External beam irradiation of myocardial carcinoid metastases: a case report

The heart is an exceedingly rare site of metastatic involvement in carcinoid tumors. Only nineteen cases have been described in the literature over the past 30 years. We report here on a patient who presented with progressive carcinoid syndrome despite surgical resection of her liver metastases. She was found to have cardiac metastases on inidium-111-pentetreotide scintigraphy and subsequently underwent external beam radiation to the heart resulting in symptomatic palliation of her syndrome and objective radiographic response. To our knowledge, this is the first reported case of metastatic cardiac carcinoid treated with external beam irradiation

Australian Examples of the role of soils in environmental problems

Will everyone, please at some stage during the next few days take hold of a handful of soil and show it some respect? Grabsome, take a hard look at it, marvel at its workings, sing in praise of its chemistry, bless its bugs for being there and beforepiacing it on the ground, say thank you. If ever the environment had a poor relation, it is the soil. It has none of the romanceof furry animals, birds or butterflies and yet it is fundamental to life on eart

Historic and Environmental Significance of Ecological Communities in NSW, Australia

Colonisation in the late 18th century and subsequent settlement in New South Wales, Australia has led to the native vegetation on the more arable soils being cleared, leaving only scattered remnants of the original vegetation. These vegetation remnants have become of natural heritage significance and are now protected under State and National legislation. Vegetation communities on sandstone-derived soils, not suitable for agriculture, have also been reserved in National Parks since the 1890s. The case studies of saltmarsh restoration and the planning of three cities illustrate that legal recognition of the natural heritage value of the remnant vegetation contributes to improved ecologically sustainable outcomes. The presence of a listed vulnerable saltmarsh species Wilsonia backhousei led to the restoration of the degraded saltmarsh community in an urban redevelopment. The identification of corridors of conservation and heritage significance are central issues for the development of Appin-Wilton and of Spring Farm, part of the planned three cities. The case studies show the historic loss of environmental heritage vegetation and the implementation of conservation planning to accommodate the expanding population of Sydney. Application of environmental legislation has led to natural heritage vegetation being conserved and enhanced, hence reducing the environmental footprints of urban growth

A multidisciplinary, multicultural short course giving young engineers a global perspective on professional practice

Since 2001 The International Institute of Women in Engineering (IIWE)at EPF, a Grande Ecole in France, has conducted a short course aimed at both female and male final year undergraduate or recently graduated engineers. The objectives of the course are to introduce students to the broad concepts and global issues they will encounter in their career and to initiate cultural awareness and communication skills required for the ever changing workplace. To demonstrate the success of this initiative, candidates were required to complete the same questionnaire prior to the commencement and at the conclusion of the course. This paper reports on some of the strategies used to engage international students in the course activities, and discusses the results of the 2006 before and after- course surveys

Posters: A means for both technical and social communication

Posters are used to convey information concisely and clearly. It requires judgement to decide on how much information to include, whether this information should be presented in a graphical or textual form, and how to organise the information in the space of the poster. A poster is the initial assessment task at the short course run by the International Institute of Women in Engineering (IIWE) at EPF, Ecole d'ingenieurs generaliste, and in association with ParisX1 University. This three week short course has been offered since 2001 and is intended for recently graduated or final year engineering students from diverse cultural and disciplinary backgrounds. The poster was chosen as the initial assessment task because young professionals are generally asked to present in this way at professional conferences. There were several aims associated with use of the poster: 1. to develop students' poster making skills 2. to help students who are shy or lacking confidence in English skills to be able to have a means of communication with each other and with staff 3. to initiate the discussion around the sustainability theme of the course. The poster display also defines the participants' space in a foreign university - it defines 'our space' for the duration of the course. The posters are assessed against criteria for both content and visual impact by three members of staff who provide feedback to the participants. An award for best poster is presented at the end of the course to recognise the skill involved in creating an effective poster. Participants in the 2008 IIWE course were surveyed to determine the effectiveness of presenting and using a poster considering these aims. This paper shows that the response was very positive in regards to the poster being useful for both gaining an understanding of fellow participants and their discipline and cultural diversity. The introduction of the concept of the individual environmental footprint and its link to the sustainability theme of the workshop was not so obvious to the participants and requires further development by the authors

CTC and international research and information systems

There is a long history of creating digital libraries of legal materials in general and of international legal materials in particular. This article highlights the history of several noteworthy examples of earlier digital libraries. It then describes the creation of the Cape Town Convention Academic Project digital library. Finally, the article applies lessons learned from the histories of the earlier libraries to analyse issues the Cape Town Convention library may face in the future