This article examines the concept of authoritative knowledge elaborated by Brigitte Jordan, using examples of birthing systems in Mexico, Texas, and Jamaica. We explore the linkages between the distribution of knowledge about birth and the use of technology; the valuation of biomedical and alternative "ways of knowing" about birth; the production of authoritative knowledge through interaction; ...

We examine here the properties of lipid bilayers coupled to deformable substrates. We show that by changing the extent of the substrate hydrophilicity, we can control the membrane-substrate coupling and the response of the bilayer to strain deformation. Our results demonstrate that lipid bilayers coupled to flexible substrates can easily accommodate large strains, form stable protrusions and op...

Biological aging is characterized generally by a reduction in physiological activities and a reduced capacity to respond to environmental change. The molecular basis of adaptation is the biosynthesis and degradation of enzymes and other proteins, as well as modification of their existing biological functions. It follows, therefore, that the susceptibility of certain enzymes to nutritional, horm...

The resilience of any system, human or natural, centres on its capacity to adapt its structure, but not necessarily its function, to a new configuration in response to long-term socio-ecological change. In the long term, therefore, enhancing resilience involves more than simply improving a system's ability to resist an immediate threat or to recover to a stable past state. However, despite the ...

During the past four decades (1960-2000), the United States experienced major transformations in population size, development patterns, economic conditions, and social characteristics. These social, economic, and built-environment changes altered the American hazardscape in profound ways, with more people living in high-hazard areas than ever before. To improve emergency management, it is impor...

one of the ecient and powerful schemes to solve linear and nonlinear equationsis homotopy analysis method (ham). in this work, we obtain the approximate solution ofa system of partial dierential equations (pdes) by means of ham. for this purpose, wedevelop the concept of ham for a system of pdes as a matrix form. then, we prove theconvergence theorem and apply the proposed method to nd the a...

the present investigation entails a procedure by which the surface tension and viscosity of liquids could be redicted.to this end, capillary experiments were performed for porous media by utilizing fifteen different liquids and powders. the time of capillary rise to a certain known height of each liquid in a particular powder was recorded. two artificial neural networks (anns) were designed and...