Social exclusion of Australian childless women in their reproductive years

Research suggests Australian childless women are at risk of pronatalism-driven social exclusion. This exploratory, mixed methods, cross-sectional study described and explored the social exclusion of Australian childless women aged 25 to 44 years, and asked: what are the nature and extent of social exclusion of childless women; and do the nature and extent of exclusion vary for different types of childless women? A total of 776 childless female Australian residents aged 25 to 44 years completed a self-administered questionnaire. Quantitative data were collected on childlessness types, indicators of exclusion and perceived stigmatisation and exclusion due to being childless. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics, One Way ANOVAs and Kruskal Wallis Analysis of Ranks. Qualitative data on childless women’s experiences were inductively thematically analysed. Findings suggest societal-level pronatalism drives exclusion of Australian childless women. While exclusion occurs in all domains of life, childless women experience more exclusion, and perceive more exclusion due to being childless, in the social and civic domains than the service and economic domains. Circumstantially and involuntarily childless women, followed by voluntarily childless women, perceive more exclusion due to being childless than undecided and future childed women. Experiences are influenced by the nature of women’s ‘deviance’ from pronatalism

Behavioral sleep problems and their potential impact on developing executive function in children

Bedtime resistance and night waking are common sleep problems throughout childhood, especially in the early years. These sleep problems may lead to difficulties in neurobehavioral functioning, but most research into childhood sleep problems has not emphasized the importance of the developmental context in which disruptions in neurobehavioral and daytime functioning occur. We review the development of sleep as well as executive functioning (EF) in childhood and suggest that EF may be particularly vulnerable to the effects of these common childhood sleep problems because of its prolonged course of maturation. Behavioral problems associated with common sleep problems suggest poor self-regulation in the context of sleep loss, and developing EF skills play important roles in self-regulation. A research agenda that considers a developmental approach to sleep and sleep problems in the context of childhood EF performance is outlined to promote future research in this area

Inclusive Policy? An Intersectional Analysis of Policy Influencing Women's Reproductive Decision‐Making

Policy can be used and experienced as a tool for social inclusion or exclusion; it can empower or disenfranchise. Women’s reproductive decision‐making and health is impacted by policy, and women’s experiences of diverse and intersecting marginalised social locations can influence their experiences of policy. This research aimed to explore how intersectionality is considered within Victorian state government policies that influence and impact women’s reproductive decision-making. A systematic search of Victorian (Australia) government policy instruments was undertaken, identifying twenty policy instruments. Policies were analysed using an intersectional policy analysis framework using a two‐stage process involving deductive coding into the domains of the framework, followed by inductive thematic analysis within and across domains. Findings reveal inconsistencies within and across policies in how they consider intersecting social relations of power in the representation of problems, women's positionings, policy impacts, and policy solutions. These gaps could exclude and marginalise individuals and groups and contribute to systemic inequities in women’s reproductive decision-making and the outcomes of those decisions, particularly among already marginalised groups. The lack of women's voices in policy further excludes and marginalises those impacted by the policy and limits the representation of all women in policy. Policy development needs to meaningfully involve women with diverse and intersecting marginalised social locations, and critical reflexivity of all stakeholders, to ensure policies can better account for the experiences of, and impacts upon, women who are marginalised and effect change to promote social inclusion and equity in women’s reproductive decision‐making

Low-threshold organic laser based on an oligofluorene truxene with low optical losses

A blue-emitting distributed feedback laser based on a star-shaped oligofluorene truxene molecule is presented. The gain, loss, refractive index, and (lack of) anisotropy are measured by amplified spontaneous emission and variable-angle ellipsometry. The waveguide losses are very low for an organic semiconductor gain medium, particularly for a neat film. The results suggest that truxenes are promising for reducing loss, a key parameter in the operation of organic semiconductor lasers. Distributed feedback lasers fabricated from solution by spin-coating show a low lasing threshold of 270 W/cm(2) and broad tunability across 25 nm in the blue part of the spectrum

Green perovskite distributed feedback lasers

This work was supported by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) of the UK Grants; EP/K503162/1, EP/M506631/1, EP/M025330/1 and EP/L017008/1. IDWS acknowledges funding from a Royal Society Wolfson research merit award.A visible perovskite distributed feedback laser is fabricated for the first time. Through the use of nanocrystal pinning, highly luminescent methylammonium lead bromide films are used to produce stable lasers emitting at 550 nm, with a low threshold of 6 µJcm−2. The lasers were able to support multiple polarisations, and could be switched between transverse magnetic and transverse electric mode operation through simple tuning of the distributed feedback grating period.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

Organic solar cells as high-speed data detectors for visible light communication

Funding: Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) (EP/I00243X, EP/K00042X/1, EP/K008757/1).We show that solar cells, widely used in portable devices for power generation, can simultaneously extract a high-speed data signal in an optical wireless communication link. This Letter reports, to the best of our knowledge, the first use of an organic solar cell as an energy-harvesting receiver for visible light communications (VLCs). While generating maximum power in the cell, the communication link can deliver a data rate of 34.2 Mbps with a bit error rate of 4.08 x 10(-4) using an implementation of orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing. This approach could lead to printed optical data receivers in future eco-friendly VLC systems. Simultaneous functions of data communication and energy harvesting have great implications for the connectivity of future smart devices, many of which could become self-powered units as part of the "Internet of Things."PostprintPeer reviewe

Electrically driven organic laser using integrated OLED pumping

Funding: Authors thank the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council of the UK for the financial support from grants EP/R035164/1, EP/R03480X/1 and EP/L017008/1. J.G. thanks the China Scholarship Council (grant no. 201806100005) for financial support.Organic semiconductors are carbon-based materials that combine optoelectronic properties with simple fabrication and the scope for tuning by changing their chemical structure1,2,3. They have been successfully used to make organic light-emitting diodes2,4,5 (OLEDs, now widely found in mobile phone displays and televisions), solar cells1, transistors6 and sensors7. However, making electrically driven organic semiconductor lasers is very challenging8,9. It is difficult because organic semiconductors typically support only low current densities, suffer substantial absorption from injected charges and triplets, and have additional losses due to contacts10,11. In short, injecting charges into the gain medium leads to intolerable losses. Here we take an alternative approach in which charge injection and lasing are spatially separated, thereby greatly reducing losses. We achieve this by developing an integrated device structure that efficiently couples an OLED, with exceptionally high internal-light generation, with a polymer distributed feedback laser. Under the electrical driving of the integrated structure, we observe a threshold in light output versus drive current, with a narrow emission spectrum and the formation of a beam above the threshold. These observations confirm lasing. Our results provide an organic electronic device that has not been previously demonstrated, and show that indirect electrical pumping by an OLED is a very effective way of realizing an electrically driven organic semiconductor laser. This provides an approach to visible lasers that could see applications in spectroscopy, metrology and sensing.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

Advances in optical sensing of explosive vapours

This project has received funding from the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme for research, technological development and demonstration under agreement no 284747, and the EPSRC under EP/K503940/1, EP/K503162/1, and EP/N509759/1. IDWS acknowledges a Royal Society Wolfson Research Merit Award.Optical techniques for the detection of explosives are receiving increasing interest due to potentially fast responding, highly-sensitive systems. Conjugated polymers are suitable probe materials for this application since their fluorescence is quenched by electronegative materials including explosives. This can be used to make a sensor for explosive vapour, which can then give chemical information to help identify explosive devices, and complements other approaches such as metal detectors and ground penetrating radar. Whilst the principle has been known for some time, its practical implementation requires considerable development of instrumentation and materials, including preconcentration materials. This paper reports our current efforts to address these challenges, with particular emphasis on humanitarian demining and looking towards application in Improvised Explosive Device (IED) detection.Publisher PD

High-Bandwidth Organic Light Emitting Diodes for Ultra-Low Cost Visible Light Communication Links

Visible light communications (VLC) have attracted considerable interest in recent years due to an increasing need for data communication links in home and enterprise environments. Organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) are widely used in display applications owing to their high brightness, high quality colour-rending capability and low cost. As a result, they are attractive candidates for the implementation of ultra-low cost visible light optical links in free-space and guided-wave communications. However, OLEDs need to exhibit a bandwidth of at least ~MHz to be able to support the modest data rates (~Mbps) required in these applications. Although fluorescent OLEDs typically exhibit shorter photon lifetimes than inorganic LEDs, the bandwidth performance of the large size OLEDs used in display applications are limited by their electrical characteristics. In this work, we present a detailed physical simulation that describes well the performance of fast OLED devices that exhibit significant -3 dB bandwidths (f-3dB) of 44 MHz obtained for a 0.12 mm2 device. It is demonstrated that the reduction of the device size results in a significant bandwidth improvement due primarily to a reduction in parasitic capacitance of the devices, though this is counteracted by carrier dynamic effects. The model provides an insight into the basic physical properties of the OLED and may be used for optimisation of future generations of OLED devices.EPSRC EP/K00042X/1 EPSRC Studentship 146672

Perceptions Of School By Two Teenage Boys With Asperger Syndrome And Their Mothers: A Qualitative Study

This qualitative study aimed to develop an understanding of the challenges faced by teenage boys with Asperger syndrome and their mothers. A case study approach was used to collect data from two 13-year-old boys who have Asperger syndrome and their mothers in Queensland, Australia. Data were collected through the use of semi¬structured interviews. The words of the boys and their mothers provide a valuable insight into the personal experiences and feelings of the par¬ticipants. An inductive approach to data analysis identified four themes: (1) developmental differences; (2) problems associated with the general characteristics of Asperger syndrome (i.e. communication and social difficulties, restricted range of interests, a need for routine); (3) stress; and (4) 'masquerading'. The first three themes relate strongly to the current literature, but the emergence of masquerading is of particular interest in developing a fuller understanding of the experiences of individuals with Asperger syndrome at school