A wide family of singularity-free cosmological models

In this paper a family of non-singular cylindrical perfect fluid cosmologies is derived. The equation of state corresponds to a stiff fluid. The family depends on two independent functions under very simple conditions. A sufficient condition for geodesic completeness is provided.Comment: 7 pages, RevTeX

Direct measurement of diurnal polar motion by ring laser gyroscopes

We report the first direct measurements of the very small effect of forced diurnal polar motion, successfully observed on three of our large ring lasers, which now measure the instantaneous direction of Earth's rotation axis to a precision of 1 part in 10^8 when averaged over a time interval of several hours. Ring laser gyroscopes provide a new viable technique for directly and continuously measuring the position of the instantaneous rotation axis of the Earth and the amplitudes of the Oppolzer modes. In contrast, the space geodetic techniques (VLBI, SLR, GPS, etc.) contain no information about the position of the instantaneous axis of rotation of the Earth, but are sensitive to the complete transformation matrix between the Earth-fixed and inertial reference frame. Further improvements of gyroscopes will provide a powerful new tool for studying the Earth's interior.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures, agu2001.cl

Pesticide Application Research Demonstrated at a Field Day Event

single fungicide was applied through four nozzle-types and four water-carrier volumes targeting a common foliar disease in turfgrass. Most golf course superintendents surveyed use the same nozzle-type for all pesticide applications, but this field study indicated better disease control from the fungicide applied through certain nozzle-types and water-carrier volumes. As a result, most superintendents intended to make improvements to their pesticide application programs, and many had a highly favorable view of including this type of research at future field day events

The AMSC mobile satellite system

The American Mobile Satellite Consortium (AMSC) Mobile Satellite Service (MSS) system is described. AMSC will use three multi-beam satellites to provide L-band MSS coverage to the United States, Canada and Mexico. The AMSC MSS system will have several noteworthy features, including a priority assignment processor that will ensure preemptive access to emergency services, a flexible SCPC channel scheme that will support a wide diversity of services, enlarged system capacity through frequency and orbit reuse, and high effective satellite transmitted power. Each AMSC satellite will make use of 14 MHz (bi-directional) of L-band spectrum. The Ku-band will be used for feeder links

Mobile satellite service in the United States

Mobile satellite service (MSS) has been under development in the United States for more than two decades. The service will soon be provided on a commercial basis by a consortium of eight U.S. companies called the American Mobile Satellite Consortium (AMSC). AMSC will build a three-satellite MSS system that will offer superior performance, reliability and cost effectiveness for organizations requiring mobile communications across the U.S. The development and operation of MSS in North America is being coordinated with Telesat Canada and Mexico. AMSC expects NASA to provide launch services in exchange for capacity on the first AMSC satellite for MSAT-X activities and for government demonstrations

Domestic violence and mental health: a cross-sectional survey of women seeking help from domestic violence support services

Background : Domestic violence and abuse (DVA) are associated with an increased risk of mental illness, but we know little about the mental health of female DVA survivors seeking support from domestic violence services. Objective : To characterize the demography and mental health of women who access specialist DVA services in the United Kingdom and to investigate associations between severity of abuse and measures of mental health and health state utility, accounting for important confounders and moderators. Design : Baseline data on 260 women enrolled in a randomized controlled trial of a psychological intervention for DVA survivors was analyzed. We report prevalence of and associations between mental health status and severity of abuse at the time of recruitment. We used logistic and normal regression models for binary and continuous outcomes, respectively. Mental health measures used were: Clinical Outcomes in Routine Evaluation–Outcome Measure (CORE-OM), Patient Health Questionnaire, Generalized Anxiety Disorder Assessment, and the Posttraumatic Diagnostic Scale (PDS) to measure posttraumatic stress disorder. The Composite Abuse Scale (CAS) measured abuse. Results : Exposure to DVA was high, with a mean CAS score of 56 (SD 34). The mean CORE-OM score was 18 (SD 8) with 76% above the clinical threshold (95% confidence interval: 70–81%). Depression and anxiety levels were high, with means close to clinical thresholds, and all respondents recorded PTSD scores above the clinical threshold. Symptoms of mental illness increased stepwise with increasing severity of DVA. Conclusions : Women DVA survivors who seek support from DVA services have recently experienced high levels of abuse, depression, anxiety, and especially PTSD. Clinicians need to be aware that patients presenting with mental health conditions or symptoms of depression or anxiety may be experiencing or may have experienced DVA. The high psychological morbidity in this population means that trauma-informed psychological support is needed for survivors who seek support from DVA services. Keywords : domestic violence and abuse; intimate partner violence; mental health; posttraumatic stress disorder; anxiety; CORE-OM; depression; women; advocacy (Published: 15 October 2014) Citation : Glob Health Action 2014,  7 : 25519 -  http://dx.doi.org/10.3402/gha.v7.25519 SPECIAL ISSUE : This paper is part of the Special Issue:  Intimate Partner Violence and Mental Health . More papers from this issue can be found at  http://www.globalhealthaction.net SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL : To access the supplementary material for this article, please see  Supplementary files  under Article Tool

Do elephants feel pain and if so, how do we know this?

The objective of this document is to identify the behavior of the academic international production in urban history, from the bibliographical records index-linked in Scopus between 1973 and 2010. We use bibliometric indicators from SCImago Group, applying them to the production in the field of arts and humanities. Afterward, we corroborate the results obtained with the indicators calculated exclusively for 1.098 records of urban history. A geographical concentration is observed in the mechanisms of diffusion, authors and institutional affiliation. Likewise, we identify that over 50% of the works published between 1973 and 2010 have not been used by other authors to create new knowledge.El propósito de este documento es identificar el comportamiento de la producción académica internacional en historia urbana, a partir de los registros bibliográficos indizados en Scopus entre 1973 y 2010. Para ello se emplean indicadores bibliométricos obtenidos de SCImago Group y aplicados a la producción en el área de artes y humanidades. Posteriormente, se contrastan los resultados obtenidos con los indicadores calculados exclusivamente para 1.098 registros de historia urbana. Se evidencia una concentración geográfica en los medios de difusión de los productos del área, los autores y su filiación. Se identifica también que más del 50% de los trabajos realizados entre 1973 y 2010 no ha sido empleado por otro autor para crear nuevo conocimientoO propósito deste documento é identificar o comportamento da produção acadêmica internacional em história urbana, a partir dos registros bibliográficos indexados em Scopus entre 1973 e 2010. Para isso, empregam-se indicadores bibliométricos obtidos de SCImago Group e aplicados à produção na área de artes e humanidades. Posteriormente, se contrastam os resultados obtidos com os indicadores calculados exclusivamente para 1,098 registros de historia urbana. Evidencia-se uma concentração geográfica nos meios de difusão dos produtos da área, os autores e sua filiação. Identifica-se também que mais do 50% dos trabalhos realizados entre 1973 e 2010 não tem sido empregados por outro autor para criar conhecimento novo

Psychological advocacy towards healing (PATH): A randomized controlled trial of a psychological intervention in a domestic violence service setting

Background Experience of domestic violence and abuse (DVA) is associated with mental illness. Advocacy has little effect on mental health outcomes of female DVA survivors and there is uncertainty about the effectiveness of psychological interventions for this population. Objective To test effectiveness of a psychological intervention delivered by advocates to DVA survivors. Design, masking, setting, participants Pragmatic parallel group individually randomized controlled trial of normal DVA advocacy vs. advocacy + psychological intervention. Statistician and researchers blinded to group assignment. Setting: specialist DVA agencies; two UK cities. Participants: Women aged 16 years and older accessing DVA services. Intervention Eight specialist psychological advocacy (SPA) sessions with two follow up sessions. Measurements Primary outcomes at 12 months: depression symptoms (PHQ-9) and psychological distress (CORE-OM). Primary analysis: intention to treat linear (logistic) regression model for continuous (binary) outcomes. Results 263 women recruited (78 in shelter/refuge, 185 in community), 2 withdrew (1 community, control group; 1 intervention, refuge group), 1 was excluded from the study for protocol violation (community, control group), 130 in intervention and 130 in control groups. Recruitment ended June 2013. 12-month follow up: 64%. At 12-month follow up greater improvement in mental health of women in the intervention group. Difference in average CORE-OM score between intervention and control groups: -3.3 points (95% CI -5.5 to -1.2). Difference in average PHQ-9 score between intervention and control group: -2.2 (95% CI -4.1 to -0.3). At 12 months, 35% of the intervention group and 55% of the control group were above the CORE-OM -2clinical threshold (OR 0.32, 95% CI 0.16 to 0.64); 29% of the intervention group and 46% of the control group were above the PHQ-9 clinical threshold (OR 0.41, 95% CI 0.21 to 0.81). Limitations 64% retention at 12 months Conclusions An eight-session psychological intervention delivered by DVA advocates produced clinically relevant improvement in mental health outcomes compared with normal advocacy care. Trial registration ISRCTN registry ISRCTN58561170 Original Research 3675/375

Spark Plug Defects and Tests

The successful operation of the spark plug depends to a large extent on the gas tightness of the plug. Part 1 of this report describes the method used for measuring the gas tightness of aviation spark plugs. Part 2 describes the methods used in testing the electrical conductivity of the insulation material when hot. Part 3 describes the testing of the cold dielectric strength of the insulation material, the resistance to mechanical shock, and the final engine test