Panel data and open-ended questions: Understanding perceptions of quality of life

This paper describes the burgeoning interest in quality of life studies and suggests that as well as expert definitions, we need to consider people’s own perceptions of what matters. Using openended questions from the 1997 and 2002 waves of the British Household Panel Survey we analyse both quantitatively and qualitatively how perceptions of quality of life differ for men and women across the life course. Qualitative analysis reveals that key domains such as health, family and finances often refer, not to self, but to others. Longitudinal analysis demonstrates that people’s perceptions of quality of life change over time, particularly before and after important life transitions. Thus our findings challenge overly individualistic and static conceptions of quality of life and reveal quality of life as a process, not a fixed state

Dynamics and stability of wind turbine generators

Synchronous and induction generators are considered. A comparison is made between wind turbines, steam, and hydro units. The unusual phenomena associated with wind turbines are emphasized. The general control requirements are discussed, as well as various schemes for torsional damping such as speed sensitive stabilizer and blade pitch control. Integration between adjacent wind turbines in a wind farm is also considered

An investigation by practice into the psychological potential of the portrait

The research investigated how do portraits offer insights into the human situation of the sitter and the artists? How does introspection and memory influence and reflect on the artist’s work? The work considers my own history and subjective states, who and what am I through the form of portraiture? The literature used has shown historical examples of portraiture from the cannon of art investigated can reveal psychological understanding of the human condition and how artists explore unconscious drives and impulses through their art. The research methods have been through discourse, observational drawing, photography, etching and prints. Materials used in the print making process and relevant to my practice are indicated in the researcher’s Journal. In conjunction with the research I have interviewed four professional artists and investigated how and why they work in a particular way opening out the interviews onto the broadest questions about their practice. The four artists’ interviewed and the researcher’s own history have been examined with the implication of the research being; that artists having a dialogue, relationship and a sense of connection with the sitter enhanced their work; this had been by offering insights and truths into the situation of the sitters’ and the artists’, the artists’ employing a form of communication about themselves and about their relationships when working. The artists’ expressed thoughts, feelings, tensions and injustice in their work which they had spoken about, the work transformed through the artists’ recollections and emotional states both past and present which they conveyed via pencil, charcoal, brush and paint. Although the samples in the research had been small this research illuminates and advances our understanding of how artists work relaying truths as they see it onto the work and subsequently onto the finished portrait giving us knowledge in a unique and specific way

Cauchy horizon stability in self-similar collapse: scalar radiation

The stability of the Cauchy horizon in spherically symmetric self-similar collapse is studied by determining the flux of scalar radiation impinging on the horizon. This flux is found to be finite.Comment: 10 pages. To appear in Phys Rev

Lake Attitash Management Plan; 2010

Management Plan and Comprehensive Lake Inventory of Lake Attitash in Amesbury/ Merrimac, M