Fetal Outcomes among Grand Multiparous and Multiparous Women in Mulago Hospital, Uganda

Objective: To compare fetal outcomes among grand multiparous (para 5-9) and multiparous (para 2-4) delivering in Mulago hospital, Uganda.Design: Prospective cohort study.Setting: Mulago hospital, Uganda.Subjects: One hundred and fifty six grand multiparous and multiparous women were recruited on admission in labour ward and followed up through labour and immediate post partum period. Fetal outcomes among the two groups were collected and analyzed.Results: The admissions to SCU were similar in the two groups i.e. 11(7%) GMP vs. 11(7%) MP, the number of fresh still births was higher among the grandmultiparas 13(8.3%) GMP vs. 7(4.5%) MP though this was not statistically significant. The fetal weight did not significantly differ in the two groups.Conclusion: There was no difference in fetal outcomes among GMPs when compared to MPs.Key words: Grand multiparous (GMP), Multiparous (MP), Birth weight,  Special Care Unit (SCU), Apgar score, Fresh Still Birth (FSB)

A Process for Co-Designing Educational Technology Systems for Refugee Children

There is a growing interest in the potential for technology to facilitate emergency education of refugee children. However, designing in this space requires knowledge of the displaced population and the contextual dynamics surrounding it. Design should therefore be informed by both existing research across relevant disciplines, and from the practical experience of those who are on the ground facing the problem in real life. This paper describes a process for designing appropriate technology for these settings. The process draws on literature from emergency education, student engagement and motivation, educational technology, and participatory design. We emphasise a thorough understanding of the problem definition, the nature of the emergency, and of socio-cultural aspects that can inform the design process. We describe how this process was implemented leading to the design of a digital learning space for children living in a refugee camp in Greece. This drew on involving different groups of participants such as social-workers, parents, and children

Infrared Studies of the Onset of Conductivity in Ultra-Thin Pb Films

In this paper we report the first experimental measurement of the infrared conductivity of ultra-thin quenched-condensed Pb films. For dc sheet resistances such that $\omega \tau \ll 1$ the ac conductance increases with frequency but is in disagreement with the predictions of weak localization. We attribute this behavior to the effects of an inhomogeneous granular structure of these films, which is manifested at the very small probing scale of infrared measurements. Our data are consistent with predictions of two-dimensional percolation theory.Comment: Submitted to Physical Review Letter

Effect of granularity on the insulator-superconductor transition in ultrathin Bi films

We have studied the insulator-superconductor transition (IST) by tuning the thickness in quench-condensed $Bi$ films. The resistive transitions of the superconducting films are smooth and can be considered to represent "homogeneous" films. The observation of an IST very close to the quantum resistance for pairs, $R_{\Box}^N \sim h/4e^2$ on several substrates supports this idea. The relevant length scales here are the localization length, and the coherence length. However, at the transition, the localization length is much higher than the superconducting coherence length, contrary to expectation for a "homogeneous" transition. This suggests the invalidity of a purely fermionic model for the transition. Furthermore, the current-voltage characteristics of the superconducting films are hysteretic, and show the films to be granular. The relevant energy scales here are the Josephson coupling energy and the charging energy. However, Josephson coupling energies ($E_J$) and the charging energies ($E_c$) at the IST, they are found to obey the relation $E_J < E_c$. This is again contrary to expectation, for the IST in a granular or inhomogeneous, system. Hence, a purely bosonic picture of the transition is also inconsistent with our observations. We conclude that the IST observed in our experiments may be either an intermediate case between the fermioinc and bosonic mechanisms, or in a regime of charge and vortex dynamics for which a quantitative analysis has not yet been done.Comment: accepted in Physical Review

WHO 2010 infant feeding guidelines in resource-limited settings: attitudes of human immunodeficiency virus-infected women and other role players in Kampala, Uganda

Objective: The objective of the study was to describe the attitudes of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-infected women and other role players towards the World Health Organization (WHO) 2010 infant feeding guidelines.Design: This was formative evaluation research, carried out from September-November 2011.Setting: The study was conducted at Mulago Hospital, Kampala, Uganda.Subjects: Focus group discussions (FGDs) were held among five groups: HIV-infected pregnant women (9), HIV-infected postpartum mothers (10), HIV-infected peers (10), male partners (10), family members of the pregnant women (10) and key informants (12).Outcome measures: Descriptive data were collected through FGDs and key informant interviews.Results: With the exception of male partners, the majority of FGD participants and key informants who were health workers held a positive attitude towards exclusive breastfeeding. The introduction of complementary foods at six months while HIV-infected lactating mother continued to breastfeed was supported by all of the health workers, but by only a minority of participants from each focus group discussion. The majority of FGD participants and the health workers were in favour of an HIV-infected lactating mother taking antiretroviral (ARV) drugs during the breastfeeding period, rather than the infant.Conclusion: Three conclusions can be drawn from this study. Firstly, general attitudes towards the WHO 2010 infant feeding guidelines on exclusive breastfeeding were positive. Secondly, there were still fears about an HIV-infected mother introducing complementary foods at six months while continuing to breastfeed. Thirdly, all of the FGD participants and the majority of the health workers recommended that the mother should take ARV drugs in the lactating period.Keywords: infant feeding, exclusive breastfeeding, HIV-infected lactating mothers, male partners, WHO, resource-limited setting

Thermodynamic Relations in Correlated Systems

Several useful thermodynamic relations are derived for metal-insulator transitions, as generalizations of the Clausius-Clapeyron and Eherenfest theorems. These relations hold in any spatial dimensions and at any temperatures. First, they relate several thermodynamic quantities to the slope of the metal-insulator phase boundary drawn in the plane of the chemical potential and the Coulomb interaction in the phase diagram of the Hubbard model. The relations impose constraints on the critical properties of the Mott transition. These thermodynamic relations are indeed confirmed to be satisfied in the cases of the one- and two-dimensional Hubbard models. One of these relations yields that at the continuous Mott transition with a diverging charge compressibility, the doublon susceptibility also diverges. The constraints on the shapes of the phase boundary containing a first-order metal-insulator transition at finite temperatures are clarified based on the thermodynamic relations. For example, the first-order phase boundary is parallel to the temperature axis asymptotically in the zero temperature limit. The applicability of the thermodynamic relations are not restricted only to the metal-insulator transition of the Hubbard model, but also hold in correlated systems with any types of phases in general. We demonstrate such examples in an extended Hubbard model with intersite Coulomb repulsion containing the charge order phase.Comment: 10 pages, 9 figure

Development of new all-optical signal regeneration technique

All-optical signal regeneration have been the active research area since last decade due to evolution of nonlinear optical signal processing. Existing all-optical signal regeneration techniques are agitated in producing low Bit Error Rate (BER) of 10-10 at below than -10 dBm power received. In this paper, a new all-optical signal regeneration technique is developed by using phase sensitive amplification and designed optical phase locked signal mechanism. The developed all-optical signal regeneration technique is tested for different 10 Gb/s Differential Phase Shift Keying degraded signals. It is determined that the designed all-optical signal regeneration technique is able to provide signal regeneration with noise mitigation for degraded signals. It is analyzed that overall, for all degraded test signals, average BER of 10-13 is achieved at received power of -14 dBm. The designed technique will be helpful to enhance the performance of existing signal regeneration systems in the presence of severe noise by providing minimum BER at low received power

Exact diagonalization study of Mott transition in the Hubbard model on an anisotropic triangular lattice

We study Mott transition in the two-dimensional Hubbard model on an anisotropic triangular lattice. We use the Lanczos exact diagonalization of finite-size clusters up to eighteen sites, and calculate Drude weight, charge gap, double occupancy and spin structure factor. We average these physical quantities over twisted boundary conditions in order to reduce finite-size effects. We find a signature of the Mott transition in the dependence of the Drude weight and/or charge gap on the system size. We also examine the possibility of antiferromagnetic order from the spin structure factor. Combining these information, we propose a ground-state phase diagram which has a nonmagnetic insulating phase between a metallic phase and an insulating phase with antiferromagnetic order. Finally, we compare our results with those reported in the previous theoretical studies, and discuss the possibility of an unconventional insulating state.Comment: 10 pages, 11 figure

Staggered Spin Order of Localized pi-electrons in the Insulating State of the Organic Conductor kappa-BETS)2Mn[N(CN)2]3

Magnetic properties of the conduction pi-electron system of kappa-BETS)2Mn[N(CN)2]3 have been probed using 13C NMR. At ambient pressure, the metal-insulator transition observed in the resistivity measurements below T~23K is shown to be accompanied by ordering of the pi-spins in a long-range staggered structure. As the metal-insulator transition is suppressed by applying a small pressure of ~0.5 kbar, the pi-spin system maintains the properties of the metallic state down to 5K.Comment: 13 pages, 4 figure