Education and Training Outcomes: University Graduates in Zimbabwe During the 1980s

A ZJER research survey.Despite the undoubted importance of university educated personnel, relatively little is known about what graduates from UZ have done once they have completed their studies. The university itself conducted a first destination survey of graduates in 1989 (University of Zimbabwe, 1990) but no comprehensive tracer surveys have been undertaken of graduates who have been in the labour market for at least a few years. This article summarises the findings of a tracer survey of two groups of UZ graduates who first enrolled at the university in 1980-1981 and 1985. When properly undertaken (in particular when response rates are reasonably high), tracer surveys provide invaluable information on the current activities of individuals who have completed specific types of education and training. In fact, tracer surveys are increasingly seen as an integral component of a new approach to ‘manpower planning’ which relies primarily on micro-level ‘labor market analysis’ of well delineated occupations or occupational groups. (Bennell et al, 1991; Godfrey, 1991; Psacharopoulos, 1991

A beam search approach to solve the convex irregular bin packing problem with guillotine cuts

This paper presents a two dimensional convex irregular bin packing problem with guillotine cuts. The problem combines the challenges of tackling the complexity of packing irregular pieces, guaranteeing guillotine cuts that are not always orthogonal to the edges of the bin, and allocating pieces to bins that are not necessarily of the same size. This problem is known as a two-dimensional multi bin size bin packing problem with convex irregular pieces and guillotine cuts. Since pieces are separated by means of guillotine cuts, our study is restricted to convex pieces.A beam search algorithm is described, which is successfully applied to both the multi and single bin size instances. The algorithm is competitive with the results reported in the literature for the single bin size problem and provides the first results for the multi bin size problem

Automated scheduling of hostel room allocation using genetic algorithm

Due to the rapid growth of the student population in tertiary institutions in many developing countries, hostel space has become one of the most important resources in university. Therefore, the decision of student selection and hostel room allocation is indeed a critical issue for university administration. This paper proposes a hierarchical heuristics approach to cope with hostel room allocation problem. The proposed approach involves selecting eligible students using rank based selection method and allocating selected students to the most suitable hostel room possible via the implementation of a genetic algorithm (GA). We also have examined the effects of using different weight associated with constraints on the performance of the GA. Results obtained from the experiments illustrate the feasibility of the suggested approach in solving the hostel room allocation problem

Postanaesthetic spinal cord myelopathy in a Welsh section D pony

© 2019 British Veterinary Association. A healthy two-year-old, male entire Welsh section D pony presenting for cryptorchid castration failed to recover from an uneventful anaesthetic. Clinical signs classical of spinal cord myelopathy were evident in recovery. Despite supportive therapy and an initial improvement in clinical signs, the pony deteriorated and was euthanased the following day

Exploring the anthelmintic properties of Australian native shrubs with respect to their potential role in livestock grazing systems

We measured in vitro anthelmintic activity in extracts from 85 species of Australian native shrub, with a view to identifying species able to provide a degree of worm control in grazing systems. Approximately 40% of the species showed significant activity in inhibiting development of Haemonchus contortus larvae. The most active extracts showed IC50 values of 60–300 mg/ml. Pre-incubation with polyvinylpolypyrrolidine removed the activity from some extracts, implicating tannins as the bioactive agent, while in other cases the pre-incubation had no effect, indicating the presence of other anthelmintic compounds. Plant reproductive maturity (onset of flowering or fruiting) was associated with increasing anthelmintic activity in some species. Variability was observed between plants of the same species growing in different environments, while variation between individual plants of the same species within a single field suggests the existence of distinct chemotypes. Significant activity against adult H. contortus worms in vitro was also demonstrated in a limited number of extracts tested against this life stage. Our study indicates that there is potential for Australian native shrubs to play an anthelmintic role in grazing systems, and highlights some plant biology factors which will need to be considered in order to maximize any anthelmintic effects.A. C. Kotze, J. O’Grady, J. Emms, A. F. Toovey, S. Hughes, P. Jessop, M. Bennell P. E. Vercoe and D. K. Revel

Dynamic scheduling of aircraft landings

This paper considers the scheduling of aircraft landings on a single runway. There are time window constraints for each aircraft’s landing time, and minimum separation times between consecutive landings, where the separation times depend on the weight classes of the two landing aircraft. A multi-objective formulation takes account of runway throughput, earliness and lateness, and the cost of fuel arising from aircraft manoeuvres and additional flight time incurred to achieve the landing schedule. The paper investigates both the static/off-line problem where details of the arriving flights are known in advance, and the dynamic/on-line problem where flight arrival information becomes available over time. Under dynamic scheduling, the algorithm makes periodic updates to the previous schedule to take into account the aircraft that are newly available. We investigate dynamic programing and local search implementations for the static and dynamic problem using random test data and real data from London Heathrow airport

A Comprehensive Education and Prevention Program for Student-Athletes: A Life Skills/Experiential Learning Model

The purpose of this longitudinal drug prevention program sponsored by the NCAA was to provide a unique experiential learning approach for student-athletes. Data were obtained from freshman student-athletes before and after a fall semester drug education course via a questionnaire measuring self-esteem, knowledge, attitudes, frequency of usage, risk factors, and demographic variables. In this program, freshman student-athletes were required to enroll in a one-credit health education "Values and Health" course during the fall semester. Topics included stress management skills, sports nutrition, eating disorders, sexuality, date rape, and, most importantly, five session on alcohol use and abuse. The authors collecgted 158 freshman drug questionnaires prior to the start of the program, and collected 43 post-tests after the course for matched data. They also collected data from 33 senior track athletes. For a control group, they also surveyed 60 club sport athletes and 87 non-athletes. The data for all groups was the Student-Athlete Service Questionnaire which included questions from the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale. MANOVAs were computed for four dependent measures (self-esteem, knowledge, attitude, and risk factors) and independent variables (drug user/non-user, subject sex, sprot type, parental income cateogry, financial aid status, and time) were examined for each drug category. The effectiveness of the freshman program was analyzed, and further comparisons were made with other student-athlete and non-athlete groups. Alcohol was found to be the most widely used drug, while use of performance and societal drugs was extremely low. The freshman program was found to have a significant impact on enhancing drug knowledge, as findings indicated freshman athletes (especially in non-contact sports) are at a higher risk for recreational drug use than other athletes and non-athletes. Additional multivariate analyses examined other attitudinal and psychological variables

My joint pain, a web-based resource, effects on education and quality of care at 24 months

Objective: To evaluate the effects of the updated version of an evidence-based osteoarthritis (OA) resource and consumer hub, 'My Joint Pain' website, on health education and quality of care over 12 months.Methods: Using a classic quasi-experimental design, participants with symptomatic hip or knee OA were recruited across Australia to evaluate the 'My Joint Pain' website, compared to a control group of non-users from 12 to 24 months. Outcome measures included the Health Education Impact Questionnaire (HEIQ) and the OA Quality Indicator (OAQI) questionnaire. The changes from 12 to 24 months in the HEIQ were evaluated using a generalised linear model. The differences between users and non-users in the OAQI were evaluated using a chi-square test.Results: A total of 277 eligible participants with symptomatic hip or knee OA were recruited at baseline, and 122 participants completed the 24-month surveys (users: n = 35, non-users: n = 87). There was no significant difference between users and non-users for the HEIQ scores at 24 months after adjustments for age, sex and body mass index (BMI). Users had higher emotional distress scores than non-users in univariable analysis. When compared with non-users in the OAQI, users showed favourable changes in receiving information about "self-management" and "acetaminophen" and "non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs)" from 12 to 24 months.Conclusion: The evaluation of the updated 'My Joint Pain' website didn't find significant improvements in terms of health education, but it may help delivering useful information about self-management and appropriate use of pharmacological treatments. More strategies are needed to facilitate the uptake of evidence-based self-management and education online resources for OA consumers