Research Experience with a Plug-In Hybrid Electric Vehicle: Preprint

This technical document reports on the exploratory research conducted by NREL on PHEV technology using a Toyota Prius that has been converted to a plug-in hybrid electric vehicle. The data includes both controlled dynamometer and on-road test results, particularly for hilly driving. The results highlight the petroleum savings and benefits of PHEV technology

Peer expectations about outstanding competencies of men and women medical students

Men and women enrolled in a combined premedical-medical school programme were asked as they began their clinical training to rate their anticipated competence on sixteen criteria relevant to medical practice. Competence dimensions tapped scientific/technical skills, dedication/commitment, and interpersonal skills. Students then were asked to nominate one classmate whom they expected might be‘the best’in each area. Self-ratings revealed few differences among men and women. Peer nominations, however, revealed a preponderance of male nominees in ten competence areas. Women dominated nominations only in the category of sensitivity to patients. Patterns persisted when peer nominations were controlled for students’academic standing and self-ratings on parallel dimensions. The data suggest that medical school peer groups share expectations about competencies of men and women as physicians which are consistent with generalized sex stereotypes and career patterns of men and women physicians.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/74843/1/1467-9566.ep11340055.pd

From Demographic Transition to Fertility Boom and Bust: Iran in the 1980s and 1990s

Although it is widely recognized that demographic transition is not an uninterrupted process, demographers and population economists have treated short‐term swings in fertility with a measure of curiosity. Iran's experience of population growth after the Revolution in 1979 points to a double paradox of a steep and unprecedented surge in population growth in the 1980s followed by a swift restoration of fertility decline in the 1990s. Both periods have been characterized by extensive socio‐economic and institutional changes combined with radical and far‐reaching sways in Iran's post‐revolutionary population policy. This article applies standardized decomposition analysis to separate out and quantify the proximate components of change in the crude birth rate during these two fertility 'boom' and 'bust' phases. The aim is to ascertain to what extent structural/demographic or behavioural factors can explain the dynamics of change in fertility and population growth in Iran since the late 1970s. Our findings point to a hitherto neglected role of population momentum in initiating the 'Islamic baby boom' as well as a more limited role for population policy in explaining the genesis(rather than the momentum) of both boom and bust phases