Predation of the Julia Creek dunnart (Sminthopsis douglasi) and other native fauna by cats and foxes on Mitchell grass downs in Queensland

Examination of the stomach contents of cats (Felis catus) and foxes (Vulpes vulpes) collected on Mitchell grass downs in north-western Queensland revealed that the diet of cats consists largely of native vertebrate fauna whereas that of foxes is largely carrion and insects. Mammals, followed closely by reptiles, made the largest contributions to the diet of the cats. Five species of small mammals, one of which – the Julia Creek dunnart (Sminthopsis douglasi) – is listed as threatened, and 15 species of reptiles, two of which – the striped skink (Ctenotus agrestis) and the bearded dragon (Pogona henrylawsoni) are endemic to the region – fell prey to the cats. Foxes appear to pose less of a threat to the native fauna than cats, provided carrion remains readily available

Data management techniques for space applications Final report

Defining promising technology for improving spacecraft data handling and minimizing data processing and transmission requirement

Diapriidae (Hymenoptera, Diaprioidea) of the Maltese Islands

Five species, four genera, two subfamilies of Diapriidae and the family itself are all recorded as new to the Maltese Islands based on material collected from Verdala Palace by David Mifsud (DM). A provisional key to the genera of Maltese diapriids is provided to facilitate further research.peer-reviewe

Silvanidae and Laemophloeidae (Coleoptera : Cucujoidea) from the Maltese Islands (Central Mediterranean)

The Silvanidae and Laemophloeidae of the Maltese archipelago are reviewed, based on literature records and, where available, examination of voucher material, as well as the study of additional material collected in recent years. A total of five species of Silvanidae are included of which, Airaphilus nasutus Chevrolat, 1860 and Oryzaephilus mercator (Fauvel, 1889) represent new records for the Maltese Islands. Silvanus lewisi Reitter, 1876, a tropical species, was collected alive from under bark of logs imported from Cameroon (intended for the timber industry). Six species of Laemophloeidae are also recorded from the Maltese Islands, of which, Placonotus testaceus (Fabricius, 1787), Cryptolestes capensis (Waltl, 1834), C. pusilloides (Steel & Howe, 1952) and Leptophloeus juniperi (Grouvelle, 1874) represent new records for the Maltese Islands. The record of Leptophloeus hypobori (Perris, 1855) by Cameron & Caruana Gatto (1907) was found to be incorrect as their material is Cryptolestes capensis (Waltl, 1834).peer-reviewe

The hydrodynamics of two-phase flows in the injection part of a conventional ejector

The characteristics of two-phase flow through a ‘conventional’ convergent-nozzle in an entrainment chamber of an ejector apparatus are described in this paper. A unique data set comprising 350 data points was generated in an air-water horizontal test-rig. Two sets of flow conditions were established, the first one including high liquid - low gas fluids with void fractions less than 0.55, and the second one involving high gas - low liquid fluids with void fractions greater than 0.75. All considered flow-rates lied within the sub-critical flow region. Two-phase flow pressure drop multiplier based empirical correlations were developed to estimate the total mass flow-rates. In the high liquid region, Morris (1985) correlation was modified, resulting in less than 10% error. In the high gas region, two new correlations were proposed, showing less than 10% and 15% of errors, respectively. The established empirical correlations were related to other available multipliers for different geometric configurations including a Venturi, an orifice plate, a gate valve, and a globe valve and were compared to 20 other void fraction correlations. The Chisholm (1983b) and Huq and Loth (1992) correlations showed the highest similarities to the ones proposed for the high liquid and high gas regions, respectively

Health complaints and use of medicines among adolescents in Malta

Objective: To investigate self-reported health complaints and the use of medicines among adolescents in Malta. Methods: A self-administered questionnaire was used to survey self-reported health complaints, the use and the sources of medicines that had been accessed, during the preceding 3 months among adolescents attending secondary schools in Malta. A stratified random sample design generated a sample size of 514 students. The health complaints and use of medicines that were investigated included ear problems/hay fever/cold/cough, headache, skin problems, sport injuries, indigestion/diarrhoea/constipation, eye problems and menstrual pain (for girls). The use of vitamins and antibiotics was also investigated. Results: A total of 477 students participated in the final data collection. Correct information was submitted by 474 students, (aged 14-16 years), who formed the analytical sample, of which 53.8% were girls. The students reported a mean number of 2.70 (SD = 1.39) out of a total of 7 health complaints and 90.3% reported using at least 1 medicine during the preceding 3 months. The community pharmacy was cited as the most commonly accessed source for most of the medicines that were investigated. A proportion of 24.3% of the students had taken at least 1 medicine without adult guidance during the preceding 3 months. Almost 10% of those who had taken antibiotics, had accessed them from the home medicine cabinet. Conclusion: A high proportion of adolescents in Malta reported the use of medicines to alleviate the symptoms of common health complaints. This result is concordant with previous research carried out in the United Kingdom, Germany, Slovakia and Kuwait. A considerable proportion of students in this study had obtained medicines without adult guidance and accessed antibiotics from the home medicine cabinet. This highlights the importance of carefully designed education programs for adolescents that will integrate information about the proper use of medicines.peer-reviewe

Knowledge and sources of information about medicines among adolescents in Malta

Objective: To investigate knowledge of medicines and sources of information about medicines among adolescents in Malta. Methods: A self-administered questionnaire was used to survey knowledge of medicines and information sources among adolescents attending secondary schools in Malta. A random stratified sample design generated a sample size of 514 students. Knowledge of medicines was investigated by questions that included topics about the efficacy of medicines, proper communication during a medical consultation, the safety of medicines, antibiotic use and pictograms. Results: The analytical sample, of which 53.8% were girls, was made up of 474 students, aged 14- 16 years. The students obtained a mean score of 22.92 points (SD = 4.31) out of a maximum of 32 points for medicine knowledge. More than 30.0% of the respondents did not mark the correct answer for 40.6% of the questions that investigated knowledge of medicines. The family physician, community pharmacist and parents were the sources of information that were mostly cited. A proportion of 4.4% had obtained information from the teacher. A quarter of the respondents (24.7%) had obtained information from friends/schoolmates, young relatives or the media, generally television (17.3%). Conclusion: Although the level of knowledge about medicines among this study sample of Maltese students was good, there appeared to be particular misconceptions with regard to important aspects associated with the proper use of medicines. These findings highlight the need to educate adolescents about the proper use of medicines. The most important information providers about medicines appeared to be the physician, pharmacist and parents. It is being suggested that education campaigns should be organized in order to help parents guide adolescents on how to use medicines appropriately. In addition, adolescents would benefit if more information about the proper use of medicines would be disseminated by means of television programs and school-based health education curricula.peer-reviewe

An analysis of gender differences in self-reported heaith, use of medicines and access to information sources about medicines among adolescents

Adolescence is a key period in the emergence of gender differences in health that persist into adulthood. Knowledge about health-related gender differences among adolescents could be instrumental in informing policy and practice to effect health improvement among this age group. The main objectives of this study were lherefore to investigate gender differences in self-reported health complaints and use of medicines during the preceding 3 months and access to information sources about medicines among adolescents in Malta. A self-administered questionnaire was distributed among adolescents attending secondary schools in Malta. A stratified :-andom sample design generated a sample size of 514 students. Common health complaints, use of medicines, and sources of information about medicines were investigated by means of author-designed checklists. The analytical sample was formed from 474 usable questionnaires collected from students aged 14-16 years, of which .8% were females. In general, a femaie excess emerged for health complaints and use of medicines except for sport injuries and use of vitamins. Gender differences were statistically significant for a female excess in the retrieval of information from the package insert (p < .001 ), parents or adult relatives (p < .01) and friends or schoolmates (p < .05). The findings of this study underscore the need for awareness of gender differences in the health o:f adolescents among health care providers, policy makers, and educators. An important implication of the findings is lhat the health needs of adolescents could be more equitably addressed by adopting a holistic patient-oriented approach particular to the health needs of each individual.peer-reviewe

Climate change and its impacts on elderly road users in Malta : a call for new policies?

Malta has a high elderly population. This increased rapidly throughout the years and is projected to further accelerate in the future. In 2011, the elderly population in Malta (60+) was of 98,786, representing 24% of the entire population. The number of elderly females exceeded that of the males (Figure 1). However, the increase between 2005 and 2011 was higher for males: +31%. This is an indication that due to several health improvements, life expectancy of elderly in Malta is increasing. Indeed, the Maltese elderly population is healthier than the EU-27 average. In 2010, the healthy life year indicator showed that on average, men and women in Malta at the age of 65 are expected to live a further 12 and 11.9 years respectively in a healthy condition (PwC, 2012).peer-reviewe

Reduced-order modelling for high-speed aerial weapon aerodynamics

In this work a high-fidelity low-cost surrogate of a computational fluid dynamics analysis tool was developed. This computational tool is composed of general and physics- based approximation methods by which three dimensional high-speed aerodynamic flow- field predictions are made with high efficiency and an accuracy which is comparable with that of CFD. The tool makes use of reduced-basis methods that are suitable for both linear and non-linear problems, whereby the basis vectors are computed via the proper orthogonal decomposition (POD) of a training dataset or a set of observations. The surrogate model was applied to two flow problems related to high-speed weapon aerodynamics. Comparisons of surrogate model predictions with high-fidelity CFD simulations suggest that POD-based reduced-order modelling together with response surface methods provide a reliable and robust approach for efficient and accurate predictions. In contrast to the many modelling efforts reported in the literature, this surrogate model provides access to information about the whole flow-field. In an attempt to reduce the up-front cost necessary to generate the training dataset from which the surrogate model is subsequently developed, a variable-fidelity POD- based reduced-order modelling method is proposed in this work for the first time. In this model, the scalar coefficients which are obtained by projecting the solution vectors onto the basis vectors, are mapped between spaces of low and high fidelities, to achieve high- fidelity predictions with complete flow-field information. In general, this technique offers an automatic way of fusing variable-fidelity data through interpolation and extrapolation schemes together with reduced-order modelling (ROM). Furthermore, a study was undertaken to investigate the possibility of modelling the transonic flow over an aerofoil using a kernel POD–based reduced-order modelling method. By using this type of ROM it was noticed that the weak non-linear features of the transonic flow are accurately modelled using a small number of basis vectors. The strong non-linear features are only modelled accurately by using a large number of basis vectors.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo