Why doesn\u27t social support always work?: Evaluating the effects of support source, support type, and individual differences on workplace strain

The experience of stress in the workplace is becoming an increasing concern for employees and organizations alike, as research indicates that consistent exposure to stress is associated with negative physical and psychological reactions such as insomnia, depression and high blood pressure. This study seeks to evaluate the effects of social support on the stress-strain relationship and factors that may impact the effectiveness of social support in reducing the workplace strain

Suprathermal electron isotropy in high-beta solar wind and its role in heat flux dropouts

[1] Time variations in plasma beta and a parameter which measures isotropy in suprathermal electron pitch angle distributions show a remarkably close correspondence throughout the solar wind. The finding implies that high-beta plasma, with its multiple magnetic holes and sharp field and plasma gradients, is conducive to electron pitch-angle scattering, which reduces heat flux from the Sun without field-line disconnection. Thus the finding impacts our understanding of signatures we use to determine magnetic topology in the heliosphere

Pre-clearing vegetation of the coastal lowlands of the Wet Tropics Bioregion, North Queensland

A pre-clearing vegetation map and digital coverage at approximately 1:50 000 scale for the coastal lowlands (up to about 200 m elevation) of the Wet Tropics Bioregion, North Queensland is presented. The study area covers about 508 000 ha from Cooktown, 420 km south almost to Townsville (latitude 15° 30’–18° 20’ longitude 144° 50’–146° 40’). Data sources included historical aerial photography, early surveyors’ plans, explorers’ journals, previous vegetation maps, and maps of soils and geology. The pre-clearing mapping was built around the remnant vegetation mapping of Stanton & Stanton (2005), and the vegetation classification of this latter work was adopted. Vegetation units were further classified into regional ecosystems compatible with the standard State-wide system used by Queensland government. The digital coverage is part of the current Queensland Herbarium regional ecosystem coverage (Queensland Herbarium and Wet Tropics Management Authority 2005). Coloured maps (1:100 000 scale) of the pre-clearing vegetation of the Herbert, Tully, Innisfail and Macalister/Daintree subregions are on an accompanying CD-ROM. An evaluation of vegetation loss through clearing on the coastal lowlands of the Wet Tropics revealed several nearextinct vegetation communities and regional ecosystems, and many others that are drastically reduced in area. Even ecosystems occurring on poorly drained lands have suffered a surprisingly high level of loss due to the effectiveness of drainage operations. Grassland ecosystems were found to be widespread on the Herbert and Tully floodplains, but are now close to extinction. The lowlands vegetation of the Wet Tropics that remains today continues to be fragmented and degraded despite the introduction of State-wide broad-scale tree-clearing laws in 1999, and the cessation of broadscale tree-clearing in December 2006

Heliospheric plasma sheets

[1] As a high-beta feature on scales of hours or less, the heliospheric plasma sheet (HPS) encasing the heliospheric current sheet shows a high degree of variability. A study of 52 sector boundaries identified in electron pitch angle spectrograms in Wind data from 1995 reveals that only half concur with both high-beta plasma and current sheets, as required for an HPS. The remaining half lack either a plasma sheet or current sheet or both. A complementary study of 37 high-beta events reveals that only 5 contain sector boundaries while nearly all (34) contain local magnetic field reversals, however brief. We conclude that high-beta plasma sheets surround current sheets but that most of these current sheets are associated with fields turned back on themselves. The findings are consistent with the hypothesis that high-beta plasma sheets, both at and away from sector boundaries, are the heliospheric counterparts of the small coronal transients observed at the tips of helmet streamers, in which case the proposed mechanism for their release, interchange reconnection, could be responsible for the field inversions

Commercial herbal medicines used as African traditional medicines: Ngoma Herbal Tonic Immune Booster interferes with a rapid urine drug screening test

Background. The prevalent use of African traditional medicine by the general public has been reported. With commercialisation and marketing, some of the herbal medicines (HMs) used are readily available over the counter, most of them promoted as immune boosters. These commercial HMs have not been taken through clinical trials and other tests that would validate their composition and safety, and other properties such as their effect on laboratory diagnostic tests.Objective. To investigate the cross-reactivity of selected HMs with commonly tested drugs of abuse (DoA) using a qualitative rapid urinalysis assay.Methods. The six HMs selected were bought from local pharmacies. A rapid urinalysis screening test was performed with the Instant View Multi-Drug of Abuse Test kit from Labstix Diagnostics. Drug-free urine (DFU) was pooled from samples donated by healthy volunteers. Urine samples that had tested positive for DoA were obtained from a pharmacology laboratory. Aliquots of the urine samples were spiked with the HMs in neat and diluted form, and tested at various time intervals.Results. The results for the DFU samples spiked with the HMs remained negative. There were no significant changes in pH or specific gravity of the samples. The results of samples that had tested positive for tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) were not altered by five of the HMs when spiked at 40% v/v. The HM Ngoma Herbal Tonic Immune Booster caused false-negative results for the THC test.Conclusion. An important finding is that the herbal mixture Ngoma Herbal Tonic Immune Booster caused false-negative results for the cannabinoid screening test. It adds to the list of substances that may be potential adulterants of urine for screening tests

The chiral and flavour projection of Dirac-Kahler fermions in the geometric discretization

It is shown that an exact chiral symmetry can be described for Dirac-Kahler fermions using the two complexes of the geometric discretization. This principle is extended to describe exact flavour projection and it is shown that this necessitates the introduction of a new operator and two new structures of complex. To describe simultaneous chiral and flavour projection, eight complexes are needed in all and it is shown that projection leaves a single flavour of chiral field on each.Comment: v2: 17 pages, Latex. 5 images eps. Added references, reformatted and clarification of some point

Fast drift kilometric radio bursts and solar proton events

Initial results of a comparative study of major fast drift kilometric bursts and solar proton events from Sep. 1978 to Feb. 1983 are presented. It was found that only about half of all intense, long duration ( 40 min above 500 sfu) 1 MHz bursts can be associated with F 20 MeV proton events. However, for the subset of such fast drift bursts accompanied by metric Type 2 and/or 4 activity (approximately 40% of the total), the degree of association with 20 MeV events is 80%. For the reverse association, it was found that proton events with J( 20 MeV) 0.01 1 pr cm(-2)s(-1)sr(-1)MeV(-1) were typically (approximately 80% of the time) preceded by intense 1 MHz bursts that exceeded the 500 sfu level for times 20 min (median duration approximately 35 min)

PND20 HEALTHCARE UTILIZATION AND COSTS AMONG AD PATIENTS WITH AND WITHOUT DYSPHAGIA

Primer pla del bust "Al Dr. Pi i Molist". El nom prové de la inscripció de la peanya de pedra què suporta l'obra de bronz

Testing the Effectiveness of Lecture Capture Technology Using Prior GPA as a Performance Indicator

This empirical study examines whether making lecture capture technology available in a face-to-face lecture environment can improve students’ ability to learn the course material. We examine student performance in undergraduate principles courses in computer science and economics. However, rather than simply comparing average course grades between lecture capture and non-lecture capture classes, we use student grade point average (GPA) as a predictor of course grades earned in non-lecture capture classes and lecture capture classes taught by the same professors using the same course materials. Our results imply that making lecture capture technology available in face-to-face lectures does not appear to impact high GPA students’ ability to learn the course material one way or the other. However, low GPA students in one of the lecture capture courses earned significantly lower grades relative to low GPA students in the non-lecture capture class