Application of Monte Carlo-based statistical significance determinations to the Beta Cephei stars V400 Car, V401 Car, V403 Car and V405 Car

We have used Lomb-Scargle periodogram analysis and Monte Carlo significance tests to detect periodicities above the 3-sigma level in the Beta Cephei stars V400 Car, V401 Car, V403 Car and V405 Car. These methods produce six previously unreported periodicities in the expected frequency range of excited pulsations: one in V400 Car, three in V401 Car, one in V403 Car and one in V405 Car. One of these six frequencies is significant above the 4-sigma level. We provide statistical significances for all of the periodicities found in these four stars.Comment: 11 pages, 17 figure

Assessing and serving families and communities responsibly: challenges posed in an urban, marginalised setting

Service provision to families and communities has long been recognised as a complex undertaking involving a multiplicity of role players and systems of care. Systems theory and ecological theory provide useful frameworks for understanding and servicing families and communities, yet there is a clear absence of literature and research on how to converge microsystemic with macrosystemic interventions. Using Rojano\'s1 community family therapy model, which is applicable to South American communities, and Kasiram and Oliphant\'s2 strategies for changing traditional family therapy to suit broader contexts in South Africa, the authors used developmental research within a qualitative framework to develop an indigenous community family therapy model in an urban setting in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. The authors utilised nursing students as fieldworkers and service providers in this study. The research process involved several steps: a state-of-the-art review of the family and community, achieved through an assessment of the family and community through community profiling and an epidemiological study of the community; family assessment of families with one child under the age of five years; best practice and model development to intervene at the family and community levels, achieved with the help of community and school meetings and workshops to identify and prioritise needs and problems, followed by bio-psychosocial interventions; refining the model achieved by an evaluation of the interventions through report assessment and on-site assessment and recommending model adjustments based on the evaluation. In designing a community family therapy model, the state-of-the-art review of community needs established several core issues requiring services/interventions. These were problems relating to HIV/AIDS; a lack of knowledge of the immunisation programme in South Africa and of the Road to Health chart; teenage pregnancy and its relationship to risky behaviours, HIV/AIDS, poverty and crime; and a lack of communication within the family. The development of the model involved determining interventions with families and the community, using macrosystemic approaches, such as community meetings and workshops, where priorities were established and joint strategies were planned to address the identified problems. Individual and small-group discussions enriched the understanding of problems/needs, which, combined with macrosystemic approaches such as media coverage and community meetings and workshop/events, worked in synchrony to effectively assess and then service the families and communities. The goal of developing a community family therapy model was achieved. Combining microsystemic and macrosystemic approaches to assess and serve families and communities is particularly helpful in the face of apathy. However, once momentum is achieved in securing a community spirit, it needs to be sustained or else it is lost and may require more effort to reclaim in the future. Thus, if services are provided by educational institutions, it would be in the best interests of both future students and the community if there is funding to support service outside of the academic year..South African Family Practice Vol. 49 (9) 2007: pp. 4-

Original Research: The role of Ubuntu in families living with mental illness in the community

Background: Families living with mental illness are a vulnerable group in the community. In the African culture, it is accepted that families are embedded safely in a community. In accordance with the principles of Ubuntu, people with mental illness should be well supported and cared for by their families and the wider community. Traditionally, people with mental illness are institutionalised, out of sight of the family and the general population. However, the deinstitutionalisation of mental health services has changed the structure and mode of caring for people with mental illness. The family and community are now regarded as the dominant care givers and providers.Method: A qualitative grounded theory method was used.Results: This article discusses research in progress that demonstrates how families in the community experienced stigma and isolation in the community, as well as crime. There was little support from the community in assisting families to shoulder their burden of care. In this article, we reflect on the possibility that the spirit of Ubuntu may well assist families living with mental illness, despite the burden that communities have to shoulder when fulfilling their own family obligations.Conclusion: In a community in which Ubuntu is the underpinning life philosophy and way of life, these values could be reinstated and revived to promote the survival and recovery of families living with mental illness in the community, and to reintroduce humanness in the community.S Afr Fam Pract 2012;54(5):441-44

Changes in morphology of cell cultures after treatment with aflatoxin and ochratoxin

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Charge-Spin Separation in 2D Fermi Systems: Singular Interactions as Modified Commutators, and Solution of 2D Hubbard Model in Bosonized Approximation

The general 2-dimensional fermion system with repulsive interactions (typified by the Hubbard Model) is bosonized, taking into account the finite on-shell forward scattering phase shift derived in earlier papers. By taking this phase shift into account in the bosonic commutation relations a consistent picture emerges showing the charge-spin separation and anomalous exponents of the Luttinger liquid.Comment: Latex file 14 pages. email: [email protected]

The management of scarce water resources using GNSS, InSAR and in-situ micro gravity measurements as monitoring tools

South Africa is a water scarce country hence the careful monitoring and management of available water resources is critical for the wellbeing of the citizens of the country. A high percentage of the Earth’s water supply is stored underground which can be extracted either through pumping or using artesian pressure. This paper describes the application of GNSS, InSAR and In-Situ Micro Gravity measurements for the monitoring of an artesian wellfield in the Oudtshoorn District in the Western Cape province of South Africa. GNSS receivers were run continuously for a period of 133 days between March and August 2014 to detect possible surface subsidence during pumping and artesian free flow extraction of water in the wellfield. Two InSAR scenes were processed, one during the peak period of water extraction from the wellfield and the other approximately 4 months after all boreholes were closed and pumps switched off. A micro-gravity campaign was conducted over two days in the wellfield with the gravity meter co-located at one borehole which was opened on the second day of the campaign. The results from the GNSS monitoring showed a subsidence of approximately 15 to 20 mm at the peak of the free flow and pump while those from the InSAR and microgravity measurements were largely inconclusive

An Analysis of the Origins of Ontology Mismatches on the Semantic Web

Despite the potential of domain ontologies to provide consensual representations of domain-relevant knowledge, the open, distributed and decentralized nature of the Semantic Web means that individuals will rarely, if ever, countenance a common set of terminological and representational commitments during the ontology design process. More often than not, differences between ontologies are likely to occur, and this is the case even when the ontologies describe identical or overlapping domains of interest. Differences between ontologies are often referred to as ontology mismatches and there is an extensive research literature geared towards the technology-mediated reconciliation of such mismatches. Our approach in the current paper is not to comment on the relative merits or demerits of the various technological solutions that could be used to resolve ontological differences; rather, we aim to explore the reasons why such differences may arise in the first place. In addition to a review of the various factors that contribute to ontology mismatches on the Semantic Web, we also discuss a number of focus areas for future research in this area. An improved understanding of the origins of ontology mismatches will, we argue, complement existing research into semantic integration techniques. In particular, by understanding more about the complex cognitive, epistemic and socio-cultural factors associated with the ontology development process, we may be able to develop knowledge acquisition and modeling tools/techniques that attenuate the impact of ontology mismatches for large-scale information sharing and data integration on the Semantic Web

Kepler observations of variability in B-type stars

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Association between the use of biomass fuels on respiratory health of workers in food catering enterprises in Nairobi Kenya

Introduction: Indoor air pollution from biomass fuel use has been found to be responsible for more than 1.6 million annual deaths and 2.7% ofthe global burden of disease. This makes it the second biggest environmental contributor to ill health, behind unsafe water and sanitation.Methods: The main objective of this study was to investigate if there was any association between use of bio-fuels in food catering enterprisesand respiratory health of the workers. A cross-sectional design was employed, and data collected using Qualitative and quantitative techniques.Results: The study found significantly higher prevalence of respiratory health outcomes among respondents in enterprises using biomass fuelscompared to those using processed fuels. Biomass fuels are thus a major public health threat to workers in this sub-sector, and urgent interventionis required. Conclusion: The study recommends a switch from biomass fuels to processed fuels to protect the health of the workers.Key words: Indoor air pollution, biomass fuels, health, respiratory, worker