An assessment of the recreational fishery in the St Lucia estuarine system, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa

St Lucia is one of the largest estuarine systems in Africa, and attracts thousands of anglers each year. Catch card data from the National Marine Linefish System for the years 1986–1999 were analysed to determine catch composition, catch per unit effort (cpue) and seasonality of catches by recreational anglers. Because not all anglers completed catch cards, estimates of total catch were made using additional data on the number of private boat outings, the number of boat trailers at boat slipways and the number of boats recorded entering the campsite gates during 1992 and 1993. In all, 27 fish families, constituting 55 species, were recorded by recreational anglers. Dusky kob Argyrosomus japonicus, spotted grunter Pomadasys commersonnii, perch Acanthopagrus berda, Natal stumpnose Rhabdosargus sarba, springer Elops machnata and mini-kob Johnius dorsalis were the most prominent species caught in terms of numbers and mass. Catch rates expressed numerically (fish angler-1 h-1) peaked during the summer and early winter. However, in terms of mass, catch rates peaked during late winter and spring, when there were increased landings of large dusky kob. Fluctuations in cpue were linked to salinity and estuary mouth conditions (i.e. mouth closure). Despite annual fluctuations in cpue, regression analysis revealed an overall downward trend for the dominant species (dusky kob and spotted grunter) and a gradual increase for stumpnose, perch and springer, but with the exception of stumpnose, these trends were not significant. Socio-economic aspects of the fishery were also investigated by conducting an independent boat-angler survey. The value of the recreational fishery, in terms of accommodation and direct angler expenditure, was estimated to be in the region of R9 million during 1992. Angler attitudes towards fishing regulations were positive and anglers generally had a good knowledge of the regulations for target species. Based on this assessment, a number of suggestions are made regarding the future management of the recreational fishery at St Lucia.Keywords: catch and effort, management, recreational angling, socio-economics, St Lucia estuarine systemAfrican Journal of Marine Science 2002, 24: 263–27

Fathers' coping strategies and family environment when college freshmen leave home

The purposes of this study were (a) to study the family environment, as perceived by the father before and after the college freshman leaves home; (b) to explore the extent to which fathers employ coping strategies as they make the transition into a new family phase; (c) to assess whether exposure to a parent orientation program explains changes in family environment and coping strategies; and (d) to assess whether the sex of the child entering college explains changes in family environment and coping strategies. Questionnaires were mailed to a systematically random sample of fathers of entering freshmen intending to live in the residence halls of The University of North Carolina at Greensboro in the Fall of 1986. The final sample who volunteered to participate consisted of 143 white fathers who were mailed posttest questionnaires 6 to 8 weeks after their child left home. Independent variables were sex of child, distance from UNCG, size of community, birth order of child entering UNCG, father's educational level, and attendance at Step Ahead—a parent orientation program. Dependent variables were difference scores (posttest-pretest) on six subscales of the Family Environment Scale (FES) and the total score on the Family Coping Strategies Scale (F-COPES). Statistical procedures used were t tests and multiple regression

The effectiveness of secondary schools' guidance services

The educational system in our culture has been established "to make explicit those cultural values in which we are reared and then to lead the student to make choices which are as conscious and as wise as possible." These choices, be they vocational, occupational, or educational, are means by which man desires to promote his acceptance in society and thereby rise on the social ladder. Paralleling this social ladder, today's industrialized society has given rise to an educational ladder that provides man with a legitimate means of social mobility. At various levels of this ladder, one must stop and evaluate the role that he wishes to take upon himself - a role that meets a necessity of our industrial society. He must meet the requirements for completing each step of his educational career along the way, and in so doing, ask himself - can I fulfill society's expectations of this particular position

A phenomenological inquiry into the concept of home

This inquiry considers a coalescence of epistemology and ontology as an initial stage to thinking about the condition of being-at-home-in-a-world. Martin Heidegger 's work on existence and being is discussed as a consideration of the relationship between self, world and earth. In addition to a Heideggerian perspective on existence, attention is given to Edmund Husserl and Martin Buber. In particular, Husserl’ s work with inter subjectivity and Buber s work with relationship as an expression of distance and engagement are considered as a means of expanding Heidegger 's thoughts on being in the world

Paintings and drawings : a private lifestyle

The paintings and drawings I am exhibiting in this show are autobiographical, being glimpses of my own surroundings: my cats and the interior of my house. I have chosen to deal with interiors because the dark colors of my old furnishings and the shadow patterns cast by my shaded lamps are very attractive to me. The cats, living there, naturally enter the picture. I treat them as beautiful womanshapes in elaborate surroundings or put them in comical or anecdotal situations. However, they read most legibly as forms among other forms. The drawings and sketches of them are more explicit as to the cats' characters than the paintings are, and I am also better able to catch their acrobatics in drawings. Then I often think of them as Degas' ballerinas. The interiors, when dealt with simply as interiors, become a series of shapes and colors forming a close space packed with objects and shadow patterns. The room and its furnishings have their own life and inhabit the space with no need of other forms to cause interest for me. The colors of the objects change with the light and I exaggerate this change. I also like to use the colors, exaggerated thus, to form the mood of the room. The shapes are those I've chosen to live with—rounded, fat, arabesque. I am comfortable in changing their character with color or their importance with placement. I often exclude a large part of what is within my vision to concentrate on a detail of the scene. This makes the feel of the work closer, in either a cozy, inviting, or introspective way

Leadership behavior of selected community college presidents and situational characteristics of their institutions as variables affecting program evaluation

The purpose of this study was to compare the leadership behavior of presidents of North Carolina community colleges who had developed and implemented high quality program evaluation with those presidents who had not and to compare the degree of situational control produced in their respective community colleges. Of the 58 community colleges in North Carolina, 40 had presidents who had held their positions for at least 3 years. These were selected for the study. To provide a measure of leadership behavior, the Leadership Behavior Description Questionnaire was sent to subordinates of each president. Since Fiedler's Leadership Contingency Model provided a basis for describing effectiveness of leader behavior, Fiedler's Situational Control Scales were sent to each president. The behaviors identified by these two instruments formed the independent variables. The incidence of high quality academic program evaluation, the dependent variable, was determined by means of a survey administered to the individual in each community college charged with the responsibility of program evaluation. The design procedure was based upon four research questions with predictions stated in seven hypotheses

On the Perturbative Stability of Quantum Field Theories in de Sitter Space

We use a field theoretic generalization of the Wigner-Weisskopf method to study the stability of the Bunch-Davies vacuum state for a massless, conformally coupled interacting test field in de Sitter space. We find that in $\lambda \phi^4$ theory the vacuum does {\em not} decay, while in non-conformally invariant models, the vacuum decays as a consequence of a vacuum wave function renormalization that depends \emph{singularly} on (conformal) time and is proportional to the spatial volume. In a particular regularization scheme the vacuum wave function renormalization is the same as in Minkowski spacetime, but in terms of the \emph{physical volume}, which leads to an interpretation of the decay. A simple example of the impact of vacuum decay upon a non-gaussian correlation is discussed. Single particle excitations also decay into two particle states, leading to particle production that hastens the exiting of modes from the de Sitter horizon resulting in the production of \emph{entangled superhorizon pairs} with a population consistent with unitary evolution. We find a non-perturbative, self-consistent "screening" mechanism that shuts off vacuum decay asymptotically, leading to a stationary vacuum state in a manner not unlike the approach to a fixed point in the space of states.Comment: 36 pages, 4 figures. Version to appear in JHEP, more explanation

HIV control in low-income countries in sub-Saharan Africa: are the right things done?

HIV control efforts in sub-Saharan Africa meet with difficulties. Incidence and prevalence remains high, and little behaviour change seems to have taken place. The focus on HIV control has shifted to anti-retroviral therapy (ART), although this is unlikely either to be cost-effective or the reduce the incidence of HIV. There is reason to change the current approach. Three questions arise: Is there a need to adjust the view on the determinants of the HIV epidemic in sub-Saharan Africa? Are the right things being done to control HIV? Are the things that are being done, done in the right way? We try to answer these questions. The determinants of the epidemic are reviewed and summarized in Figure 2. The need to adjust the view on the determinants and get rid of myths is stressed. A possible, locally adaptable intervention mix is outlined. Male circumcision is a key intervention where socially acceptable. Operationalisation and organisational changes are briefly discussed. Conclusively, the need for a “social revolution” through the opening up of a discussion on sexuality in the community, as well as a focus on cost-effective interventions and a slimmed down, more effective organisation is underlined. Such steps might make it possible to considerably reduce HIV-incidence, even in low-income countries

Biphasic activation of complement and fibrinolysis during the human nasal allergic response

Complement, coagulation and fibrinolysis contribute to the pathology of many respiratory diseases. Here we detail the biphasic activation of these pathways following nasal allergen challenge. Understanding these mechanisms may lead to therapeutic insight in common respiratory diseases

Testing matter effects in propagation of atmospheric and long-baseline neutrinos

We quantify our current knowledge of the size and flavor structure of the matter effects in the evolution of atmospheric and long-baseline neutrinos based solely on the analysis of the corresponding neutrino data. To this aim we generalize the matter potential of the Standard Model by rescaling its strength, rotating it away from the e-e sector, and rephasing it with respect to the vacuum term. This phenomenological parametrization can be easily translated in terms of non-standard neutrino interactions in matter. We show that in the most general case, the strength of the potential cannot be determined solely by atmospheric and long-baseline data. However its flavor composition is very much constrained and the present determination of the neutrino masses and mixing is robust under its presence. We also present an update of the constraints arising from this analysis in the particular case in which no potential is present in the e-mu and e-tau sectors. Finally we quantify to what degree in this scenario it is possible to alleviate the tension between the oscillation results for neutrinos and antineutrinos in the MINOS experiment and show the relevance of the high energy part of the spectrum measured at MINOS.Comment: PDFLaTeX file using JHEP3 class, 25 pages, 7 figures included. Accepted for publication in JHE