"Cadism": Odd man out.

Comments that L. B. Silverstein's (see record 1992-05293-001) article on child care and maternal employment contributes unfounded and damaging misbeliefs regarding fathers. The dad-as-cad myth suggests intentional malevolence or at least blatant failure by fathers to care for others, and suggests that their failure to share equally in child care and household management is the primary cause of marital conflict. W. B. Johnson and D. Hayes propose a research agenda for fathering that originates in a coherent model of male development in the context of ever-changing environmental demands. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Border crossing for hospital care and its implications for the use of statewide data

A major concern of researchers using state data sets for population-based analyses and market share studies in the health care sector is the potential bias caused by 'border crossing'--patients receiving care out of state. By using the Health Care Financing Administration (HCFA) discharge abstract files for 1987 and 1988, we found that 'border crossing' is not a serious problem for the two large states we examined. Only 4.4% of New York patients and 2.15% of California patients received care out of state. At the county and zip code level, 'border crossing' is more frequent but tends to be concentrated in areas adjacent to other states. Even excluding all zips with more than 10% of patients crossing the 'border' results in a small loss of patients (2.2% for New York and 1.0% for California).     

Polymerase chain reaction versus culture for detection of Ureaplasma urealyticum and Mycoplasma hominis in the urogenital tract of adults and the respiratory tract of newborns

The efficiency of the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was compared with that of culture for detection of Ureaplasma urealyticum and Mycoplasma hominis in 726 clinical specimens comprising 189 gynecological samples, 362 urological samples, and 175 samples from newborn infants. The sensitivity of PCR versus culture was 95% for both organisms, while the sensitivity of culture versus PCR was 91% for Ureaplasma urealyticum and 84% for Mycoplasma hominis. Furthermore, PCR tests were faster than culture tests, allowing the time to diagnosis to be reduced from two to five days to 24 h.     

Colour image detection and matching using modified generalisedHough transform

A new approach to 2-dimensional (2D) colour-image detection and matching using a modified version of the generalised Hough transform (GHT) is proposed. In the conventional GHT, the useful colour information existing in the input image and the relationship between each pixel and its neighbourhood are not used. Furthermore, lighting changes in the image are not usually considered. Therefore, the conventional GHT is seldom applied to colour images. In the proposed approach, lighting are removed using normalised colour values. Next, certain critical pixels of an input colour image whose neighbourhoods have larger variances of normalised colour values are extracted. For each critical pixel, a feature vector, which includes the normalised colour values of the pixel as well as those of the pixel's neighbours, is then constructed. A modified voting rule for the GHT is therefore proposed which is based on a similarity-measure function of the feature vectors. High maximum peaks in the cell array are searched finally as the result. The proposed method is robust for colour-image detection and matching in noisy, occlusive, and lighting-change environments, as demonstrated by experimental results     

Statistical studies of branched ester latex and paint properties

Vinyl versatate, butyl acrylate and 2-ethylhexyl acrylate were compared as comonomer, for colloid-stabilized vinyl acetate latex polymers to assess their impact on latex coating properties. Vinyl versatate afforded advantages in scrub resistance, gloss, hydrophobicity and higher glass transition temperatures. Butyl acrylate developed better wet adhesion efficiency, gel content and hiding efficiency. 2-Ethylhexyl acrylate offered performance comparable to butyl acrylate in hiding efficiency, lowering copolymer glass transition temperatures, and gloss development. Combinations of these monomers, in many instances, afforded a better balance of performance properties than individual monomers alone. In the subject study, a simplex-centroid design was utilized to statistically map polymer compositions for determining the effect of comonomer composition on latex and paint film properties. In addition to developing contour maps of polymer and paint properties as a function of composition, a technique for studying structure-property relationships is presented.     

Immigrants and health: unemployment and health-risks of labour migrants in the Federal Republic of Germany, 1984-1992

This article presents a longitudinal study of employment, unemployment and health of migrant workers in Germany. The analyses were conducted with longitudinal samples of the waves 1-6 (1984-1989) and the waves 6-9 (1989-1992) of the German Socio-Economic Panel (GSOEP). German and migrant workers did not respect to their health satisfaction but unemployed foreign workers were quite less satisfied with their health than unemployed Germans. This corresponded with a high percentage of foreign unemployed (30-50%) who felt chronically ill. A further examination of two (dichotomously formulated) principal investigation hypotheses could not show that the data support the explanation that the poorer health of unemployed migrants was caused by the unemployment situation. The results are interpreted in the way that the unemployed migrants' poorer health can be explained with (health) selection processes in the labour market.     

Reduction of loading effect by tungsten etchback in a magneticallyenhanced reactive ion etcher

The plug loading effect occurring during the etchback of tungsten was investigated in a magnetically enhanced reactive ion etcher using SF ₆/Ar mixtures. It was found that while the plug loading effect is independent of varying SF₆/Ar flow rate ratio and magnetic field intensity, it is reduced under the condition of high selectivity of tungsten relative to TiN which was achieved at high chamber pressure and low RF power. It is proposed that when TiN is used as a glue layer, the W etch rate enhancement in the plug is mainly controlled by a local loading effect. Under the optimized etchback conditions the plug loss was successfully controlled without the tungsten residue left on severe topology     

Jitter reduction through feedback for picosecond pulsed InGaAsPlasers

Following a comparison of picosecond-pulse generation techniques, feedback schemes are reported for the generation of picosecond pulse trains with improved jitter for both multicontact and conventional single-contact InGaAsP-InP lasers. Subpicosecond jitter is achieved for Q-switched laser sources using a novel optoelectronic feedback scheme. The use of resonant electrical feedback is shown to improve the timing jitter of gain-switched pulses by up to six times. Pulse-to-pulse timing jitter as low as 250 fs is demonstrated for a hybrid of optical and electrical feedback schemes. Limits for timing jitter in diode lasers are established for optoelectronic, electrical, and optical feedback schemes, and the key picosecond pulse generation schemes are compared in terms of timing jitter for the first time     

Growth structure investigation of MgF2 and NdF3 films grown by molecular beam deposition on CaF2(111) substrates

The growth structure of MgF₂ and NdF₃ films grown on polished CaF₂(111) substrates deposited by molecular beam deposition has been investigated using transmission electron microscopy (TEM) of microfractographical and surface replications as well as cross-sectional TEM, atomic force microscopy, packing density, and absorption measurements. It has been shown that by taking advantage of ultrahigh vacuum environments and a special stratification property of MgF₂ and NdF₃ films, the preparation of nanocrystalline films of high packing density and low optical absorption is possible at a substrate temperature of 425 K.     

Degradation of NiCr/CuNiMn/NiCr films on alumina substrates

This paper addresses the aging behaviour of NiCr/CuNiMn/NiCr triple layers on Al₂O₃ ceramics at temperatures up to 200°C for film thicknesses d0.5 μm. Investigations of the film structure and the increase of resistance and its temperature coefficient during the annealing process and studies of the dependence of this aging drift on both the film thickness and the storage temperature have been carried out. Furthermore, the film stress and the effect of substrate bending on resistance have been measured. The results can be explained by the irregular film structure (columns and small bridges between them), which causes stress and current concentrations as well as local creeping, cracking and oxidation processes in the micro-bridges. They are compared with such for structurally homogeneous films on silicon wafers.