Experimental determination of pressure drop and flow characteristics of dilute gas-solid suspensions

Loading ratio, glass particle size, and air Reynolds number effects on pressure drop and flow characteristics of air-solid suspension in turbulent pipe flo

Adult pedestrian behavior when accompanying children on the route to school

Objective: Pedestrian injuries are a major cause of morbidity and mortality to children, especially boys. Adults serve as pedestrian role models and provide learning opportunities for children when walking to school. The research objectives were to investigate adult pedestrian behavior when accompanying boys and girls. Methods: Behavioral observation of 140 adult pedestrians accompanying 4- to 9-year-old children was done in British residential locations. Observations took place at light-controlled crossings, speed-restricted school safety zones, and mid-block unmarked crossing sites. Behaviors observed included stopping at the curb, waiting at the curb, looking left and right before and during road crossing, holding hands, talking, and walking straight across. Results: In general, adults modeled safe road crossing behaviors. Adult safe behavior scores were higher when accompanying girls than when accompanying boys. No statistically significant differences were found by child age group. The fewest safe pedestrian behaviors were observed at light-controlled crossings. Conclusions: Adult pedestrians behave differently when with boys and girls and at different types of road crossing site. Interventions aimed at reducing pedestrian injuries to children may need to take these different everyday experiences into consideration

Modeling the adoption and use of social media by nonprofit organizations

This study examines what drives organizational adoption and use of social media through a model built around four key factors - strategy, capacity, governance, and environment. Using Twitter, Facebook, and other data on 100 large US nonprofit organizations, the model is employed to examine the determinants of three key facets of social media utilization: 1) adoption, 2) frequency of use, and 3) dialogue. We find that organizational strategies, capacities, governance features, and external pressures all play a part in these social media adoption and utilization outcomes. Through its integrated, multi-disciplinary theoretical perspective, this study thus helps foster understanding of which types of organizations are able and willing to adopt and juggle multiple social media accounts, to use those accounts to communicate more frequently with their external publics, and to build relationships with those publics through the sending of dialogic messages.Comment: Seungahn Nah and Gregory D. Saxton. (in press). Modeling the adoption and use of social media by nonprofit organizations. New Media & Society, forthcomin

The relationship between chronic sleep deficits and distractions in young adult drivers

This study reports the relationship between chronic sleep deficits and distractions on driving mistakes in university undergraduates (age 19-23 years). All participants were asked to complete a questionnaire about their sleeping habits and to drive a fixed-base driving simulator housed in a Fiat Cinquencento. Drivers were distracted either by being asked to read a map, operate a radio, take a drink, open a sweet wrapper or discuss with the experimenter (on a mobile phone during the drive).The results showed that drivers had more speed limit exceedances and more road edge excursions when distracted. There was also a significant difference in speed exceedances between participants who had sufficient sleep and those that had a chronic sleep debt. Significant positive correlations were found between speed exceedance and obtaining too little sleep, and between feeling uncomfortable during the day in the distracted drivers. There was also a significant negative correlation between speed exceedances and actual hours of sleep. Even when not distracted, a positive correlation existed between the number of collisions and difficulty in waking up. The results of this study indicate that young drivers with chronic sleep deficits are more likely to make driving errors when distracted

The Measurement of Human Chorionic Gonadotropin for Pregnancy Testing

/Among many measurable hormones, human chorionic gonadotropin (FICG) is commonly used for pregnancy testing because it is very sensitive and relatively specific. Pregnancy can be identified shortly after implantation. Because some reagents cross-react with luteinizing hormone (LH), the sensitivity of urine tests has been adjusted to maintain specificity. Radioreceptor assay s on serum are more sensitive than urine tests but similarly lack specificity. The problems of LH cross-reactivity are eliminated by antisera specific for the beta subunit. Quantitation of HCG provides additional information useful in diagnosing ectopic pregnancy, providing a prognosis in threatened abortion, and following neoplasms. Considerations of cost, availability, accuracy, and sensitivity determine which test should be selected

An S-FSCW Based Multi-Channel Reader System for Beamforming Applications using Surface Acoustic Wave Sensors

Interrogating multiple surface acoustic wave (SAW) sensors located within the same radar beam require techniques to separate the multiple superposing SAW sensor responses. The presented multi-channel reader features four parallel transceiver channels, which are based on the switched frequency-stepped continuous-wave principle and high-speed parallelized baseband electronics. Thus classical beamforming applications including angle of arrival measurement of single SAW tags and the angular separation of multiple SAW sensors are presented and compared to a multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) approach. Due to the larger virtual array in the MIMO approach a larger aperture can be synthesized, which leads to significantly better angular separation results. The level analysis for the given system is verified by baseband-power measurements at different readout distances, considering the hardware parameters as well as the free-space propagation aspects. Finally measurements assess the maximum interrogation distance for the system

‘Spunkles’, Donors, and Fathers: Men, Trans/Masculine and Non-Binary People’s Accounts of Sperm Donors and their Relationships to Children

Across the world, growing numbers of men, trans/masculine and non-binary people are bearing children, some of whom utilise known donor sperm in order to conceive. How this diverse population understand the role of known donors, both in the lead up to conception and in terms of the lives of children conceived of their donations has, to date, received little attention. This chapter focuses on a subsample of nine individuals drawn from a larger international study of 51 men, trans/masculine or non-binary who were gestational parents. The nine participants whose narratives are examined in this chapter all used known donor sperm to conceive, and in their interviews discussed their thoughts about the role of donors in their children’s lives, exploring topics such identifying potential donors, the incorporation (or not) of donors into existing kinship narratives, and the need to create opportunities for children to negotiate their own relationships with donors in the future. The findings highlight the potentially unique social scripting needs of men, trans/masculine and non-binary people who conceive using donor sperm. The chapter concludes by providing suggestions for how this diverse group of people may be assisted in developing scripts for disclosing donor conception to their children, and for negotiating the role of donors in children’s lives in the context of legislatures where such disclosure is required

Embodied Experiences of Trans Pregnancy

Drawing on interview data from the international project Trans Pregnancy: An International Exploration of Transmasculine Practices of Reproduction this article explores embodied experiences of male, trans/masculine and non-binary pregnancy. Moving beyond the spectacle of the ‘pregnant’ man, our analysis builds on existing literature on trans health and embodiment in order to develop a deeper understanding of the lived, bodily complexities of trans pregnancy. We consider the strategies men, trans/masculine and non-binary folks engage in to manage gender presentation during pregnancy and the degree to which pregnancy disrupts the ability to control the presentation of gender. Our analysis contributes to the deconstruction of normative readings of the relationship between gender and the body and highlights the need for improvements in trans and non-binary reproductive healthcare