Communication and IS - How effective are current training programs?.

Presented to the Department of Information Systems University of the Witwatersrand in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Master of Commerce Degree in Information SystemsThe need for Information Systems (IS) professionals to communicate effectively has been identified as one of the key issues of IS management in the 1990s. The communication gap between IS professionals and other personnel in organisations has been well documented and studies have shown that appropriate training can improve communication skills. The objective of this research was to establish what constitutes effective communication skills training and to produce a guideline which IS managers and trainers could use to address this problem. The major finding of this research was that IS personnel do not perceive themselves to be poor communicators despite the fact that many studies have shown that there is need for improvement. This shows that there seems to be a gap between what is expected of IS personnel and their own perceptions of their communication abilities. In order for change to take place, IS Personnel need to be aware of their shortcomings and organisations need to get more involved. Managers can facilitate the process by communicating the need for improvement to their employees and can demonstrate their commitment by recommending appropriate training.Andrew Chakane 201

Measuring Outcomes in Aphasia and Apraxia of Speech in the Context of a Learning Health Care System

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A terra cotta cornerstone for Copley Square: an assessment of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

Note: pages 126, 183, and 209a are missing from the original.Designed in 1870 and opened in 1876, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston was encrusted with ornamental terracotta, a material essentially unknown in America at that time. Across the Atlantic the South Kensington Museums in London (now the Victoria and Albert Museum) had grown up following the Great Exhibition of 1851. By 1869 they were housed in buildings which are among the best known examples of terracotta architecture in the world. In both philosophy and structure, the South Kensington Museums were the model for the Boston enterprise, the first great public art museum in America. The mid-nineteenth century re-emergence of terracotta has been an accepted fact for some time. Heretofore most scholarly attention has arisen in connection with its application as cladding to steel frame structures like skyscrapers in the last quarter of the century. Consequently, research on the origins and use of the material is fragmented and inconclusive. This dissertation addresses questions of its technological development, early applications in England at mid-century, and its long-range aesthetic implications which have not been generally recognized by architectural historians. Because of its specific and documented transatlantic connections, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, assumes a central role in the matter of the terracotta revival and stylistic influences from England to America. It would appear that Sturgis and Brigham (1866-1886), architects of the museum, were in a unique position to design and execute a terracotta building in America in 1870 because of the English education and affiliations of John Sturgis (1834-1888), who was able to research and contract the production of the terracotta ornament in Stamford, Lincolnshire from John Marriott Blashfield. With his able young partner, Charles Brigham (1841-1925) running the Boston office during his long absences abroad, the complexities of the construction were carried forward on a transatlantic basis by Sturgis, the prime designer. Much new source material concerning those personalities involved with the early nineteenth century production and use of terra cotta in England is contained in the letters and papers of John Sturgis, the foundation of this work. This study attempts to establish the nineteenth century chronology of the terracotta revival in England prior to 1870. The technological development of the material and its role within the South Kensington Museums is explored in detail. Major terracotta installations in England prior to 1870 are identified and the relationship of the material to museum architecture, a newly emerging form, is discussed. The Boston museum is then assessed in terms of its origins. On a larger, aesthetic base the role of terracotta is reviewed within the framework of the Gothic and Queen Anne Revivals of the third quarter of the nineteenth century

La variación en los cuartetos de Haydn

Es una traducción de: Floy Grave y Margaret Grave: “Variation”, del libro de los mismos autores titulado The String Quartets of Joseph Haydn, cap. 6, pp. 96-115, Nueva York/ Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2006.Juan Carlos Lores Gil (traductor).La técnica de la variación ocupa un lugar de primer orden entre los procedimientos compositivos de Haydn. En particular, los movimientos en forma de variación se encuentran en toda su producción cuartetística e incluso a veces tuvieron una influencia importante en su evolución. Lejos de limitarse a explotar las formas de variación de manera convencional, Haydn las combinó, enriqueció y modificó e incluso llegó a desarrollar estructuras de variación originales de gran complejidad. En el artículo se pasa revista a cada una de las cuatro formas de variación principales –de repetición variada, estróficas, ternarias y en alternancia– y se estudia su evolución y su papel en los cuartetos

Hypertension in adults: summary of updated NICE guidance

Hypertension is a leading global cause of morbidity and mortality. More than 25% of the adult UK population has hypertension, and in about 30% blood pressure remains uncontrolled.1 In August, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) published its updated guideline on the diagnosis and management of hypertension. The guideline reviews further evidence that has emerged since it was last updated in 2011 from randomised trials investigating the initiation, monitoring, and choice of antihypertensive treatment. The scope of the updated guideline has increased to also include people with type 2 diabetes, but does not make recommendations for people with chronic kidney disease, established cardiovascular disease, or hypertension in pregnancy.This article summarises the most recent recommendations from NICE and includes information considered to be most relevant to primary care clinicians. Key changes to current practice include offering drug treatment to people at a lower threshold for 10 year risk of cardiovascular disease, emphasis on maintaining blood pressure below target, and clarifying criteria for same day specialist review in people with accelerated hypertension

A unique Mycobacterium species isolated from an epizootic of striped bass (Morone saxatilis)

We isolated a Mycobacterium sp. resembling Mycobacterium marinum and M. ulcerans from diseased striped bass (Morone saxatilis) during an epizootic of mycobacteriosis in the Chesapeake Bay. This isolate may represent an undescribed Mycobacterium species, based on phenotypic characteristics and comparative 16S rRNA gene sequence

Motor crosslinking augments elasticity in active nematics

In active materials, uncoordinated internal stresses lead to emergent long-range flows. An understanding of how the behavior of active materials depends on mesoscopic (hydrodynamic) parameters is developing, but there remains a gap in knowledge concerning how hydrodynamic parameters depend on the properties of microscopic elements. In this work, we combine experiments and multiscale modeling to relate the structure and dynamics of active nematics composed of biopolymer filaments and molecular motors to their microscopic properties, in particular motor processivity, speed, and valency. We show that crosslinking of filaments by both motors and passive crosslinkers not only augments the contributions to nematic elasticity from excluded volume effects but dominates them. By altering motor kinetics we show that a competition between motor speed and crosslinking results in a nonmonotonic dependence of nematic flow on motor speed. By modulating passive filament crosslinking we show that energy transfer into nematic flow is in large part dictated by crosslinking. Thus motor proteins both generate activity and contribute to nematic elasticity. Our results provide new insights for rationally engineering active materials

Land Settlement Alternatives for the Chugach Region: Effects on Public Values of Transferring Public Lands to Private Ownership. Volume I

Prepared for U.S. Forest Service Department of Agricultur