Probing the dusty stellar populations of the Local Volume Galaxies with JWST/MIRI

The Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI) for the {\em James Webb Space Telescope} (JWST) will revolutionize our understanding of infrared stellar populations in the Local Volume. Using the rich {\em Spitzer}-IRS spectroscopic data-set and spectral classifications from the Surveying the Agents of Galaxy Evolution (SAGE)-Spectroscopic survey of over a thousand objects in the Magellanic Clouds, the Grid of Red supergiant and Asymptotic giant branch star ModelS ({\sc grams}), and the grid of YSO models by Robitaille et al. (2006), we calculate the expected flux-densities and colors in the MIRI broadband filters for prominent infrared stellar populations. We use these fluxes to explore the {\em JWST}/MIRI colours and magnitudes for composite stellar population studies of Local Volume galaxies. MIRI colour classification schemes are presented; these diagrams provide a powerful means of identifying young stellar objects, evolved stars and extragalactic background galaxies in Local Volume galaxies with a high degree of confidence. Finally, we examine which filter combinations are best for selecting populations of sources based on their JWST colours.Comment: 16 pages, 7 figures, 2 online tables; accepted for publication in Ap

Is a School Based Educational Program Effective in Changing Knowledge Regarding the Prevention of Shaken Baby Syndrome?

Shaken baby syndrome (SBS) involves physiological and neuropsychological sequelae secondary to parental or caregiver handling of an infant or young child (Goldberg & Goldberg, 2002). According to the American Academy of Pediatrics (APA) (2001), non-accidental head injuries are the leading cause of traumatic death and cause of child abuse fatalities. The prognosis is extremely poor with a death rate of 26-36% and up to 78% of the survivors suffer long-term disability (Barlow & Minns, 2000). According to Prevent Violence Against Children Act, 2005 Wisconsin Act 165; SECTION 7.121.02(1)(L)6 educational SBS requirements are mandated, effective school year 2007-2008. Two instrument development studies were completed to examine reliability and validity of the USBS-13 instrument. Tenth grade students (N=260) were randomly assigned by classroom to intervention and control groups. The intervention included a 50 minute interactive class with a SBS SimulatorTM developed by Realityworks® (2009). The intervention group had significantly higher knowledge on post-test compared with the control group (p=.000). The intervention was found to be equally effective with males, which is of importance, since they are more often the perpetrator in SBS (Lazoritz, Baldwin & Kinney, 1997; National Center on Shaken Baby Syndrome, 2009)

Some thoughts about the value of an OECD international assessment framework for early childhood services in Aotearoa New Zealand

We were alerted to this warning from James Gee because it is from a chapter that reflects on assessment from a sociocultural-situated perspective. The New Zealand early childhood education curriculum, Te Whāriki, also takes this perspective and, in this short article, we argue that the use of Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) standardized tests to evaluate our early childhood education sector, while it may be perfectly ‘scientific’, could be disastrous for Te Whāriki

Community perceptions and practices of treatment seeking for childhood pneumonia: a mixed methods study in a rural district, Ghana

Abstract Background The World Health Organization recommends community case management of malaria and pneumonia for reduction of under-five mortality in developing countries. Caregivers’ perception and understanding of the illness influences the care a sick child receives. Studies in Ghana and elsewhere have routinely shown adequate recognition of malaria by caregivers. Similarly, evidence from Asia and some African countries have shown adequate knowledge on pneumonia. However, in Ghana, little has been documented about community awareness, knowledge, perceptions and management of childhood pneumonia particularly in the Dangme West district. Therefore this formative study was conducted to determine community perceptions of pneumonia for the purpose of informing the design and implementation of context specific health communication strategies to promote early and appropriate care seeking behaviour for childhood pneumonia. Methods A mixed method approach was adopted. Data were obtained from structured interviews (N = 501) and eight focus group discussions made up of 56 caregivers of under-fives and eight community Key Informants. Descriptive and inference statistics were used for the quantitative data and grounded theory to guide the analysis of the qualitative data. Results Two-thirds of the respondents had never heard the name pneumonia. Most respondents did not know about the signs and symptoms of pneumonia. For the few who have heard about pneumonia, causes were largely attributed to coming into contact with cold temperature in various forms. Management practices mostly were self-treatment with home remedies and allopathic care. Conclusion The low awareness and inadequate recognition of pneumonia implies that affected children may not receive prompt and appropriate treatment as their caregivers may misdiagnose the illness. Adequate measures need to be taken to create the needed awareness to improve care seeking behaviour

Keeper of the light

Keeper of the Light is an historical novel based on the true story of Mary Jane Hebden, a country gentleman’s daughter, who in 1839 at the age of 22 sails to New Zealand on the emigrant ship Duke of Roxburgh. There she is reunited with her fiancé George Bennett, a seedsman, who left on the Cuba two months earlier. It is a time of change in Britain. A youthful Queen Victoria has just come to the throne, and the combined works of Jane Austen have recently been published under her own name for the first time. The poor are suffering terrible financial hardship from loss of work caused by the Industrial Revolution, and the rising cost of food due to the Corn Laws. The New Zealand Land Company and the British Government have their eyes on the distant prize of New Zealand, and it is a race to see who will get there first. Against this background, a young English woman sets out on a 13,000 mile voyage halfway around the world in order to wed the man she loves. A journey that sees her running away from her home in Yorkshire, and ends with her taking on a man’s job in New Zealand in order to support her family. In Britannia, the fledging colony of the New Zealand Land Company, the ordinary lives of Mary and George – marriage, birth, work and death – are interspersed with extraordinary events like earthquakes, fire and floods. News to and from ‘home’ must travel by ship, and takes three to six months to arrive, if it arrives at all. A unforeseen change in circumstances forces Mary to take on a job as keeper of the temporary lighthouse at Pencarrow, the isolated headland at the entrance to Wellington harbour. She and her family live in a two-room cottage that is ‘neither wind- nor water-proof’ with a smoky lantern in the window that must be tended all night. Access is by boat, and the nearest town an eight-mile walk away along a rocky beach. The cottage is replaced with New Zealand’s first permanent lighthouse four years later, and Mrs Bennett becomes Head Keeper, the first – and only – female lighthouse keeper in New Zealand’s history. She must maintain her position in the face of opposition from the Assistant keeper, William Lyall, who complains to the authorities that he can’t manage with only a woman’s help. In all, Mary Jane Bennett held the position of Keeper of the Light at Pencarrow Head for ten years. Her part in New Zealand’s history deserves to be celebrated, and yet like many historical achievements by women, it remains little known, even in the country of her birth and in her adopted home. This novel sets out to tell her story in her own words, in a fictionalised re-telling of actual events

Terpene Constituents of Carrot Seed Oil

Organic Chemistr