Calculating the Fine Structure of a Fabry-Perot Resonator using Spheroidal Wave Functions

A new set of vector solutions to Maxwell's equations based on solutions to the wave equation in spheroidal coordinates allows laser beams to be described beyond the paraxial approximation. Using these solutions allows us to calculate the complete first-order corrections in the short-wavelength limit to eigenmodes and eigenfrequencies in a Fabry-Perot resonator with perfectly conducting mirrors. Experimentally relevant effects are predicted. Modes which are degenerate according to the paraxial approximation are split according to their total angular momentum. This includes a splitting due to coupling between orbital angular momentum and spin angular momentum

Apophis and the Waves - The need for Frequency Coordination and Radio Amateur and University Community Support Before, During, After Close Approach

On Earth most definitely and likely also around the Moon, in the few days centred on Friday, April 13th, 2029, 21:45 UT, every informed and curious naked eye, lens, mirror and dish within the horizon will be aimed at (99942) Apophis for an once-in-a-1000 years opportunity of scientific observations. Most will watch or listen. Many will transmit. Some will get in the way of others. And a few will blast it with all they can - for the best of science. We intend to start the discussion to include the public in the unique observation of Apophis, in particular focusing on the radio amateur community and the need for world-wide coordination to avoid mutual interference

Mode structure and ray dynamics of a parabolic dome microcavity

We consider the wave and ray dynamics of the electromagnetic field in a parabolic dome microcavity. The structure of the fundamental s-wave involves a main lobe in which the electromagnetic field is confined around the focal point in an effective volume of the order of a cubic wavelength, while the modes with finite angular momentum have a structure that avoids the focal area and have correspondingly larger effective volume. The ray dynamics indicates that the fundamental s-wave is robust with respect to small geometrical deformations of the cavity, while the higher order modes are associated with ray chaos and short-lived. We discuss the incidence of these results on the modification of the spontaneous emission dynamics of an emitter placed in such a parabolic dome microcavity.Comment: 50 pages, 17 figure

The Economic Resource Receipt of New Mothers

U.S. federal policies do not provide a universal social safety net of economic support for women during pregnancy or the immediate postpartum period but assume that employment and/or marriage will protect families from poverty. Yet even mothers with considerable human and marital capital may experience disruptions in employment, earnings, and family socioeconomic status postbirth. We use the National Survey of Families and Households to examine the economic resources that mothers with children ages 2 and younger receive postbirth, including employment, spouses, extended family and social network support, and public assistance. Results show that many new mothers receive resources postbirth. Marriage or postbirth employment does not protect new mothers and their families from poverty, but education, race, and the receipt of economic supports from social networks do

New approaches towards sustainability of land-use systems in Tropical Brazil.

The SHIFT-Program ENV 44 tries to maintain soil fertility in the Bragantina area (Pará) by production of mulch material from fallow vegetation. A main focus with respect to sustainability deserves to be agroforestry

Development and validation of a questionnaire to measure moral distress in community pharmacists

The Author(s) 2016. . This article is published with open access at Springerlink.com This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. Jayne L. Astbury, and Cathal T. Gallagher, 'Development and validation of a questionnaire to measure moral distress in community pharmacists', International Journal of Clinical Pharmacy (2017) Vol 39(1): 156-164, first published online on 22 December 2016, the version of record is available on line via doi: 10.1007/s11096-016-0413-3 Funding for this work was provided by Pharmacy Research UK (PRUK).Background Pharmacists work within a highly-regulated occupational sphere, and are bound by strict legal frameworks and codes of professional conduct. This regulatory environment creates the potential for moral distress to occur due to the limitations it places on acting in congruence with moral judgements. Very little research regarding this phenomenon has been undertaken in pharmacy: thus, prominent research gaps have arisen for the development of a robust tool to measure and quantify moral distress experienced in the profession. Objective The aim of this study was to develop an instrument to measure moral distress in community pharmacists. Setting Community pharmacies in the United Kingdom. Method This study adopted a three-phase exploratory sequential mixed-method design. Three semi-structured focus groups were then conducted to allow pharmacists to identify and explore scenarios that cause moral distress. Each of the identified scenarios were developed into a statement, which was paired with twin seven-point Likert scales to measure the frequency and intensity of the distress, respectively. Content validity, reliability, and construct validity were all tested, and the questionnaire was refined. Main outcome measure The successful development of the valid instrument for use in the United Kingdom. Results This research has led to the development of a valid and reliable instrument to measure moral distress in community pharmacists in the UK. The questionnaire has already been distributed to a large sample of community pharmacists. Conclusion Results from this distribution will be used to inform the formulation of coping strategies for dealing with moral distress.Peer reviewedFinal Published versio

Affection, virtue, pleasure, and profit: Developing an understanding of friendship closeness and intimacy in western and Asian societies

The development of friendship understanding has rarely been explored from a cross-cultural perspective. In this study, children and adolescents from Iceland, China, Russia, and the former East Germany were investigated in one longitudinal and three cross-sectional samples. Children from three different Chinese ecologies were interviewed to account for within-culture variation. Participants were interviewed about friendship closeness and intimacy at ages 7, 9, 12, and 15 years. Their statements were scored according to (a) structural-developmental stages and (b) content aspects of friendship reasoning. Results reveal that the development of friendship reasoning of participants from all societies could be captured by the cognitive-structural stages and content categories developed in western cultures. At the same time, distinct cultural differences emerged, especially between the Russian and Chinese participants, on the one hand, and the Icelandic and East German participants, on the other hand. The within-China analyses reveal little differences for the content aspects of friendship understanding between the three ecologies, but differences in the cognitive-structural aspects of friendship reasoning were found. © 2008 The International Society for the Study of Behavioural Development

A Tunable Narrowband Source in the Sub-THz and THz Range at DELTA

At DELTA, a 1.5-GeV electron storage ring operated as a synchrotron light source by the TU Dortmund University, an interaction of ultrashort laser pulses with electron bunches is used to generate broadband as well as tunable narrowband radiation in the frequency range between 75 GHz and 5.6 THz. The performance of the source was studied using two different Fourier-transform spectrometers. It was demonstrated that the source can be used for the characterization and comparison of Schottky-diode based detectors, e.g., an on-chip spectrometer enabling single-shot applications