Cape Town's domestic cats : prey and movement patterns in deep-urban and urban-edge areas

Includes bibliographical references (p. 74-85).Domestic and feral cats (Felis catus) have impacted negatively on native wildlife on both islands and on the mainland. Impacts range from a reduction in numbers of prey species to local extinctions, especially of birds on islands. This study provides the first data on the impacts of domestic cats on wildlife on the African mainland continent by comparing the diet and movement patterns of cats that live within urban areas with those of cats that live on the urban?edge adjacent to natural areas of Cape Town, South Africa. The findings suggest that domestic cats in urban areas of Cape Town pose a significant threat to wildlife, with indigenous small mammals most at risk. This agrees with many other studies carried out in New Zealand, Australia and the United Kingdom

The Only Way Out Is To Die: Perceptions and Experiences of Rural, Homebound, Older Diabetics

The purpose of this phenomenological study was to investigate the meaning of diabetes, as perceived and experienced by rural, homebound, 65-year and older, diabetics requiring insulin. The sixty-five year and older persons are disproportionately affected by diabetes. They are more likely than younger diabetics to have co-morbidities, disabilities and difficulty preventing diabetic complications. Guidelines for diabetes management and treatment developed by the American Diabetes Association are not specifically targeted for the 65-year and older population. Phenomenological research was used to examine and describe the understanding of diabetes from perspectives of older diabetics. A purposive sample of participants was recruited from Senior Agencies referrals in a Southern State, following University of Tennessee Institutional Review Board approval. Participants were 65 years of age or older, female, required insulin, homebound, lived alone, lucid, English speaking, and willing to participate. Unstructured, audiotaped, face-to-face interviews were conducted individually in each person’s home. Thomas and Polio’s (2002) phenomenological method, which begins with bracketing, was used for collecting and analyzing the qualitative data in this study. Data was reviewed by the researcher and selected transcripts were read aloud to members of an interpretive, interdisciplinary, phenomenology research group at The University of Tennessee, Knoxville, to determine emerging themes described by the participants. The group assisted the researcher in identifying thematic structures from the data. This phenomenological study revealed that diabetes had forever changed lives. Four figural themes emerged; the predominant theme was “you just go on.” Remaining themes were: “your body will let you know: if you miss it you’ll wind up in a coma;” I thought I was fine, but I wasn’t;” and “only way out is to die.” Participants seemed pleased to have the opportunity to describe their experiences to a professional health care provider. Their perceptions and experiences of living with diabetes led to introspection and existential questioning. The participant’s experiences were unique in quality and meaning. Based on the outcome of this study, this population requires a different approach to diabetes self-management. Understanding an older person’s perceptions and experiences with diabetes may provide a foundation for considering new diabetic protocols. Nursing interventions could include diabetes regimens planned with consideration of the context of the person’s life, which could be more efficacious than conventional regimens

The Pursuit of Divinity: Religious Faith and Fear in Late Victorian Women\u27s Poetry

The relationship that the Victorians had with their God(s) was not an easy one. Despite the age\u27s oft mocked attachment to religiosity, many individuals underwent profound re-evaluations of their faith, spurred by the combined forces of legislation that challenged the monolithic Anglican Church and the burgeoning fields of High Criticism, scientific inquiry, and technology. For some, religious introspection led to profound spirituality and a deeper understanding of their Christian faith. Others were drawn to alternative systems of faith characterized by a fluidness of belief. Most found the process of navigating their faith to be terrifying because religion was a high-stakes venture that not only affected their everyday lives but also the afterlife. Death and dying, as well as the trappings of funereal rites and burial practices, take on particular urgency for the Victorians because garnering a comfortable place in heaven was no longer a surety. In literature, gothic conventions give voice to the anxiety that, for the Victorians, characterized issues of faith. In Goblin Market and Other Poems, Christina Rossetti engages the female corpse tradition to illustrate the misplaced fear that many of her contemporaries associated with death and the afterlife. While arguing for a renewed faith in God, Rossetti enacts a radical revision of the female corpse tradition that gives agency to the traditionally silenced, objectified dead. Mary Elizabeth Coleridge employs negative capability in Fancy\u27s Following, where she fluidly combines religious and gothic discourse to demonstrate the necessity of tempering faith with a healthy sense of questioning and doubt, as humans are incapable of fully comprehending the divine. E. Nesbit\u27s hybridizes socialism and Christianity in Lays and Legends, where she suggests that all people are divine and, thus, should be granted social, political, and financial equality, which will extend the peace and plenty of the afterlife to the physical life. In The Bird-Bride: A Volume of Ballads and Sonnets, Graham R. Tomson\u27s posits that life has no divine purpose or reward; accordingly, all experiences, both positive and negative, must be embraced as ends in and of themselves

A Modular Multi-level Converter for Energy Management of Hybrid Energy-Storage Systems in Electric Vehicles

Electric vehicles (EVs) are substantial applications of clean energy. Their effectiveness for mainstream transportation is predicated on the efficient use of stored energy within the vehicles’ power pack. Among rechargeable storage solutions, lithium-ion (Li-ion) battery cells have high energy density making them suitable to supply the EVs’ average power. However, the peak power requirements of the vehicles exert stress on the Li-ion cells due to their low pulsating power capabilities. Ultracapacitors can be used instead as the power-pulsating storage elements given their superior power density. Incorporating the two cell types for energy storage signifies a hybrid configuration that leads to challenging tasks in managing the energy between cells due to varying cell dynamics. Therefore, this study investigated the design of an end-to-end hybrid energy-storage and management system. The limitations of existing power electronics and control schemes were identified based on comparative analysis, both on a cell level and on a system level. Subsequently, an energy system was developed that utilized modular multi-level converters to manage the energy between the different cell types. The formulated control strategy accounted for various power modes and added immense flexibility in charge sharing through diverse switching states. Furthermore, the proposed configuration eliminated the conventional need for a system level drive inverter feeding the EV motor. Electro-mechanical modeling results and physical design merits verified the proposed configuration’s effectiveness in improving EV efficiency

The Cross-Channel Migration of Irish Travellers

Until the late 1950s, Irish Travellers lived primarily in rural areas and travelled within relatively confined areas. With the urbanisation of the last quarter century, their traditional sources of income have dried up and they have had to adjust to very different circumstances. Emigration, whether temporary or permament, to Britain was one means oof adaptation. Plentiful opportunities for unskilled labour and generous welfare benefits were the main attraction. More recently, however, Ireland has become more attractive; in particular, Irish welfare benefits are now almost on a par with those in Britain

Gender Differences in Student Attitude toward Privacy in Facebook

Facebook is the leading social media. However, a user’s failure to configure Facebook’s privacy settings properly may lead to unwanted or harmful information disclosure. In effect, a user could be sharing private information, such as name, address, contact information, gender, birthdate, views and affiliations with everyone. In this study, we present the results of an examination of students’ use of privacy settings in Facebook as well as their attitudes toward the risks associated with usage of both Facebook and the Internet in general. We also look for the existence of gender differences. Potential weaknesses of this study and suggestions for future research are also discussed

Tectonic evolution of Lavinia Planitia, Venus

High resolution radar images from the Magellan spacecraft have revealed the first details of the morphology of the Lavinia Planitia region of Venus. Lavinia is a broad lowland over 2000 km across, centered at about 45 deg S latitude, 345 deg E longitude. Herein, the tectonic evolution of Lavinia is discussed, and its possible relationship to processes operating in the planet's interior. The discussion is restricted to the region from 37.3 to 52.6 deg S latitude and from about 340 to 0 deg E longitude. One of the most interesting characteristics of Lavinia is that the entire region possesses a regional tectonic framework of striking regularity. Lavinia is also transected by a complex pattern of belts of intense tectonic deformation known as ridge belts. Despite the gross topographic similarity of all of the ridge belts in Lavinia, they exhibit two rather distinct styles of near surface deformation. One is composed of sets of broad, arch-like ridges rising above the surrounding plains. In the other type, obvious fold-like ridges are rare to absent in the radar images. Both type show evidence for small amounts of shear distributed across the belts