From Soft Walls to Infrared Branes

Five dimensional warped spaces with soft walls are generalizations of the standard Randall-Sundrum compactifications, where instead of an infrared brane one has a curvature singularity (with vanishing warp factor) at finite proper distance in the bulk. We project the physics near the singularity onto a hypersurface located a small distance away from it in the bulk. This results in a completely equivalent description of the soft wall in terms of an effective infrared brane, hiding any singular point. We perform explicitly this calculation for two classes of soft wall backgrounds used in the literature. The procedure has several advantages. It separates in a clean way the physics of the soft wall from the physics of the five dimensional bulk, facilitating a more direct comparison with standard two-brane warped compactifications. Moreover, consistent soft walls show a sort of universal behavior near the singularity which is reflected in the effective brane Lagrangian. Thirdly, for many purposes, a good approximation is obtained by assuming the bulk background away from the singularity to be the usual Randall-Sundrum metric, thus making the soft wall backgrounds better analytically tractable. We check the validity of this procedure by calculating the spectrum of bulk fields and comparing it to the exact result, finding very good agreement.Comment: 14 pages, 2 figures, v2: subsection on IR brane potentials and appendix on fermions added, version to appear in PR

Factors Affecting The Use of Intra Uterine Device in Kupang, East Nusa Tenggara

Background: The Intra Uterine Device (IUD) is a type of long-acting reversible contraception (LARC) that goes in the uterus. It has some preferable features: (1) More than 99% effective; (2) Works for up to 10 years; (3) ‘Fit and forget’ contraception users do not need to do anything. There are two types of IUD: one with hormones, one without hormones. The menstrual period might change. There might be more or less bleeding. This study aimed to determine factors affecting the use of IUD in Kupang, East Nusa Tenggara. Subjects and Method: A cross sectional study carried out in Kupang, East Nusa Tenggara. A sample of women of reproductive age was selected for this study, consisting of IUD users and non users. The dependent variable was IUD use. The independent variables were age, education, maternal attitude, and maternal belief. IUD data were taken from maternal and child health record. The other data were collected by questionnaire. The data were analyzed by a multiple logistic regression. Results: Older age, higher education, favorable maternal attitude, and positive maternal belief, were associated with the use of IUD. Conclusion: Age, education, maternal attitude, and maternal belief, are associated with the use of IUD. Keywords: intrauterine device, age, education, maternal attitude, maternal belie

Management System of the Youth Information and Counseling Center in Kupang

Background: Youth Information and Counseling Center (PIK) in Kota Kupang has been established since 2009. In its development, only 31% of the total PIK Teenagers enrolled in the KBKS Office of Kupang City were identified as active. Most are still at the “growing” stage. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the management system of the Youth Information and Counseling Center in Kupang. Subjects and Method: This was a mixed qualitative-quantitative study. The study was conducted at Youth Information and Counseling Center in Kupang. A sample of 6 informants from PIK were selected for this study, consisting of 6 PIK teenagers and head of subdivision of adolescent reproductive health. Qualitative data were collected by in-depth interview and observation. The data collected included availability of human resource managers, infrastructure support, funding support, management process, and teenage user coverage. Quantitative data were collected by questionnaires from 340 respondents. The dependent variables for the quantitative study were knowledge and attitude towards adolescent reproductive health. Qualitative analysis was performed by descriptive analysis. Evaluation of managemen system employed context, input, process, and product (CIPP) framework. Results: PIK was lacking in input, i.e. infrastructure and equipment. Management process was also lacking. Especially there were no working standard, job description, and monitoring by related agencies. The output (product) side of PIK was low. PIK only covered 42% of total number of adolescents in Kupang. Quantitative study showed low knowledge and low in positive attitude towards adolescent reproductive health. Nevertheless, adolescents who were active in PIK had better knowledge in reproductive health than “growing” adolescents or other junior high school students. Conclusion: Youth information and counceling center in Kupang did not well perform. There is a need to provide reproduction health education for adolescents since earliest age. Keywords: youth, information and counseling center, reproductive health, management syste

Disasters and climate change in the Pacific: adaptive capacity of humanitarian response organizations

© 2014, © 2014 Taylor & Francis. Climate change is likely to affect the pattern of disasters in the Pacific and, by extension, the organizations and systems involved in disaster response. This research focused on how immediate humanitarian health-related needs following disasters are met using the concept of adaptive capacity to investigate the resilience of organizations and the robustness of the broader system of disaster response. Four case study countries (Cook Islands, Fiji, Samoa, and Vanuatu) were chosen for deeper investigation of the range of issues present in the Pacific. Key findings were that adaptive capacity was enhanced by strong informal communication and relationships as well as formal relationships, appropriate participation of traditional leaders and churches, and recognition and support for the critical role national disaster management offices play in disaster coordination. Adaptive capacity was found to be constrained by lack of clear policies for requesting international assistance, lack of coordinated disaster assessments, and limited human resources for health in disaster response. Limitations in psychosocial support and Australian medical services to meet specific needs were observed. Finally, the research revealed that both Pacific and Australian disaster-response agencies would benefit from a strengthened ‘future’ focus to better plan for uncertainty and changing risks

Soft-Wall Stabilization

We propose a general class of five-dimensional soft-wall models with AdS metric near the ultraviolet brane and four-dimensional Poincar\'e invariance, where the infrared scale is determined dynamically. A large UV/IR hierarchy can be generated without any fine-tuning, thus solving the electroweak/Planck scale hierarchy problem. Generically, the spectrum of fluctuations is discrete with a level spacing (mass gap) provided by the inverse length of the wall, similar to RS1 models with Standard Model fields propagating in the bulk. Moreover two particularly interesting cases arise. They can describe: (a) a theory with a continuous spectrum above the mass gap which can model unparticles corresponding to operators of a CFT where the conformal symmetry is broken by a mass gap, and; (b) a theory with a discrete spectrum provided by linear Regge trajectories as in AdS/QCD models.Comment: 27 pages, 6 figures, 1 table. v2: references added, version to appear in NJP Focus Issue on Extra Dimension

DFM synthesis approach based on product-process interface modelling. Application to the peen forming process.

Engineering design approach are curently CAD-centred design process. Manufacturing information is selected and assessed very late in the design process and above all as a reactive task instead of being proactive to lead the design choices. DFM appraoches are therefore assesment methods that compare several design alternatives and not real design approaches at all. Main added value of this research work concerns the use of a product-process interface model to jointly manage both the product and the manufacturing data in a proactive DFM way. The DFM synthesis approach and the interface model are presented via the description of the DFM software platform

The influence of design methods on the design process: Effect of use of scenario, brainstorming, and synectics on designing

Institute for Advanced Studies This paper presents the results of protocol analyses of collaborative design sessions to examine whether the use of different design methods influences the design process. Nine collaborative design sessions using brainstorming, scenario, synectics were analyzed using the function-behavior-structure ontology. The frequencies and distributions of percentages of design issues and design processes were statistically analyzed to determine differences in the design processes caused by the use of different design methods. The results indicate that the use of different design methods influences the design process and the differences appear early on in the design sessions. Brainstorming was more oriented toward functional thinking. Scenario was more oriented towards the design of customer-oriented products by simulating various expected behaviors in context. Synectics was more oriented towards the thinking of product structures and their combination. When dividing the design sessions into three sections, it was found that the influences of the design methods were most pronounced in the early design stage of the conceptual design process. This research contributes to a better understanding of the use of design methods from a design cognition point of view

Surveying rip current survivors: Preliminary insights into the experiences of being caught in rip currents

This paper begins a process of addressing a significant gap in knowledge about people's responses to being caught in rip currents. While rip currents are the primary hazard facing recreational ocean swimmers in Australia, debate exists about the best advice to give swimmers caught in rip currents. Such surf rescue advice - on what to do and how to respond when caught in a rip - relies on empirical evidence. However, at present, knowledge about swimmers reactions and responses to rip currents is limited. This gap is a considerable barrier to providing effective advice to beach goers and to understanding how this advice is utilised (or not) when actually caught in the rip current. This paper reports the findings of a pilot study that focussed on garnering a better understanding of swimmers' experiences when caught in rip currents. A large scale questionnaire survey instrument generated data about rip current survivors' demographics, knowledge of beach safety and their reactions and responses when caught in a rip current. A mix of online and paper surveys produced a total of 671 completed surveys. Respondents were predominantly an informed group in terms of rip current knowledge, beach experience and had a high self-rated swimming ability. Preliminary insights from the survey show that most respondents recalled a "swim across the rip/parallel to the beach" message when caught in the rip and most escaped unassisted by acting on this message. However, while nearly a quarter of respondents recalled a message of "not to panic", short answer responses revealed that the onset of panic inhibited some respondents from recalling or enacting any other type of beach safety message when caught in the rip current. Results also showed that despite the research sample being younger, competent and frequent ocean swimmers, they were more likely to swim at unpatrolled beaches and outside of the red and yellow safety flags. Moreover, they were still caught in a rip current and they panicked. The findings of this study have significant implications for a range of demographic groups of differing beach safety knowledge and swimming ability who may be caught in rip currents behave, we know very little about how beach goers may respond to being caught in them. © 2012 Author(s)