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There is substantial evidence in the global literature that women have been disproportionately affected by the Covid-19 crisis and associated lockdowns. In this paper, we use five waves of the National Income Dynamics Study - Coronavirus Rapid Mobile Survey (NIDS-CRAM) to track the gendered effects of the pandemic in South Africa during the first year of the crisis. We focus here on the impact in the labour market and on unpaid care work in the home. We find that, relative to men, women were more severely affected in both spheres, yet they benefited less from the government income support provided to unemployed and furloughed workers. The evidence from the NIDS-CRAM survey from the first year of the pandemic therefore suggests that gender inequality in South Africa has risen, undoing some of the gains of the last two decades. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, children have been put at greater risk of school drop-out, as well as food insecurity and emotional health deterioration. This paper considers these issues as they have occurred in South Africa. We use all waves of the National Income Dynamics Study–Coronavirus Rapid Mobile Survey to estimate non-return to school, access to school meals, and household well-being. The number of learners not attending school in 2021 is estimated to be close to quadruple pre-pandemic levels. Combined with estimates of learning lost, we can conclude that the pandemic has worn away at two decades of progress made in basic education. Evidence also indicates that school feeding has been slow to recover to pre-pandemic levels. Deepened levels of household hunger combined with a lack of access to free school meals is indicated to contribute to significantly greater levels of caregiver anxiety and psychological distress. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The regional and cultural closeness of Botswana and South Africa, as well as differences in their political histories and language policy stances, offers a unique opportunity to evaluate the role of language in reading outcomes. This study aims to empirically test the effect of exposure to mother tongue and English instruction on the reading performances of grade 4 students in Botswana and South Africa using the 2011 pre-Progress in International Reading and Literacy Study (prePIRLS) and propensity-reweighted regression adjustment. The empirical findings provide evidence of significant positive effects of earlier and continued exposure to mother tongue instruction. Further attention and research needs to be directed at understanding the implications of language in education policy for achieving additive rather than subtractive bilingualism. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Extensive research has indicated food insecurity to be associated with depressive symptoms, both of which have been indicated to increase globally during the COVID-19 pandemic. Few studies, however, have made use of nationally representative and longitudinal data to investigate this relationship, making causal claims difficult. In South Africa (SA), as with other low- and middle-income contexts, population-based studies have generally focused on mothers during the perinatal period and other vulnerable groups. This study made use of Cross-Lagged Dynamic Panel Models to examine the relationship between household food insecurity and the depressive symptoms of adults across three waves of the National Income Dynamics Survey–Coronavirus Rapid Mobile Survey (NIDS-CRAM) study collected in 2020 and 2021, a dataset nationally representative of all adults in SA in 2017. Stratification of the sample by gender, parenthood and marital statuses allowed for the assessment of gender differences in family roles that might account for differential impacts of food insecurity on mental health outcomes. The findings of this study indicated a significant impact of food insecurity on the depressive symptoms of adults. Controlling for stable trait-like individual differences eliminated much of this relationship, indicating partial or full mediation by unobserved factors. Gender differences in food security's association with depressive symptoms amongst cohabitating parents following the inclusion of individual effects provided support for a gendered role response. These findings provide further evidence of the complex interactions between sex, gender and health. • Food insecurity and depressive symptomology increased in South Africa during the COVID pandemic. • The depressive symptoms of both men and women rise significantly with levels of food insecurity. • Parenthood augments whilst cohabitation buffers the effect of low/very low food insecurity. • Unobservable traits (e.g. gender norms) confound food insecurity's impact on depressive symptoms. • Food insecurity only holds a direct causal relationship with women's depressive symptoms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Optical, infrared and radio (single dish and interferometric) observations of jets and outflows from newly formed stars have helped to improve our understanding of molecular outflows and the outflow/accretion connection. However, once the Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA) is completed, it will provide a significant increase in sensitivity and resolution at millimeter and sub-millimeter wavelengths that will allow astronomers to address critical issues that cannot be explored with established observatories. Of particular importance is that ALMA will recover both extended and compact emission from the large scale molecular cloud and outflows to compact cores and disks. Thus, we will be able to study the detailed kinematics of the outflows, entrainment properties, momentum transfer and feedback, and collimation. I will review our current observational limitations and provide examples of how ALMA will contribute to the study of molecular outflows in star forming regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The reflectance-time profile of AlN-on-Si(111) growth by MOCVD as acquired through an in-situ optical reflectance monitor is analyzed. It is found that, similar to the case of GaN-on-sapphire nucleation and growth through the low temperature GaN or AlN buffer layer techniques, the reflectance profile for AlN-on-Si also contains information that relate to the growth mechanism, which can then be correlated to the as-grown material quality. Based on the equations for the Virtual Interface model, a set of 6 parameters can be used to curve-fit the reflectance traces of AlN growth as acquired by the in-situ optical monitor. By analyzing a range of 405 nm AlN reflectance-time data from single layer AlN growth to multilayer AlN/AlGaN/GaN stack grown on Si(111), the 'goodness of fit' statistics are found to correlate with material quality metrics such as the XRD (002) rocking curve FWHM for AlN, microscopic morphological roughness of the AlN surface, as well as the resultant wafer bow and curvature for GaN/AlGaN grown on the AlN/Si(111) substrate. The correlations provide useful insight into the desirable mechanism and growth mode for the high temperature MOCVD growth of AlN and GaN on Si(111). When fully established, the technique has the potential of being used as an in-situ pass/fail screen for the MOCVD growth of GaN-on-Si. (© 2015 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim) [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present subarcsecond observations toward the massive star-forming region G75.78+0.34. We used the Very Large Array to study the centimeter continuum and H2O and CH3OH maser emission, and the Owens Valley Radio Observatory and Submillimeter Array to study the millimeter continuum and recombination lines (H40α and H30α). We found radio continuum emission at all wavelengths, coming from three components: (1) a cometary ultracompact (UC) Hii region with an electron density ~3.7 × 104 cm-3, excited by a B0 type star, and with no associated dust emission; (2) an almost unresolved UCHii region (EAST), located ~6'' to the east of the cometary UCHii region, with an electron density ~1.3 × 105 cm-3, and associated with a compact dust clump detected at millimeter and mid-infrared wavelengths; and (3) a compact source (CORE), located ~2'' to the southwest of the cometary arc, with a flux density increasing with frequency, and embedded in a dust condensation of 30 M☉. The CORE source is resolved into two compact and unresolved sources which can be well fit by two homogeneous hypercompact Hii regions each one photoionized by a B0.5 zero-age main sequence star, or by free-free radiation from shock-ionized gas resulting from the interaction of a jet/outflow system with the surrounding environment. The spatial distribution and kinematics of water masers close to the CORE-N and S sources, together with excess emission at 4.5μm and the detected dust emission, suggest that the CORE source is a massive protostar driving a jet/outflow. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present high-resolution 1.3mmcontinuum observations of themassive young stellar object S140-IRS1. S140-IRS1 is a disc wind prototype with elongated radio emission (PA ~ 45°) perpendicular to the large-scale CO outflow in the region. The observations taken with the CARMA B array and the Submillimetre Array (SMA) compact configuration correspond to a spatial resolution of 0.3 and 3.0 arcsec, respectively. Complementary 2.7 and 3.5mmdata taken with OVRO in a compact configuration are also discussed. The deconvolved position angle for S140-IRS1 of 37° ±15° is compatible with a disc perpendicular to the main CO outflow and near-infrared monopolar reflection nebula. We have utilized two-dimensional axisymmetric radiative transfer modelling to interpret the millimetre wave emission from S140-IRS1. The model required the addition of a disc component, as the observed image, flux and visibilities cannot be represented solely by a dusty envelope with polar cavities. We report that the highresolution image of S140-IRS1 is consistent with the interpretation of emission from a dust disc in a large-scale envelope with cleared bipolar cavities. Strong continuum emission is also detected in both SMA and OVRO maps from the previously discovered submillimetre source S140-SMM1 and from the infrared source S140-IRS3. Furthermore, S140-SMM1 is identified with maser sources whose proper motions are consistent with being the source of the outflow with position angle ~20° previously associated by some authors with a second outflow created by S140-IRS1. Our findings are consistent with a disc wind interpretation of the radio emission for S140-IRS1 rather than that of a jet. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present high-resolution 1.3 mm continuum observations of the massive young stellar object S140-IRS1. S140-IRS1 is a disc wind prototype with elongated radio emission (PA ∼ 45°) perpendicular to the large-scale CO outflow in the region. The observations taken with the CARMA B array and the Submillimetre Array (SMA) compact configuration correspond to a spatial resolution of 0.3 and 3.0 arcsec, respectively. Complementary 2.7 and 3.5 mm data taken with OVRO in a compact configuration are also discussed. The deconvolved position angle for S140-IRS1 of 37° ±15° is compatible with a disc perpendicular to the main CO outflow and near-infrared monopolar reflection nebula. We have utilized two-dimensional axisymmetric radiative transfer modelling to interpret the millimetre wave emission from S140-IRS1. The model required the addition of a disc component, as the observed image, flux and visibilities cannot be represented solely by a dusty envelope with polar cavities. We report that the high-resolution image of S140-IRS1 is consistent with the interpretation of emission from a dust disc in a large-scale envelope with cleared bipolar cavities. Strong continuum emission is also detected in both SMA and OVRO maps from the previously discovered submillimetre source S140-SMM1 and from the infrared source S140-IRS3. Furthermore, S140-SMM1 is identified with maser sources whose proper motions are consistent with being the source of the outflow with position angle ∼20° previously associated by some authors with a second outflow created by S140-IRS1. Our findings are consistent with a disc wind interpretation of the radio emission for S140-IRS1 rather than that of a jet. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Abstract: Objective: To review the clinical aspects of postpartum hemorrhage (PPH) and provide guidelines to assist clinicians in the prevention and management of PPH. These guidelines are an update from the previous Society of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists of Canada (SOGC) clinical practice guideline on PPH, published in April 2000. Evidence: Medline, PubMed, the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, ACP Journal Club, and BMJ Clinical Evidence were searched for relevant articles, with concentration on randomized controlled trials (RCTs), systematic reviews, and clinical practice guidelines published between 1995 and 2007. Each article was screened for relevance and the full text acquired if determined to be relevant. Each full-text article was critically appraised with use of the Jadad Scale and the levels of evidence definitions of the Canadian Task Force on Preventive Health Care. Values: The quality of evidence was rated with use of the criteria described by the Canadian Task Force on Preventive Health Care. Sponsor: The Society of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists of Canada. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Objective: It is established that patients with bipolar disorder have an excess of births in winter or early spring. The authors investigated a link between season of birth and white matter lesions with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Method: T(2)-weighted and proton density MRI scans were examined for 79 patients with bipolar disorder (DSM-IV) for the presence of deep subcortical and periventricular white matter lesions. The birth seasons of patients with white matter lesions were compared with those of the general population. Results: Thirteen subjects exhibited deep subcortical white matter lesions, of whom nine (69.2%) were born in the winter months (January to March). Seven of these patients remained symptomatic, despite adequate treatment for more than 2 years. Conclusions: Birth season, illness outcome, and deep subcortical white matter lesions appear to be closely linked. Deep subcortical white matter lesions may be a marker of a toxic or infective insult in utero. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]