An evaluation of the environmental care orientation of deciduous fruit producers in the Western Cape

A classification system developed to evaluate the environmental care orientation of companies and, more specifically, their strategies to deal with the environmental care requirements prescribed by the market was applied to the deciduous fruit sector in the Western Cape. A survey was done to determine the attitude towards and status of, environmental care activities amongst deciduous fruit producers who have already obtained Eurepgap certification or who are busy preparing for the certification audit. A questionnaire was used and the responses were judged in terms of the guidelines of the classification system. The nature of the typical South African - European deciduous fruit export supply chain is that South African producers desire to supply the retail market at higher prices than that of the wholesale market. The producers are then confronted with the stringent environmental care requirements of the retail chains, who use the environmental care product image aggressively as a selling point in the retail market, acting like typical Class III market oriented institutions. The classification shows that the majority of producers try to comply with these requirements with minimum effort (Class I). The more progressive producers accept them as good agricultural practices to increase their production efficiency. (Class II). Some farmers participate in a comprehensive Integrated Crop Management (ICM) system to establish a culture of environmental care at farm level in a more efficient way. ICM implementation also helps to prepare proactively for possible changes in the environmental care requirements of individual retail chains. This seems to be the more effective strategy for the primary producer.Crop Production/Industries, Environmental Economics and Policy,

The social cognition of medical knowledge, with special reference to childhood epilepsy

This paper arose out of an engagement in medical communication courses at a Gulf university. It deploys a theoretical framework derived from a (critical) sociocognitive approach to discourse analysis in order to investigate three aspects of medical discourse relating to childhood epilepsy: the cognitive processes that are entailed in relating different types of medical knowledge to their communicative context; the types of medical knowledge that are constituted in the three different text types analysed; and the relationship between these different types of medical knowledge and the discursive features of each text type. The paper argues that there is a cognitive dimension to the human experience of understanding and talking about one specialized from of medical knowledge. It recommends that texts be studied in medical communication courses not just in terms of their discrete formal features but also critically, in terms of the knowledge which they produce, transmit and reproduce

Coherence effects in Mie scattering

The scattering of a partially coherent beam by a deterministic, spherical scatterer is studied. In particular, the Mie scattering by a Gaussian Schell-model beam is analyzed. Expressions are derived for (a) the extinguished power, (b) the radiant intensity of the scattered field, and (c) the encircled energy in the far field. It is found that the radiant intensity and the encircled energy in the far field depend on the degree of coherence of the incident beam, whereas the extinguished power does not. (C) 2011 Optical Society of Americ

Cross-linguistic influence in simultaneous and early sequential bilingual children: A meta-analysis

Although cross-linguistic influence at the level of morphosyntax is one of the most intensively studied topics in child bilingualism, the circumstances under which it occurs remain unclear. In this meta-analysis, we measured the effect size of cross-linguistic influence and systematically assessed its predictors in 750 simultaneous and early sequential bilingual children in 17 unique language combinations across 26 experimental studies. We found a significant small to moderate average effect size of cross-linguistic influence, indicating that cross-linguistic influence is part and parcel of bilingual development. Language dominance, operationalized as societal language, was a significant predictor of cross-linguistic influence, whereas surface overlap, language domain and age were not. Perhaps an even more important finding was that definitions and operationalisations of cross-linguistic influence and its predictors varied considerably between studies. This could explain the absence of a comprehensive theory in the field. To solve this issue, we argue for a more uniform method of studying cross-linguistic influence

Evaluation of pain incidence and pain management in a South African paediatric trauma unit

Objectives. To evaluate pain incidence and pain management in a South African paediatric trauma unit, and to compare the usefulness of 5 different assessment tools. Design. A prospective observational study, using the Numerical Rating Scale for pain (NRS pain), Numerical Rating Scale for anxiety (NRS anxiety), the Alder Hey Triage Pain Score (AHTPS), the COMFORT behaviour scale and the Touch Visual Pain Scale (TVPS). All patients were assessed at admission; those who were hospitalised were again assessed every 3 hours until discharge. Results. A total of 165 patients, with a mean age of 5.3 years (range 0 - 13), were included. NRS scores were indicative of moderate to severe pain in 13.3% of the patients, and no pain in 24% at admission. Two-thirds of the patients received no analgesics; for them, NRS pain, AHTPS and TVP scores were lower than the scores for the other children. Conclusion. Pain and anxiety incidences in this paediatric trauma unit are relatively low. Implementation of a standard pain assessment tool in the emergency department triage system can improve pain management. The AHTPS is the most promising for use in non-Western settings

Anisotropic and strong negative magneto-resistance in the three-dimensional topological insulator Bi2Se3

We report on high-field angle-dependent magneto-transport measurements on epitaxial thin films of Bi2Se3, a three-dimensional topological insulator. At low temperature, we observe quantum oscillations that demonstrate the simultaneous presence of bulk and surface carriers. The magneto- resistance of Bi2Se3 is found to be highly anisotropic. In the presence of a parallel electric and magnetic field, we observe a strong negative longitudinal magneto-resistance that has been consid- ered as a smoking-gun for the presence of chiral fermions in a certain class of semi-metals due to the so-called axial anomaly. Its observation in a three-dimensional topological insulator implies that the axial anomaly may be in fact a far more generic phenomenon than originally thought.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figure

Size and shape of the repetitive domain of high molecular weight wheat gluten proteins. 1. Small angle neutron scattering

The solution structure of the central repetitive domain of high molecular weight (HMW) wheat gluten proteins has been investigated for a range of concentrations and temperatures using mainly small-angle neutron scattering. A representative part of the repetitive domain (dBl) was studied as well as an "oligomer" basically consisting of four dBl units, which has a length similar to the complete central domain. The scattering data over the entire angular range of both proteins are in quantitative agreement with a structural model based on a worm-like chain, a model frequently used in polymer theory. This model describes the "supersecondary, structure" of dBl and dB4 as a semiflexible cylinder with a length of about 235 and 900 Angstrom, respectively, and a cross-sectional diameter of about 15 Angstrom. The flexibility of both proteins is characterized by a persistence length of about 13 Angstrom. Their structures are thus quantitatively identical, which implies that the central HMW domain can be elongated while retaining its structural characteristics. It seems conceivable that the flexible cylinder results from a helical structure, which resembles the beta-spiral observed in earlier studies on gluten proteins and elastin. However, compared to the previously, proposed structure of a (stiff) rod, our experiments clearly indicate flexibility of the cylinder. (C) 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc