Precision machining of steel decahedrons

Production of highly accurate decahedron prisms from hardened stainless steel is discussed. Prism is used to check angular alignment of mounting pads of strapdown inertial guidance system. Accuracies obtainable using recommended process and details of operation are described. Photographic illustration of production device is included

Standard Chartered Bank: Women on Corporate Boards in India 2010

This first Standard Chartered Bank: Women on Corporate Boards in India 2010 report looks at the representation of women on the boards of India's leading companies on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE-100) . It ranks the companies in terms of the gender diversity of their boards, with those with the highest percentage of women on their boards appearing at the top. The report also examines the general topic of gender diversity on the boards of the BSE-100 by presenting the findings of interviews with 18 female directors of BSE-100 companies

Early-life neighborhood context, perceived stress, and preterm birth in African American Women.

Stressors from multiple sources, across the life-course, may have independent and joint associations with preterm birth (PTB) risk in African American women. Using data from the Life-course Influences on Fetal Environments Study (LIFE; 2009-2011) of post-partum African American women from Metropolitan Detroit, Michigan (n=1365), we examined the association between perceived stress and PTB, and effect modification by perceptions of early-life neighborhood social control and disorder. We defined PTB as birth before 37 completed weeks of gestation. We used Cohen's Perceived Stress scale, and valid and reliable scales of early-life (age 10) neighborhood social control and social disorder to quantify exposures. We estimated prevalence ratios (PR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) with log binomial regression models- with separate interaction terms for perceived stress and each early-life neighborhood scale. We considered p < 0.10 significant for interaction terms. PTB occurred in 16.4% (n=224) of the study participants. In the total sample, perceived stress was not associated with PTB rates. However, there was suggestive evidence of a joint association between perceived stress and early-life neighborhood social disorder (p for interaction = 0.06), such that among women who reported high early-life neighborhood social disorder (n=660), perceived stress was positively associated with PTB (adjusted PR: 1.31; 95% CI: 1.05, 1.63). There was no association between perceived stress and PTB for women in the low early-life neighborhood social disorder strata (n=651) (adjusted PR: 0.95, 95% CI: 0.75, 1.21). There was no evidence that early-life neighborhood social control modified the association between perceived stress and PTB. Our results suggest that early-life neighborhood stressors may magnify the association between current perceived stress and PTB rates, in African American women. More research to confirm and explicate the biologic and/or psychosocial mechanisms of the reported association is warranted

A ‘hands-off’ intervention: The UK’s approach to increasing women on corporate boards

The paper was originally written as a case study of the UK’s current policy approach to increasing gender diversity on corporate boards. It was presented at an EU forum on ‘Women in economic decision-making’ in Oslo, May 2012. The forum was an exchange of good practice between nineteen countries with one government representative and one academic from each. The UK, Norway and Denmark were given as case studies. The UK government has taken a non-interventionist ‘business-led’ multiple-stakeholder approach, to avert the need for an EU level policy intervening in the form of legislation. The paper assesses the effects so far

Leadership styles of principals in Native schools in Saskatchewan

The purpose of this study was to describe perceptions held for the leadership styles of principals in native schools in Saskatchewan. In describing the leadership styles of principals in native schools, the writer sought principals' own perceptions, the perceptions of their subordinates and the perceptions of their superordinates using the "Situational Leadership Model" developed by Hersey and Blanchard (1982). The study was further designed to describe the leadership styles of principals as they varied according to the principals' demographic variables of training, experience, age and size of school. The population for the study consisted of all the principals, teachers and superintendents in the Saskatchewan native school system. Two questionnaires were utilized: (1) The demographic data sheet which collected information on respondents' training, experience, age, size of school and jurisdictional control, and (2) the Leader Effectiveness and Adaptability Description Questionnaire. The latter consisted of the Lead-Self and the Lead-Other. The Lead-Self gathered information on the principals' own perceptions, while the Lead-Other collected subordinates' and superordinates' perceptions. The findings indicated that responding principals perceived themselves as having a predominant style of Selling (S2), while subordinates and superordinates perceived principals' predominant styles to be Selling (S2) and Participating (S3) respectively. That is, principals and subordinates perceived principals as employing a structured approach to leadership, while principals were perceived by superordinates as utilizing a more democratic approach to leadership. Principals saw themselves as having a limited "style-range" while subordinates and superordinates were consistent in ascribing a wide "style-range" to principals. With respect to demographic variables, principals' leadership styles did not vary markedly in respect to these variables. However, principals with less professional training were perceived to have a more structured style than those principals with more professional training. Regardless of administrative experience, principals saw themselves as having a limited "style-range." Subordinates perceived younger principals to be more democratic in their decision-making process, while older principals were seen as more structured. In respect to size of school, superordinates perceived principals in smaller schools as having a more participative style, while principals, in larger schools were perceived as having a more structured style