Systems, interactions and macrotheory

A significant proportion of early HCI research was guided by one very clear vision: that the existing theory base in psychology and cognitive science could be developed to yield engineering tools for use in the interdisciplinary context of HCI design. While interface technologies and heuristic methods for behavioral evaluation have rapidly advanced in both capability and breadth of application, progress toward deeper theory has been modest, and some now believe it to be unnecessary. A case is presented for developing new forms of theory, based around generic “systems of interactors.” An overlapping, layered structure of macro- and microtheories could then serve an explanatory role, and could also bind together contributions from the different disciplines. Novel routes to formalizing and applying such theories provide a host of interesting and tractable problems for future basic research in HCI

Parallel representations: Career development in media and academic literature

This paper focuses on the portrayal of careers in the press, a subject minimally addressed in career development studies. It employs media content analysis to compare and map the language used in British print media when discussing careers with that in academic discourse. Using VOSViewer for text mapping and data visualisation, this study mirrors Lee et al. (2014)'s approach to systematically analyse 1,287 newspaper articles, identifying and exploring prevalent terms and concepts within career-themed articles. It highlights the intersection of media and career development studies, revealing how media narratives can influence the perception and discussion of career development

The seminal legacy of the Southern African Bird Atlas Project

The first Southern African Bird Atlas Project was launched in 1986 and gathered bird distribution data from six countries of southern Africa. The project culminated with the publication of The Atlas of Southern African Birds in 1997. The database generated by the project, seven million bird distribution records, has been widely used by four groups: environmental consultants (for example, to locate electricity transmission lines), conservationists (planning conservation strategies), research scientists (especially macro-ecologists and biogeographers) and birders (ecotourism materials). By 2007, the database had spawned 50 research publications and eight Ph.D.s and master's degrees. These products are a tribute to the more than 5000 'citizen scientists', who gathered the bulk of the data. The atlas concept has been extended to frogs, reptiles, spiders and butterflies; a second bird atlas started in 2007 and will, for example, facilitate knowledge of the impact of environmental change on birds. The South African National Biodiversity Institute is playing a lead role in initiating these new projects

Aborsie: ’n Juridiese, etiese en regsetiese vraagstuk

In die geledere van skokkende en onetiese dade in die menslike samelewing, beklee aborsie ’n besondere plek. Vir wetenskaplike doeleindes kan aborsie oor die algemeen gedefinieer word as die skeiding van of afdrywing uit die moederlyf van die „produk” van konsepsie, synde ’n fetus (Geldenhuys, 1974:11; O’Donovan 1975:2). ’n Verdere element van die definisie, wat die blote afdrywing van die vrug gewoonlik kwalifiseer, is dat die fetus, met betrekking tot nageboortelike lewe gesproke, nie lewensvatbaar moes gewees het nie. Met die byvoeging van hierdie element tot die eie definisie word tans egter vertoef ten einde eers die belangrike vraag wanneer lewe ontstaan, te beantwoord

The comet 17P/Holmes 2007 outburst: the early motion of the outburst material

Context. On October 24, 2007 the periodic comet 17P/Holmes underwent an astonishing outburst that increased its apparent total brightness from magnitude V\sim17 up to V\sim2.5 in roughly two days. We report on Wendelstein 0.8 m telescope (WST) photometric observations of the early evolution stages of the outburst. Aims. We studied the evolution of the structure morphology, its kinematic, and estimated the ejected dust mass. Methods. We analized 126 images in the BVRI photometric bands spread between 26/10/2007 and 20/11/2007. The bright comet core appeared well separated from that one of a quickly expanding dust cloud in all the data, and the bulk of the latter was contained in the field of view of our instrument. The ejected dust mass was derived on the base of differential photometry on background stars occulted by the moving cloud. Results. The two cores were moving apart from each other at a relative projected constant velocity of (9.87 +/- 0.07) arcsec/day (0.135 +/-0.001 km/sec). In the inner regions of the dust cloud we observed a linear increase in size at a mean constant velocity of (14.6+/-0.3) arcsec/day (0.200+/-0.004 km/sec). Evidence of a radial velocity gradient in the expanding cloud was also found. Our estimate for the expanding coma's mass was of the order of 10^{-2}-1 comet's mass implying a significant disintegration event. Conclusions. We interpreted our observations in the context of an explosive scenario which was more probably originated by some internal instability processes, rather than an impact with an asteroidal body. Due to the peculiar characteristics of this event, further observations and investigations are necessary in order to enlight the nature of the physical processes that determined it.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures, A&A accepte

A rapid and low-cost DNA extraction method for isolating Escherichia coli DNA from animal stools

The price of commercial DNA extraction methods makes the routine use of polymerase chain reaction amplification (PCR) based methods rather costly for scientists in developing countries. A guanidium thiocayante-based DNA extraction method was investigated in this study for the isolation of Escherichia coli (E. coli) DNA from goat, chicken, pig, cow and human stool samples. Two versions of the lysis buffer, with and without _-casein, were tested to alleviate PCR inhibition associated with DNA isolated from stool samples. Results obtained show that, this method using the lysis buffer containing _-casein, produces PCR ready DNA at a fraction of the cost of commercial DNA extraction kits & copy; 2011 Academic Journals

SCOPE: Safer care for older persons (in residential) environments: A study protocol

BACKGROUND: The current profile of residents living in Canadian nursing homes includes elder persons with complex physical and social needs. High resident acuity can result in increased staff workload and decreased quality of work life. AIMS: Safer Care for Older Persons [in residential] Environments is a two year (2010 to 2012) proof-of-principle pilot study conducted in seven nursing homes in western Canada. The purpose of the study is to evaluate the feasibility of engaging front line staff to use quality improvement methods to integrate best practices into resident care. The goals of the study are to improve the quality of work life for staff, in particular healthcare aides, and to improve residents' quality of life. METHODS/DESIGN: The study has parallel research and quality improvement intervention arms. It includes an education and support intervention for direct caregivers to improve the safety and quality of their care delivery. We hypothesize that this intervention will improve not only the care provided to residents but also the quality of work life for healthcare aides. The study employs tools adapted from the Institute for Healthcare Improvement's Breakthrough Series: Collaborative Model and Canada's Safer Healthcare Now! improvement campaign. Local improvement teams in each nursing home (1 to 2 per facility) are led by healthcare aides (non-regulated caregivers) and focus on the management of specific areas of resident care. Critical elements of the program include local measurement, virtual and face-to-face learning sessions involving change management, quality improvement methods and clinical expertise, ongoing virtual and in person support, and networking. DISCUSSION: There are two sustainability challenges in this study: ongoing staff and leadership engagement, and organizational infrastructure. Addressing these challenges will require strategic planning with input from key stakeholders for sustaining quality improvement initiatives in the long-term care sector

The solar influence on the probability of relatively cold UK winters in the future

Recent research has suggested that relatively cold UK winters are more common when solar activity is low (Lockwood et al 2010 Environ. Res. Lett. 5 024001). Solar activity during the current sunspot minimum has fallen to levels unknown since the start of the 20th century (Lockwood 2010 Proc. R. Soc. A 466 303–29) and records of past solar variations inferred from cosmogenic isotopes (Abreu et al 2008 Geophys. Res. Lett. 35 L20109) and geomagnetic activity data (Lockwood et al 2009 Astrophys. J. 700 937–44) suggest that the current grand solar maximum is coming to an end and hence that solar activity can be expected to continue to decline. Combining cosmogenic isotope data with the long record of temperatures measured in central England, we estimate how solar change could influence the probability in the future of further UK winters that are cold, relative to the hemispheric mean temperature, if all other factors remain constant. Global warming is taken into account only through the detrending using mean hemispheric temperatures. We show that some predictive skill may be obtained by including the solar effect