Resilience, stress and burnout in student midwives

Background: There is a lack of research on resilience in midwifery, yet this may be a factor that can help prevent burnout and intention to leave the profession. Objectives: To explore the relationship between perceived stress, resilience and burnout and the intention to leave midwifery within Midwifery students. Design: A Quantitative study with a cross-sectional survey design Setting: A London University in the UK. Participants: 150 BSc student midwives, aged between 18 and 44, studying at University participated in this study. This included 72 students in year one, 26 in year two and 52 in year three. Methods: Participants completed the Perceived Stress Scale, the Oldenburg burnout Inventory and the Resilience scale-14 to examine their self-reported stress levels, burnout (emotional exhaustion and disengagement) and level of resilience. Intentions to quit the profession were also measured. Results: All variables were significantly correlated but in multiple regression analyses only stress predicted disengagement, and stress and year of study predicted emotional exhaustion. High stress and reduced resilience predicted intentions to quit midwifery. Resilience did not act as a moderator. Thus the findings suggest that resilience did not protect students from high levels of stress leading to burnout or wanting to quit, although resilience did help to reduce intentions to quit. Conclusion: Student stress levels are not moderated by resilience and resilience played no role in reducing burnout. However, resilience may help students to persevere in the profession rather than leaving their studies. In order to minimise burnout and stress we need to consider alternative ways of enhancing the current workforce to reduce the decline in midwives entering the profession

New methods for stress assessment and monitoring at the workplace

The topic of stress is nowadays a very important one, not only in research but on social life in general. People are increasingly aware of this problem and its consequences at several levels: health, social life, work, quality of life, etc. This resulted in a significant increase in the search for devices and applications to measure and manage stress in real-time. Recent technological and scientific evolution fosters this interest with the development of new methods and approaches. In this paper we survey these new methods for stress assessment, focusing especially on those that are suited for the workplace: one of today’s major sources of stress. We contrast them with more traditional methods and compare them between themselves, evaluating nine characteristics. Given the diversity of methods that exist nowadays, this work facilitates the stakeholders’ decision towards which one to use, based on how much their organization values aspects such as privacy, accuracy, cost-effectiveness or intrusivenes

Dynamic range and mass accuracy of wide-scan direct infusion nanoelectrospray fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometry-based metabolomics increased by the spectral stitching method

Direct infusion nanoelectrospray Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometry (DI nESI FT-ICR MS)offers high mass accuracy and resolution for analyzing complex metabolite mixtures. High dynamic range across a wide mass range, however, can only be achieved at the expense of mass accuracy, since the large numbers of ions entering the ICR detector induce adverse spacecharge effects. Here we report an optimized strategy for wide-scan DI nESI FT-ICR MS that increases dynamic range but maintains high mass accuracy. It comprises the collection if multiple adjacent selected ion monitoring (SIM) windows that are stitched together using novel algorithms. The final SIM-stitching method, derived from several optimization experiments, comprises 21 adjoining SIM windows each of width m/z 30 (from m/z 70 to 500; adjacent windows overlap by m/z 10) with an automated gain control (AGC) target of 1 105 charges. SIMstitching and wide-scan range (WSR; Thermo Electron)were compared using a defined standard to assess mass accuracy and a liver extract to assess peak count and dynamic range. SIM-stitching decreased the maximum mass error by 1.3- and 4.3-fold, and increased the peak count by 5.3- and 1.8-fold, versus WSR (AGC targets of 1 x 105 and 5 x 105, respectively). SIM-stitching achieved an rms mass error of 0.18 ppm and detected over 3000 peaks in liver extract. This novel approach increases metabolome coverage, has very high mass accuracy, and at 5.5 min/sample is conducive for high- throughput metabolomics

Multi-kilowatt single-mode ytterbium-doped large-core fiber laser

We have demonstrated a highly efficient cladding-pumped ytterbium-doped fiber laser, generating >2.1 kW of continuous-wave output power at 1.1 µm with 74% slope efficiency with respect to launched pump power. The beam quality factor (M2) was better than 1.2. The maximum output power was only limited by available pump power, showing no evidence of roll-over even at the highest output power. We present data on how the beam quality depends on the fiber parameter, based on our current and past fiber laser developments. We also discuss the ultimate power-capability of our fiber in terms of thermal management, Raman nonlinear scattering, and material damage, and estimate it to 10 k

Frequency spectrum of gravitational radiation from global hydromagnetic oscillations of a magnetically confined mountain on an accreting neutron star

Recent time-dependent, ideal-magnetohydrodynamic (ideal-MHD) simulations of polar magnetic burial in accreting neutron stars have demonstrated that stable, magnetically confined mountains form at the magnetic poles, emitting gravitational waves at $f_{*}$ (stellar spin frequency) and $2 f_{*}$. Global MHD oscillations of the mountain, whether natural or stochastically driven, act to modulate the gravitational wave signal, creating broad sidebands (full-width half-maximum $\sim 0.2f_*$) in the frequency spectrum around $f_{*}$ and $2 f_{*}$. The oscillations can enhance the signal-to-noise ratio achieved by a long-baseline interferometer with coherent matched filtering by up to 15 per cent, depending on where $f_*$ lies relative to the noise curve minimum. Coherent, multi-detector searches for continuous waves from nonaxisymmetric pulsars should be tailored accordingly.Comment: 4 figures, accepted for publication in Ap

Ultramafic xenoliths from the Bearpaw Mountains, Montana, USA: evidence for multiple metasomatic events in the lithospheric mantle beneath the Wyoming craton

Ultramafic xenoliths in Eocene minettes of the Bearpaw Mountains volcanic field (Montana, USA), derived from the lower lithosphere of the Wyoming craton, can be divided based on textural criteria into tectonite and cumulate groups. The tectonites consist of strongly depleted spinel lherzolites, harzburgites and dunites. Although their mineralogical compositions are generally similar to those of spinel peridotites in off-craton settings, some contain pyroxenes and spinels that have unusually low Al2O3 contents more akin to those found in cratonic spinel peridotites. Furthermore, the tectonite peridotites have whole-rock major element compositions that tend to be significantly more depleted than non-cratonic mantle spinel peridotites (high MgO, low CaO, Al2O3 and TiO2) and resemble those of cratonic mantle. These compositions could have been generated by up to 30% partial melting of an undepleted mantle source. Petrographic evidence suggests that the mantle beneath the Wyoming craton was re-enriched in three ways: (1) by silicate melts that formed mica websterite and clinopyroxenite veins; (2) by growth of phlogopite from K-rich hydrous fluids; (3) by interaction with aqueous fluids to form orthopyroxene porphyroblasts and orthopyroxenite veins. In contrast to their depleted major element compositions, the tectonite peridotites are mostly light rare earth element (LREE)-enriched and show enrichment in fluid-mobile elements such as Cs, Rb, U and Pb on mantle-normalized diagrams. Lack of enrichment in high field strength elements (HFSE; e.g. Nb, Ta, Zr and Hf) suggests that the tectonite peridotites have been metasomatized by a subduction-related fluid. Clinopyroxenes from the tectonite peridotites have distinct U-shaped REE patterns with strong LREE enrichment. They have 143Nd/144Nd values that range from 0·5121 (close to the host minette values) to 0·5107, similar to those of xenoliths from the nearby Highwood Mountains. Foliated mica websterites also have low 143Nd/144Nd values (0·5113) and extremely high 87Sr/86Sr ratios in their constituent phlogopite, indicating an ancient (probably mid-Proterozoic) enrichment. This enriched mantle lithosphere later contributed to the formation of the high-K Eocene host magmas. The cumulate group ranges from clinopyroxene-rich mica peridotites (including abundant mica wehrlites) to mica clinopyroxenites. Most contain >30% phlogopite. Their mineral compositions are similar to those of phenocrysts in the host minettes. Their whole-rock compositions are generally poorer in MgO but richer in incompatible trace elements than those of the tectonite peridotites. Whole-rock trace element patterns are enriched in large ion lithophile elements (LILE; Rb, Cs, U and Pb) and depleted in HFSE (Nb, Ta Zr and Hf) as in the host minettes, and their Sr–Nd isotopic compositions are also identical to those of the minettes. Their clinopyroxenes are LREE-enriched and formed in equilibrium with a LREE-enriched melt closely resembling the minettes. The cumulates therefore represent a much younger magmatic event, related to crystallization at mantle depths of minette magmas in Eocene times, that caused further metasomatic enrichment of the lithosphere

Development of Prediction Relationships for Water Requirements with Irrigation Cooling

A model for predicting leaf temperatures during an off-on mist cycle is presented. The model uses a combination of energy budget and aerodynamic techniques. The model was tested for dry leaf temperature and evapotranspiration predictions using average hourly data from Arizona. The accuracy was good. It was also tested for dry leaf temperature predictions using two to three minute data with a widely varying net radiation. When reasonable values of stomatal resistance were used, the agreement was again good. The model was tested for prediction of wet leaf temperature prediction with a ten minute on, fifty minute off mist irrigation cycle. The agreement was fair when using reasonable input parameters. The poorest predictions were during the mist on cycle

Transferring research from a university to the United Kingdom National Health Service : The implications for impact

This is an Open Access 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. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.The aim of this article is to inform readers of the author's reflections on the experience of transferring universitybased research into the commercial sector, and of the processes and strategies employed when preparing for impact in so doing. Concepts for the transfer are illustrated by the author's reflection on aspects that arose during the birthing and subsequent start-up of a university spin-off, Pathways2Wellbeing, a form of reflection-on-action. This is the vehicle for the adaption required to transfer research into the delivery of a specialised clinic in the United Kingdom National Health Service for people with medically unexplained, persistent, bodily symptoms such as fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue and chronic pain. It is hoped that the article will provide readers with an insight into how knowledge transfer can take place through engagement with stakeholders to create an exchange of knowledges to result in impact on health service policy for service users, despite the challenges, and the enablers that facilitated this process. The reflections on the process of knowledge transfer and the implications for impact are underpinned by relevant theory.Peer reviewedFinal Published versio

Laurentide-Cordilleran Ice Sheet saddle collapse as a contribution to meltwater pulse 1A

The source or sources of meltwater pulse 1A (MWP-1A) at ~14.5 ka, recorded at widely distributed sites as a sea-level rise of ~10-20 m in less than 500 years, is uncertain. A recent ice modeling study of North America and Greenland (Gregoire et al., 2012) has suggested that the collapse of an ice saddle between the Laurentide and Cordilleran Ice Sheets, with a eustatic sea-level equivalent (ESLE) of ~10 m, may have been the dominant contributor to MWP-1A. To test this suggestion, we predict gravitationally self consistent sea-level changes from the Last Glacial Maximum to the present-day associated with the Gregoire et al. (2012) ice model. We find that a combination of the saddle collapse scenario and melting outside North America and Greenland with an ESLE of ~3 m yields sea-level changes across MWP-1A that are consistent with far-field sea-level records at Barbados, Tahiti and Sunda Shelf