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

Consistent treatment of hydrophobicity in protein lattice models accounts for cold denaturation

The hydrophobic effect stabilizes the native structure of proteins by minimizing the unfavourable interactions between hydrophobic residues and water through the formation of a hydrophobic core. Here we include the entropic and enthalpic contributions of the hydrophobic effect explicitly in an implicit solvent model. This allows us to capture two important effects: a length-scale dependence and a temperature dependence for the solvation of a hydrophobic particle. This consistent treatment of the hydrophobic effect explains cold denaturation and heat capacity measurements of solvated proteins.Comment: Added and corrected references for design procedure in main text (p. 2) and in Supplemental Information (p. 8

Stock Selection Strategies in Emerging Markets

Recent empirical evidence suggests that value and momentum strategies generate significant excess returns in emerging markets. We confirm these results and extend them in several directions. First, we examine a broader range of stock selection strategies, including strategies based on analysts' earnings revisions. We also consider multivariate strategies, whereby stocks are selected on multiple characteristics, and find that this enhances the overall performance. Excess returns also increase if country selection is incorporated into the strategies, but the risk of the strategies increases proportionally. Second, we test whether the strategies can be implemented successfully in practice by a large institutional investor, facing a lack of liquidity, restrictions on foreign ownership and substantial transaction costs. We find that even under such more realistic circumstances the strategies earn significant excess returns. Third, we examine several popular explanations for the excess returns. We find no evidence of higher market risk or lower liquidity of the strategies. Instead, based on the developments of earnings and earnings revisions after portfolio formation, we find that the results are consistent with behavioral explanations

Permian trace fossils attributed to tetrapods (Tierberg Formation, Karoo Basin, South Africa)

The discovery of a paving slab with a number of prints suggestive of footprints of tetrapods led to a reinvestigation of a trace fossil, known from three localities, of which only two photographs had been published, each with only four prints. The slab was traced to a previously unrecorded site, De Puts, near Calvinia, located in the Tierberg Formation of the Ecca Group of the Karoo Supergroup. The prints from all the sites are referred to Broomichnium permianum Kuhn 1958, of which Quadrispinichna parvia of Anderson 1974 is a synonym.Palaeo-Anthropology Scientific Trust; French Embassy in South Africa; Co-operation and Cultural Servic

Palaeozoic insects of southern Africa: a review

Although a substantial number of Triassic insect fossils have been discovered in southern Africa, relatively few insect fossils are known from the Permian deposits of this region. Fossil insects from the Permian period elsewhere, including the extensive entomological fauna from Eastern Europe (including Russia), Brazil and Australia is well-documented. The Irati Formation in the Parana Basin of Brazil, the temporal and lithological correlate of the Permian Whitehill Formation of South Africa, has yielded fossil insects belonging to Homoptera, N europtera, Coleoptera and Mecoptera. Fossil insects from the Whitehill Formation are usually poorly preserved and only seven specimens are mentioned in the literature. An overview is given of the more recent discoveries of Permian fossil insects in South Africa. This includes the discovery of the oldest beetle in Africa, the oldest longhorned grasshopper in the Southern Hemisphere and a survey of the Permian insects from the Beaufort Group of Natal. Reasons for the paucity of Permian insects are briefly discussed.Palaeo-Anthropology Scientific Trust; French Embassy in South Africa; Co-operation and Cultural Servic

Operation of EMEP ‘supersites’ in the United Kingdom. Annual report for 2008.

As part of its commitment to the UN-ECE Convention on Long-range Transboundary Air Pollution the United Kingdom operates two ‘supersites’ reporting data to the Co-operative Programme for Monitoring and Evaluation of the Long-range Transmission of Air Pollutants in Europe (EMEP). This report provides the annual summary for 2008, the second full calendar year of operation of the first EMEP ‘supersite’ to be established in the United Kingdom. Detailed operational reports have been submitted to Defra every 3 months, with unratified data. This annual report contains a summary of the ratified data for 2008. The EMEP ‘supersite’ is located in central southern Scotland at Auchencorth (3.2oW, 55.8oN), a remote rural moorland site ~20 km south-west of Edinburgh. Monitoring operations started formally on 1 June 2006. In addition to measurements made specifically under this contract, the Centre for Ecology & Hydrology also acts as local site operator for measurements made under other UK monitoring networks: the Automated Urban and Rural Network (AURN), the UK Eutrophication and Acidification Network (UKEAP), the UK Hydrocarbons Network, and the UK Heavy Metals Rural Network. Some measurements were also made under the auspices of the ‘Air Pollution Deposition Processes’ contract. All these associated networks are funded by Defra. This report summarises the measurements made between January and December 2008, and presents summary statistics on average concentrations. The site is dominated by winds from the south-west, but wind direction data highlight potential sources of airborne pollutants (power stations, conurbations). The average diurnal patterns of gases and particles are consistent with those expected for a remote rural site. The frequency distributions are presented for data where there was good data capture throughout the whole period. Some components (e.g. black carbon) show log-normal frequency distributions, while other components (e.g. ozone) have more nearly normal frequency distributions. A case study is presented for a period in June 2008, showing the influence of regional air pollutants at this remote rural site. All the data reported under the contract are shown graphically in the Appendix

Importance of demand modelling in network water quality models: a review

Today, there is a growing interest in network water quality modelling. The water quality issues of interest relate to both dissolved and particulate substances. For dissolved substances the main interest is in residual chlorine and (microbiological) contaminant propagation; for particulate substances it is in sediment leading to discolouration. There is a strong influence of flows and velocities on transport, mixing, production and decay of these substances in the network. This imposes a different approach to demand modelling which is reviewed in this article. <br><br> For the large diameter lines that comprise the transport portion of a typical municipal pipe system, a skeletonised network model with a top-down approach of demand pattern allocation, a hydraulic time step of 1 h, and a pure advection-reaction water quality model will usually suffice. For the smaller diameter lines that comprise the distribution portion of a municipal pipe system, an all-pipes network model with a bottom-up approach of demand pattern allocation, a hydraulic time step of 1 min or less, and a water quality model that considers dispersion and transients may be needed. <br><br> Demand models that provide stochastic residential demands per individual home and on a one-second time scale are available. A stochastic demands based network water quality model needs to be developed and validated with field measurements. Such a model will be probabilistic in nature and will offer a new perspective for assessing water quality in the drinking water distribution system