Gibrat's Law: are the services different?

Several noted surveys on intra-industry dynamics have recently reached the conclusion from a large body of evidence that Gibrat's Law does not hold. However, almost all of these studies have been based on manufacturing. There are compelling reasons to doubt whether these findings hold for the services. In this paper we examine whether the basic tenet underlying Gibrat's Law - that growth rates are independent of firm size - can be rejected for the services as it has been for manufacturing. Based on a large sample of Dutch firms the evidence suggests that growth rates are, in fact, independent of firm size. Validation of Gibrat's Law in the services suggests that the dynamics of industrial organisation for services may not simply mirror that for manufacturing

Partial Wave Analyses of the pp data alone and of the np data alone

We present results of the Nijmegen partial-wave analyses of all NN scattering data below Tlab = 500 MeV. We have been able to extract for the first time the important np phase shifts for both I = 0 and I = 1 from the np scattering data alone. This allows us to study the charge independence breaking between the pp and np I = 1 phases. In our analyses we obtain for the pp data chi^2_{min}/Ndf = 1.13 and for the np data chi^2_{min}/Ndf = 1.12.Comment: Report THEF-NYM 94.04, 4 pages LaTeX, one PostScript figure appended. Contribution to the 14th Few-Body Conference, May 26 - 31, Williamsburg, V

Perceptions of labour pain management of Dutch primary care midwives : a focus group study

Background: Labour pain is a major concern for women, their partners and maternity health care professionals. However, little is known about Dutch midwives' perceptions of working with women experiencing labour pain. The aim of this study was to explore midwives' perceptions of supporting women in dealing with pain during labour. Methods: We conducted a qualitative focus group study with four focus groups, including a total of 23 midwives from 23 midwifery practices across the country. Purposive sampling was used to select the practices. The constant comparison method of Glaser and Straus (1967, ren. 1995) was used to gain an understanding of midwives' perceptions regarding labour pain management. Results: We found two main themes. The first theme concerned the midwives' experienced professional role conflict, which was reflected in their approach of labour pain management along a spectrum from "working with pain" to a "pain relief" approach. The second theme identified situational factors, including time constraints; discontinuity of care; role of the partner; and various cultural influences, that altered the context in which care was provided and how midwives saw their professional role. Conclusion: Midwives felt challenged by the need to balance their professional attitude towards normal birth and labour pain, which favours working with pain, with the shift in society towards a wider acceptance of pharmacological pain management during labour. This shift compelled them to redefine their professional identity

Longitudinal velocity and road slope estimation in hybrid electric vehicles employing early detection of excessive wheel slip

Vehicle speed is one of the important quantities in vehicle dynamics control. Estimation of the slope angle is in turn a necessity for correct dead reckoning from vehicle acceleration. In the present work, estimation of vehicle speed is applied to a hybrid vehicle with an electric motor on the rear axle and a combustion engine on the front axle. The wheel torque information, provided by electric motor, is used to early detect excessive wheel slip and improve the accuracy of the estimate. A best-wheel selection approach is applied as the observation variable of a Kalman filter which reduces the influence of slipping wheels as well as reducing the computational effort. The performance of the proposed algorithm is illustrated on a test data recorded at a winter test ground with excellent results, even for extreme conditions such as when all four wheels are spinning

Satisfaction with caregivers during labour among low risk women in the Netherlands : the association with planned place of birth and transfer of care during labour

Background: The caregiver has an important influence on women's birth experiences. When transfer of care during labour is necessary, care is handed over from one caregiver to the other, and this might influence satisfaction with care. It is speculated that satisfaction with care is affected in particular for women who need to be transferred from home to hospital. We examined the level of satisfaction with the caregiver among women with planned home versus planned hospital birth in midwife-led care. Methods: We used data from the prospective multicentre DELIVER (Data EersteLIjns VERloskunde) cohort-study, conducted in 2009 and 2010 in the Netherlands. Women filled in a postpartum questionnaire which contained elements of the Consumer Quality index. This instrument measures 'general rate of satisfaction with the caregiver' (scale from 1 to 10, with cut-off of below 9) and 'quality of treatment by the caregiver' (containing 7 items on a 4 point Likert scale, with cut-off of mean of 4 or lower). Results: Women who planned a home birth (n = 1372) significantly more often rated 'quality of treatment by caregiver' high than women who planned a hospital birth (n = 829). Primiparous women who planned a home birth significantly more often had a high rate (9 or 10) for 'general satisfaction with caregiver' (adj.OR 1.48; 95% CI 1.1, 2.0). Also, primiparous women who planned a home birth and had care transferred during labour (331/553; 60%) significantly more often had a high rate (9 or 10) for 'general satisfaction' compared to those who planned a hospital birth and who had care transferred (1.44; 1.0-2.1). Furthermore, they significantly more often rated 'quality of treatment by caregiver' high, than 276/414 (67%) primiparous women who planned a hospital birth and who had care transferred (1.65; 1.2-2.3). No differences were observed for multiparous women who had planned home or hospital birth and who had care transferred. Conclusions: Planning home birth is associated to a good experience of quality of care by the caregiver. Transferred planned home birth compared to a transferred planned hospital birth does not lead to a more negative experience of care received from the caregiver

Expanding the clinical spectrum of 3-phosphoglycerate dehydrogenase deficiency

3-Phosphoglycerate dehydrogenase (3-PGDH) deficiency is considered to be a rare cause of congenital microcephaly, infantile onset of intractable seizures and severe psychomotor retardation. Here, we report for the first time a very mild form of genetically confirmed 3-PGDH deficiency in two siblings with juvenile onset of absence seizures and mild developmental delay. Amino acid analysis showed serine values in CSF and plasma identical to what is observed in the severe infantile form. Both patients responded favourably to relatively low dosages of serine supplementation with cessation of seizures, normalisation of their EEG abnormalities and improvement of well-being and behaviour. These cases illustrate that 3-PGDH deficiency can present with mild symptoms and should be considered as a treatable disorder in the differential diagnosis of mild developmental delay and seizures. Synopsis: we present a novel mild phenotype in patients with 3-PGDH deficiency

The gene product Murr1 restricts HIV-1 replication in resting CD4(+) lymphocytes

Although human immunodeficiency virus-1 (HIV-1) infects quiescent and proliferating CD4(+) lymphocytes, the virus replicates poorly in resting T cells(1-6). Factors that block viral replication in these cells might help to prolong the asymptomatic phase of HIV infection(7); however, the molecular mechanisms that control this process are not fully understood. Here we show that Murr1, a gene product known previously for its involvement in copper regulation(8,9), inhibits HIV-1 growth in unstimulated CD4(+) T cells. This inhibition was mediated in part through its ability to inhibit basal and cytokine-stimulated nuclear factor (NF)-kappaB activity. Knockdown of Murr1 increased NF-kappaB activity and decreased IkappaB-alpha concentrations by facilitating phospho-IkappaB-alpha degradation by the proteasome. Murr1 was detected in CD4(+) T cells, and RNA-mediated interference of Murr1 in primary resting CD4(+) lymphocytes increased HIV-1 replication. Through its effects on the proteasome, Murr1 acts as a genetic restriction factor that inhibits HIV-1 replication in lymphocytes, which could contribute to the regulation of asymptomatic HIV infection and the progression of AIDS.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/62709/1/nature02171.pd