Effective parenting in terms of language development

This paper discusses means of providing extra support for parents of newly diagnosed hearing impaired children to help with language development.

Achieving satisfactory contractual terms for the engineer's role

An international survey of clients, consultants and contractors produced wide-ranging data on the views of users of the FIDIC form of contract. The purpose of the survey was to elicit views on a range of issues, prior to revising the model form, to ensure that the contract drafters produce a form that is satisfactory for its users. Those questions that focus upon the role of the engineer have been subjected to detailed statistical analysis. The analysis shows that, contrary to popular belief, the views of contract users from common law jurisdictions do not differ from those in civil code jurisdictions. The engineer’s role is not generally perceived as neutral in the contractual relationships between clients and contractors. Contractors would prefer someone other than the engineer to be the first-line settler of disputes in contracts.

On defining base units in terms of fundamental constants

The definitions of the base units of the international system of units have been revised many times since the idea of such an international system was first conceived at the time of the French revolution. The objective today is to define all our units in terms of 'invariants of nature', i.e. by referencing our units to the fundamental constants of physics, or the properties of atoms, rather than the characteristics of our planet or of artefacts. This situation is reviewed, particularly in regard to finding a new definition of the kilogram to replace its present definition in terms of a prototype material artefact.