over the past five million years in relation to archaeological evidence of hominin settlement, and of current hypotheses about the role of the region as a pathway or obstacle to population dispersals between Africa and Asia and the possible significance of coastal colonization. The discussion assesses the impact of factors such as topography and the distribution of resources on land and on the seacoast, taking account of geographical variation and changes in geology, sea levels and palaeoclimate. The merits of northern and southern routes of movement at either end of the Red Sea are compared. All the evidence indicates that there has been no land connection at the southern end since the beginning of the Pliocene period, but that short sea crossings would have been possible at lowest sea-level stands with little or no technical aids. More important than the possibilities of crossing the southern channel is the nature of the resources available in the adjacent coastal zones. There were many climatic episodes wetter than today, and during these periods water draining from the Arabian escarpment provided productive conditions for large mammals and human populations in coastal regions and eastwards into the desert. During drier episodes the coastal region would have provided important refugia both in upland areas and on the emerged shelves exposed by lowered sea level, especially in the southern sector and on both sides of the Red Sea. Marine resources may have offered an added advantage in coastal areas, but evidence for their exploitation is very limited, and their role has been over-exaggerated in hypotheses of coastal colonization

Baby Business: a randomised controlled trial of a universal parenting program that aims to prevent early infant sleep and cry problems and associated parental depression

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Infant crying and sleep problems (e.g. frequent night waking, difficulties settling to sleep) each affect up to 30% of infants and often co-exist. They are costly to manage and associated with adverse outcomes including postnatal depression symptoms, early weaning from breast milk, and later child behaviour problems. Preventing such problems could improve these adverse outcomes and reduce costs to families and the health care system. Anticipatory guidance-i.e. providing parents with information about normal infant sleep and cry patterns, ways to encourage self-settling in infants, and ways to develop feeding and settling routines <it>before </it>the onset of problems-could prevent such problems. This paper outlines the protocol for our study which aims to test an anticipatory guidance approach.</p> <p>Methods/Design</p> <p>750 families from four Local Government Areas in Melbourne, Australia have been randomised to receive the <it>Baby Business </it>program (intervention group) or usual care (control group) offered by health services. The <it>Baby Business </it>program provides parents with information about infant sleep and crying via a DVD and booklet (mailed soon after birth), telephone consultation (at infant age 6-8 weeks) and parent group session (at infant age 12 weeks). All English speaking parents of healthy newborn infants born at > 32 weeks gestation and referred by their maternal and child health nurse at their first post partum home visit (day 7-10 postpartum), are eligible. The primary outcome is parent report of infant night time sleep as a problem at four months of age and secondary outcomes include parent report of infant daytime sleep or crying as a problem, mean duration of infant sleep and crying/24 hours, parental depression symptoms, parent sleep quality and quantity and health service use. Data will be collected at two weeks (baseline), four months and six months of age. An economic evaluation using a cost-consequences approach will, from a societal perspective, compare costs and health outcomes between the intervention and control groups.</p> <p>Discussion</p> <p>To our knowledge this is the first randomised controlled trial of a program which aims to prevent both infant sleeping and crying problems and associated postnatal depression symptoms. If effective, it could offer an important public health prevention approach to these common, distressing problems.</p> <p>Trial registration number</p> <p>ISRCTN: <a href="http://www.controlled-trials.com/ISRCTN63834603">ISRCTN63834603</a></p

Capturing Community Context of Human Response to Forest Disturbance by Insects: A Multi-Method Assessment

The socioeconomic and environmental features of local places (community context) influence the relationship between humans and their physical environment. In times of environmental disturbance, this community context is expected to influence human perceptual and behavioral responses. Residents from nine Colorado communities experiencing a large outbreak of mountain pine beetles (Dendroctonus ponderosae) were surveyed in 2007. Multiple analytic methods including ordinary least squares regression and multilevel modeling techniques were used to evaluate a community-context conceptual model of factors influencing individual actions in response to forest disturbance by beetles. Results indicated that community biophysical and socioeconomic characteristics had important impacts on participation in beetle-related actions and influenced the relationships of individual-level variables in the conceptual model with beetle-related activities. Our findings have implications for natural resource management and policy related to forest disturbances, and for developing a methodology appropriate to measure the general community context of human-environment interactions

The need of dermatologists, psychiatrists and psychologists joint care in psychodermatology

The mind-skin connection has been studied since the nineteenth century. The last 40 years have set the development of new research areas which allowed the clarifying of how these two dimensions interact. The diseases that involve skin and mind constitute the field of psychodermatology and require that specialists in dermatology, psychiatry and psychology together and integrated take part in it, since skin, nervous system and mind are simultaneously affected. This paper aims to expose how psychodermatoses are currently conceptualized and the need of integration of these three specialties for conveniently treating the patients

Socioeconomic position and overweight among adolescents: data from birth cohort studies in Brazil and the UK

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Developed and developing countries are facing rapid increases in overweight and obesity among children and adolescents. The patterns of overweight/obesity differ by age, sex, rural or urban residence and socioeconomic position (SEP) and vary between and within countries.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>We investigated patterns of SEP – overweight status association among adolescents from the UK (ALSPAC) and Brazil (the 1982 and 1993 Pelotas birth cohort studies).</p> <p>All analyses were performed separately for males and females. Logistic regression analysis was used to examine the relationships between overweight status and two SEP indicators – family income and maternal education.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>A strong positive association was observed in 11-year-old boys from the 1993 Pelotas cohort, with higher prevalence of overweight among the least poor and among those whose mothers had more years of schooling (<it>x</it>²for linear trend p < 0.001). In ALSPAC study higher prevalence of overweight was seen among boys whose mothers had lower educational achievement (<it>x</it>²for linear trend p = 0.006). Among 11 year-old girls from 1993 Pelotas cohort study there was a positive association (higher prevalence of overweight in the higher socioeconomic and educational strata, <it>x</it>²for linear trend p < 0.001 and p = 0.01, respectively) while an inverse association was found in the ALSPAC study (<it>x</it>²for linear trend p < 0.001). Among males from the 1982 cohort study, overweight at 18 years of age showed a positive association with both SEP indicators while among females, the reverse association was found.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The results of this study demonstrate that the social patterning of overweight varies between and within populations over time. Specific approaches should be developed within populations in order to contain the obesity epidemic and reduce disparities.</p