Mine Free: Not Anytime Soon

Mine action is changing. This is not 1997 and what the international community has learned in the past eight years clearly indicates that the path forward is something different from what a literal reading of the Ottawa Convention would suggest. The Landmine Impact Survey process has demonstrated very clearly that only a small portion of the minefields—normally less than 20 percent—account for the vast majority of casualties and lost economic opportunities. The mine action community has a responsibility to profit from this new knowledge and to adjust its approach accordingly

The Landmine Impact Survey Process

On August 22, the United Nations certified the process and the results of the Landmine Impact Survey conducted in Yemen. This survey is the first of its kind to be performed in accordance with international standards and marks a revolutionary event in the field of humanitarian mine action. The enhanced quality of information gained through the impact survey will change the way that resources are allocated and operational plans developed. Sophisticated analysis can now take place in support of decision-makers at all levels and progress measured in terms of real value to affected populations

Professional education and the role of general practitioners in public health and population health

During their subsequent careers many GPs gain additional skills in areas such as epidemiology, health program management, evaluation, biostatistics and health economics.12 There are many Australian GPs who have gained qualifications such as a Master of Public Health, and there are many GP members among the Fellows of the Australasian Faculty of Public Health Medicine of the Royal Australasian College of Physicians, all contributing to the public health and population health focus of Australian general practice

The Goldilocks Effect: Human Infants Allocate Attention to Visual Sequences That Are Neither Too Simple Nor Too Complex

Human infants, like immature members of any species, must be highly selective in sampling information from their environment to learn efficiently. Failure to be selective would waste precious computational resources on material that is already known (too simple) or unknowable (too complex). In two experiments with 7- and 8-month-olds, we measure infants’ visual attention to sequences of events varying in complexity, as determined by an ideal learner model. Infants’ probability of looking away was greatest on stimulus items whose complexity (negative log probability) according to the model was either very low or very high. These results suggest a principle of infant attention that may have broad applicability: infants implicitly seek to maintain intermediate rates of information absorption and avoid wasting cognitive resources on overly simple or overly complex events

Lessons from the TAPS study - Message handling and appointment systems

The Threats to Australian Patient Safety (TAPS) Study collected 648 anonymous reports about threats to patient safety from a representative random sample of Australian general practitioners. These contained any events the GPs felt should not have happened, and would not want to happen again, regardless of who was at fault or the outcome of the event. This series of articles presents clinical lessons resulting from the TAPS study.2 page(s

GC Verification of the Spacecraft Atmosphere Monitor

International Space Station crew members face the unique challenge of maintaining air quality due to the volatile organic compounds (VOCs) that have the potential to accumulate at unsafe levels. The Spacecraft Atmosphere Monitor (SAM) is a miniature gas chromatograph/mass spectrometer (GCMS) designed to measure major constituents (such as N2, O2 and CO2) and trace VOCs within the cabin of the spacecraft. The gas chromatograph is responsible for separating the sample into its components in order to be characterized. The oven of the gas chromatograph must reach a temperature of 150°C in order to heat constituents of the analyte into the gas phase. The heater was tested to determine the proper operating parameters. An appropriate operating point was found to adequately heat the oven of the GC. Further work to determine the proper operating parameters of the preconcentrator (PC), a component of the instrument for adequate peak separation, should be done, leading to the improvement of the GCMS instrument for SAM