Now the wars are over: The past, present and future of Scottish battlefields

Battlefield archaeology has provided a new way of appreciating historic battlefields. This paper provides a summary of the long history of warfare and conflict in Scotland which has given rise to a large number of battlefield sites. Recent moves to highlight the archaeological importance of these sites, in the form of Historic Scotland’s Battlefields Inventory are discussed, along with some of the problems associated with the preservation and management of these important cultural sites

A foundation assessment of the influence of IT management practices on customer relationship management (CRM) in a large Australian federal government agency

There is currently a thrust in Australia to move to whole of e-government. At the centre of this initiative is the need to ensure high quality customer relationship management (CRM). There is a paucity of research into CRM in the public sector and this research breaks new ground by exploring the level of customer relationship management (CRM) implementation in a large Australian Federal Government agency. Using a quantitative survey approach, data were collected through the distribution of an electronic questionnaire to IT heads of 23 departments in one large Australian Federal Government agency. The main finding of the research is that although a few of the departments have implemented CRM at the highest level, the majority of the departments are still in the lower levels of CRM implementation. Differences in IT management practices and their impact on CRM status are also measured and their impact on CRM implementation is discussed. Finally, recommendations for moving to more advanced stages of CRM implementations are made

MOBILE and the provision of total joint replacement

Modern joint replacements have been available for 45 years, but we still do not have clear indications for these interventions, and we do not know how to optimize the outcome for patients who agree to have them done. The MOBILE programme has been investigating these issues in relation to primary total hip and knee joint replacements, using mixed methods research

Biochemical and clinical response after umbilical cord blood transplant in a boy with early childhood-onset beta-mannosidosis.

BACKGROUND: Deficiency in the enzyme β-mannosidase was described over three decades ago. Although rare in occurrence, the presentation of childhood-onset β-mannosidase deficiency consists of hypotonia in the newborn period followed by global development delay, behavior problems, and intellectual disability. No effective pharmacologic treatments have been available. METHODS: We report 2-year outcomes following the first umbilical cord blood transplant in a 4-year-old boy with early childhood-onset disease. RESULTS: We show restoration of leukocyte β-mannosidase activity which remained normal at 2 years posttransplant, and a simultaneous increase in plasma β-mannosidase activity and dramatic decrease in urine-free oligosaccharides were also observed. MRI of the brain remained stable. Neurocognitive evaluation revealed test point gains, although the magnitude of improvement was less than expected for age, causing lower IQ scores that represent a wider developmental gap between the patient and unaffected peers. CONCLUSION: Our findings suggest that hematopoietic cell transplant can correct the biochemical defect in β-mannosidosis, although preservation of the neurocognitive trajectory may be a challenge

Preferred Tone of Nutrition Text Messages for Young Adults: Focus Group Testing

BACKGROUND: Young adults are a particularly hard to reach group using conventional health promotion practices as they do not see nutrition messages as personally relevant to them. Text messaging (short message service, SMS) offers an innovative approach to reaching young adults to support and promote dietary behavior change. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to develop and test tonal preferences for nutrition text messages among young adults using focus groups. METHODS: A total of 39 young adults aged 18-30 years residing in Perth, Western Australia participated in four focus groups. Participants briefly discussed their perception of healthy eating and their responses to messages about increasing fruit and vegetables, and reducing "junk food" and alcohol intake. They ranked their preference for 15 nutrition messages across 3 dietary behaviors (fruit and vegetables, junk food, and alcohol) with 5 different message tones (authoritative, empathetic, generation Y, solutions, and substitutions) and identified the messages most likely to persuade young adults to change their diet. A 5-point ranking of the nutrition messages was from the most likely to least likely to persuade (1-5). The focus groups were conducted by a trained facilitator and observer and were recorded. Data driven content analysis was used to explore themes. Tonal preferences and potential motivators were collated and frequencies presented. RESULTS: Participants ranked offering substitutes (29%, 11/39) and using empathy (22%, 9/39) as the most persuasive message techniques in improving diets of young adults, with low responses for Generation Y (17%, 7/39), solutions (17%, 7/39), and authoritative (15%, 6/39) tones. Females were more likely to consider substitution messages persuasive (35%, 7/20) compared with males (22%, 4/19). A greater proportion of males compared with females considered authoritative messages persuasive: (22%, 4/19) compared with (7%, 1/20). There is a strong preference for a substitution tone for fruit and vegetable messages (52%, 20/39), and no overall message tone preference for junk food and alcohol messages. Substitutions were viewed as helpful and practical. Empathy was liked as it acknowledged previous efforts. Responses to authoritative tone were mixed with some feeling guilt while others found them informative. Acceptability of the solutions depended on the behavioral change and acceptability of the solution proposed. Generation Y tone had some support for junk food and alcohol messages, and if favored, was considered casual, humorous, catchy, and motivational. CONCLUSIONS: Substitutions and tone of empathy were favored as the most likely execution styles to motivate nutrition behavior change across all participants. There is no "one size fits all" with different tones preferred by individuals for different dietary behaviors. Although text messaging provides instant message delivery direct to the individual, these results demonstrate the complexity of developing motivational nutrition message for young adults. These findings reveal the importance of considering the tone and content and pretesting messages for health promotion text message interventions

The ball in play demands of international rugby union

Objectives: Rugby union is a high intensity intermittent sport, typically analysed via set time periods or rolling average methods. This study reports the demands of international rugby union via global positioning system (GPS) metrics expressed as mean ball in play (BiP), maximum BiP (max BiP), and whole match outputs. Design: Single cohort cross sectional study involving 22 international players, categorised as forwards and backs. Methods: A total of 88 GPS files from eight international test matches were collected during 2016. An Opta sportscode timeline was integrated into the GPS software to split the data into BiP periods. Metres per min (m.min-1), high metabolic load per min (HML), accelerations per min (Acc), high speed running per min (HSR), and collisions per min (Coll) were expressed relative to BiP periods and over the whole match (>60min). Results: Whole match metrics were significantly lower than all BiP metrics (p < 0.001). Mean and max BiP HML, (p < 0.01) and HSR (p < 0.05) were significantly higher for backs versus forwards, whereas Coll were significantly higher for forwards (p < 0.001). In plays lasting 61s or greater, max BiP m.min-1 were higher for backs. Max BiP m.min-1, HML, HSR and Coll were all time dependant (p < 0.05) showing that both movement metrics and collision demands differ as length of play continues. Conclusions: This study uses a novel method of accurately assessing the BiP demands of rugby union. It also reports typical and maximal demands of international rugby union that can be used by practitioners and scientists to target training of worst-case scenario's equivalent to international intensity. Backs covered greater distances at higher speeds and demonstrated higher HML, in general play as well as 'worst case scenarios'; conversely forwards perform a higher number of collisions

The asteroseismic ground-based observational counterpart of CoRoT

We present different aspects of the ground-based observational counterpart of the CoRoT satellite mission. We give an overview of the selected asteroseismic targets, the numerous instruments and observatories involved, and the first scientific results.Comment: 3 pages, 2 tables, 1 figure, to be published in the conference proceedings 'Stellar Pulsation: Challenges for Theory and Observation' (31 May - 5 June, Santa Fe, New Mexico, US), publishers: American Institute of Physic