South Africa's "Rainbow People", national pride and happiness

Since the first free elections were held in April 1994, South Africans are popularly known as the ''rainbow people''. The paper inquires whether South Africans who experienced pride in their nation in the first years of democracy also perceived a greater sense of subjective well-being. It is proposed that national pride in post-apartheid South Africa might be fused with or work through self-esteem to lift levels of happiness. The paper traces the history of the new integrating civil religion of the rainbow people and the acceptance of the rainbow as a political symbol of unity among the diverse people of South Africa immediately after the 1994 elections and two years later. The proposed link between national pride and happiness was explored with data from two independent national surveys, the 1995 South African World Values Survey conducted by Markinor and a June 1996 MarkData syndicated omnibus survey. The study found that the appeal of the rainbow as political symbol was inclusive of all groups in society and that feelings of national pride and support for the rainbow ideal were positively associated with subjective well-being. As indicated by intensity and frequency measures, the majority of South Africans were proud of their country and could name a national achievement that inspired pride. Better-off South Africans tended to be happier and more satisfied with life but less proud, while the poor were less happy but fiercely proud of their country. Results suggest that belief in South Africa’s ''rainbow nation'' ideal may have assisted in boosting happiness during the transition to a stable democracy, thereby preventing alienation among the losers under the new political dispensation. Supporters of the ideal of the rainbow nation were more optimistic than others about the future of their country

Population Synthesis in the Blue IV: Accurate Model Predictions for Lick Indices and UBV Colors in Single Stellar Populations

[Abridged] We present new model predictions for 16 Lick absorption line indices from Hdelta through Fe5335, and UBV colors for single stellar populations (SPs) with ages ranging between 1 and 15 Gyr, [Fe/H] ranging from -1.3 to +0.3, and variable abundance ratios. We develop a method to estimate mean ages and abundances of Fe, C, N, Mg, and Ca that explores the sensitivity of the various indices to those parameters. When applied to high-S/N Galactic cluster data, the models match the clusters' elemental abundances and ages with high precision. Analyzing stacked SDSS spectra of early-type galaxies brighter than Lstar, we find mean luminosity-weighted ages of the order of ~ 8 Gyr and iron abundances slightly below solar. Abundance ratios, [X/Fe], are higher than solar, and correlate positively with galaxy luminosity. Nitrogen is the element whose abundance correlates the most strongly with luminosity, which seems to indicate secondary enrichment. This result may impose a lower limit of 50-200 Myr to the time-scale of star formation in early-type galaxies. Unlike in the case of clusters, in galaxies bluer Balmer lines yield younger ages than Hbeta. This age discrepancy is stronger for lower luminosity galaxies. We examine four scenarios to explain this trend. The most likely is the presence of small amounts of a young/intermediate-age SP component. Two-component models provide a better match to the data when the mass fraction of the young component is a few %. This result implies that star formation has been extended in early-type galaxies, and more so in less massive galaxies, lending support to the ``downsizing'' scenario. It also implies that SP synthesis models are capable of constraining not only the mean ages of SPs in galaxies, but also their age spread.Comment: To appear in the Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series. 55 Pages, using emulateapj5.sty. Full version, containing all (enlarged) figures can be found at http://www.astro.virginia.edu/~rps7v/Models/ms.pdf . A number of useful tables in the Appendix can be obtained in advance of publication by request to the autho

Cooling Causes Changes in the Distribution of Lipoprotein Lipase and Milk Fat Globule Membrane Proteins between the Skim Milk and Cream Phase

The development in lipoprotein lipase (LPL) activity and free fatty acids were studied in freshly milked non-cooled milk from individual Danish Holstein or Jersey cows, or after storage for up to 24 h at either cooling temperature at 4ºC or at the milking temperature at 31ºC. LPL activity increased in the cream phase upon cooling, while the activity in the skimmed milk was either steady, as observed for Jersey cows, or increased, as seen for the Holsteins, in the skim milk upon cooling for up to 24 h. Storage at 31ºC decreased the LPL activity in both the cream phase and the skim milk phase. The increase in free fatty acids was found to depend on potential lipoprotein lipase activity, incubation temperature, substrate availability, and incubation time. Furthermore, the migration of milk proteins between the skim milk phase and the cream phase upon cooling of bovine milk from Jersey cows or from Danish Holstein cows was studied using proteomic methods involving 2-dimensional gel electrophoresis and mass spectrometry. Proteins associated with the milk fat globule membranes were isolated from all milk fractions and analyzed. Major changes in the distributions of proteins between skimmed milk and the cream phase were observed after cooling at 4ºC for 4 h, where a total of 29 proteins were found to change their association with the milk fat globule membrane significantly in the two breeds. Among these, the milk fat globule membrane-associated proteins adipophilin, fatty acid binding protein, and lactadherin as well as β-casein, lactoferrin, and HSP-71 were identified. Adipophilin, lactadherin, and lactoferrin were quantitatively more associated with the milk fat globule membrane upon cooling to 4°C, whereas β-casein, fatty acid binding protein, and HSP-71 were found to be less associated with the milk fat globule membrane when cooled

Five patellar proximodistal positioning indices compared in clinically normal Greenland sled dogs

Vet J. 2012 Aug;193(2):529-34. doi: 10.1016/j.tvjl.2012.01.003. Epub 2012 Feb 8. Five patellar proximodistal positioning indices compared in clinically normal Greenland sled dogs. Miles JE, Dickow M, Nielsen DH, Jensen BR, Kirpensteijn J, Svalastoga EL, Eriksen T. Source Department of Small Animal Clinical Sciences, Faculty of Life Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Denmark. [email protected] Abstract Patellar luxation in large-breed dogs is associated with abnormal proximodistal patellar positioning. Using a clinically normal population of Greenland sled dogs, measurement reliability and the effect of limb position were compared for five patellar proximodistal positioning indices based on the Insall-Salvati (IS), modified Insall-Salvati (mIS), de Carvalho (dC), patellotrochlear (PT) and Blackburne-Peel (BP) indices. Indices were measured at one knee angle in 44 dogs and two knee angles in 10 dogs. Index susceptibility to error was modelled for different errors in knee angle estimation. Two reported techniques for determining knee angle were compared in a fox hind limb model. Indices dC and PT were significantly affected by knee angle (

Sistema de apoio à decisão industrial (S.A.D.I) : o impacto de uma ferramenta de apoio à decisão (SAD) no processo decisório

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