Advancing adult learning in Eastern Europe and Central Asia

This report presents available evidence on adult education and training in Europe and Central Asia (ECA), differentiating two separate types: continuing vocational education and training (CVET) for the employed, sought either by employers or individuals, and retraining and second chance education for the non?employed. This paper presents available evidence on the extent and patterns of lifelong learning in ECA. It argues that advancing adult education and training in ECA is important not only to meet the new skills demands but also to respond to a rapidly worsening demographic outlook across most of the region. While it is not equally important for all ECA countries, adult education and training should be high on the agenda of those ECA economies that are closest to the technological frontier and facing a demographic decline, such as the new European Union (EU) member States and Russia. The paper lays out a framework for government action to advance adult learning in ECA through a mix consisting of policy coordination between government and the enterprise sector, a sound regulatory regime and appropriate financial incentives.Access&Equity in Basic Education,Education For All,Primary Education,Teaching and Learning,Gender and Education

Effects of fluctuating daily surface fluxes on the time-mean oceanic circulation

The effect of fluctuating daily surface fluxes on the time-mean oceanic circulation is studied using an empirical flux model. The model produces fluctuating fluxes resulting from atmospheric variability and includes oceanic feedbacks on the fluxes. Numerical experiments were carried out by driving an ocean general circulation model with three different versions of the empirical model. It is found that fluctuating daily fluxes lead to an increase in the meridional overturning circulation (MOC) of the Atlantic of about 1 Sv and a decrease in the Antarctic circumpolar current (ACC) of about 32 Sv. The changes are approximately 7% of the MOC and 16% of the ACC obtained without fluctuating daily fluxes. The fluctuating fluxes change the intensity and the depth of vertical mixing. This, in turn, changes the density field and thus the circulation. Fluctuating buoyancy fluxes change the vertical mixing in a non-linear way: they tend to increase the convective mixing in mostly stable regions and to decrease the convective mixing in mostly unstable regions. The ACC changes are related to the enhanced mixing in the subtropical and the mid-latitude Southern Ocean and reduced mixing in the high-latitude Southern Ocean. The enhanced mixing is related to an increase in the frequency and the depth of convective events. As these events bring more dense water downward, the mixing changes lead to a reduction in meridional gradient of the depth-integrated density in the Southern Ocean and hence the strength of the ACC. The MOC changes are related to more subtle density changes. It is found that the vertical mixing in a latitudinal strip in the northern North Atlantic is more strongly enhanced due to fluctuating fluxes than the mixing in a latitudinal strip in the South Atlantic. This leads to an increase in the density difference between the two strips, which can be responsible for the increase in the Atlantic MOC

Explanation of Behaviour among Children in the Family Context

Human beings have the capacity to represent, conceptualize and reason about mind and behaviour. This is due to the advance of folk theory of mind (ToM) in them. We use mental constructs not only to understand actions, but to envisage behaviour of others. Our ToM allows us to find the way of our personal and social world by explaining past behaviour and anticipating and predicting future actions. However young children have an elementary ToM which develops into adult like ToM within a few years. Researches show that children’s attribution of behaviour is influenced by some social environmental factors which influence the rate of typical development ToM. A special focus of this study is how children’s attribution of behavior is shaped by their family environment. Children of about 3 to 5 years olds have participated in the study. This research includes the observation and recording of mother- child interaction, adult-adult interaction, and situational probing for both child as well as other adults. The results favored the advantage of age in the use of mental state terms by higher age groups

Study to compare between paperless partogram and modified who partogram in management of labour

Background: Partogram is being used since 1954 when Friedman described it for monitoring progress of labour. The Paperless Partogram proposed by Dr. Debdas is a low-skill method for detection of abnormal labour. The main aim of the study is to know efficacy and user friendliness   of paperless partogram in comparison with WHO partogram in monitoring and management of labour.Methods: It’s a prospective observational study conducted at Vanivilas hospital where 200 women in labour were included. 6 resident doctors in shifts were asked to fill partograms 100 each for paperless (group A) and WHO (group B).Results: Paperless partogram has scored better than WHO partogram in terms of documentation, learning, time for data entry, cost effectiveness and monitoring of labour.Conclusions: In our study paperless partogram was found to be preferred for monitoring of labour

The prevalence, nature, and functions of non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) in a South African student sample

Non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) has become an increasingly worrying phenomenon among adolescents and young adults. This study sought to address the paucity of data about the prevalence, nature, and functions of NSSI in the South African context. The Inventory of Statements about Self-harm and the Beck Depression Inventory-II were administered to 623 high school and university students recruited for the study. The results indicate an NSSI prevalence rate of 56.2% of the sample, with interfering with wounds, pulling hair, banging heads and cutting being the most common NSSI behaviour. The behaviour appeared to be associated more with intrapersonal functions like affect regulation and self-punishment than with interpersonal functions like communicating distress and maintaining boundaries. The implications of the findings for interventions and future research are discussed.Keywords: nature; non-suicidal self-injury; prevalence; South Africa; student

Multidrug Resistant Bacteria: The Fatal Menace in Healthcare

The “antibiotic era” saw the discovery of a lot of wonder drugs which killed pathogenic bacteria without significantly harming the host. Never before had nature and sickness seemed so much within the control of mankind. The hopes soon died down with the reports of antibiotic resistant bacteria. The extensive overuse and misuse of antibiotics by human beings coupled with the alarming rate of spread of resistance genes to other bacteria by horizontal and lateral gene transfer has given the problem a larger dimension in that now we have superbugs resistant to a variety of antibiotics. People need to be informed of the dangers of antibiotics and educated on the forms of illnesses that antibiotics cannot treat

Beyond a “political priest”: exploring Desmond Tutu as a “freedom-fighter mystic”

The purpose of this essay is to critically review the remarkably unique account of Desmond Tutu’s life presented by Michael Battle in his book “Desmond Tutu: A Spiritual Biography of South Africa’s Confessor.” The central contention of this essay is that Michael Battle shifts the paradigm of biographical research about Desmond Tutu beyond the popular trope of “political priest” to that of “freedom fighter-mystic.” Through a careful filtering of Tutu’s life via the three stages of mysticism – purgation, illumination and union, Battle makes a convincing case that Tutu’s political actions for justice were not in spite of his deep spirituality, but because of it. This ethnographic spiritual biography troubles the binaries between the sacred and the secular, between spiritual contemplation and social action, and between God’s justice and social justice, thereby inviting readers to the warm embrace of a more authentic spiritualit

A quality improvement cycle for acute bronchospasm in primary health care: Mitchell's Plain Community Health Centre, Cape Town

Asthma affects over 300 million people worldwide and is the sixth highest cause of morbidity and mortality in South Africa. Mitchell’s Plain is a large suburb in Cape Town, with a population of approximately 320 000 people. A previous study in 2006 indicated that 15.7% of patients that presented to Mitchell’s Plain Community Health Care casualty were for an acute exacerbation of asthma and 7.8% of total deaths were from acute asthma. There was generally poor adherence to the national guidelines with respect to the management of an acute asthma exacerbation. Aim and Objectives: This study aimed to assess and improve the quality of management of acute bronchospasm at Mitchell’s Plain CHC. Objectives included assessing the current management, comparing it to the national guidelines and implementing strategies to improve care. Method: The study methodology was that of an audit cycle. Eligible patients were identified from the casualty admissions register. A total of 351 patients’ records were reviewed and compared to criteria based on the national guidelines. The initial findings were presented to the casualty staff that critically reflected; planned and implemented change. Intervention strategies involved raising awareness about the asthma guidelines, the audit tool and the South African Triage Score. A re-audit was performed after 6 months

Understanding Immune Response in \u3cem\u3eMycobacterium ulcerans\u3c/em\u3e Infection

Buruli ulcer is a necrotizing skin infection and is the third most important mycobacterial disease in immune competent individuals after tuberculosis and leprosy in humid tropical countries. The causative agent Mycobacterium ulcerans is unlike other mycobacterial pathogens in that it appears to maintain an extracellular location during infection. Another unusual feature of the bacterium is that it is the only mycobacterium known to produce a dermo-necrotic polyketide toxin called mycolactone. A single Buruli ulcer, which can cover 15% of a person\u27s skin surface, contains huge numbers of extracellular bacteria. The infection is characterized by massive necrosis at the site of infection followed frequently by debilitating disfiguration. Despite their abundance and extensive tissue damage, there is a remarkable absence of acute inflammatory response to the bacteria, and lesions are often painless. Though there is extensive literature on interaction of other mycobacterial species with innate immune cells, information concerning interaction of M. ulcerans with macrophages and neutrophils is scarce and requires further investigation. Research in this dissertation was geared towards understanding the poor innate immune response generated following M. ulcerans infection. One hallmark of most diseases caused by mycobacteria including M. tuberculosis, M. bovis, M. leprae, M. marinum, M. haemophilum is the ability of the bacilli to grow within host cells and cause granulomas. In contrast, M. ulcerans primarily forms extracellular microcolonies within necrotic tissues and is rarely found within host cells. The role of mycolactone in the extracellular location of the bacteria was investigated using a macrophage infection model. Experiments using a panel of mycolactone negative (myc-) and wild type (WT) M. ulcerans strains showed that presence or absence of mycolactone determines whether the bacteria are extracellular or intracellular. Exposure of macrophages to high concentrations of mycolactone interfered with their phagocytic ability. These observations that a mycolactone mutant is better phagocytized than the wild type strain is consistent with the presence of almost exclusively extracellular bacteria in Buruli ulcer patients. Experiments studying the effect of mycolactone concentrations on fibroblast cell lines showed that mycolactone-mediated apoptosis and necrosis was concentration dependent. Mycolactone caused necrosis at high concentrations and apoptosis at low concentrations. Chemotaxis assays using human neutrophils showed that neutrophils do not respond to M. ulcerans (WT or myc-) or mycolactone. Mycolactone treatment resulted in rapid necrosis of human neutrophils in a dose dependent manner in vitro. These data could be relevant in vivo in human infections where toxin gradients produced by a pool of extracellular M ulcerans may cause apoptosis or necrosis of inflammatory cells trying to move into the focus of infection and clear the bacteria. Lack of an inflammatory reaction during the necrotizing stage of Buruli ulcer could be due to abrogation of production of inflammatory cytokines (e.g. TNF-a, lL-l, lFN-y), chemokines (IL-8) and lowered expression of cell-adhesion molecules (e.g. lCAM-l, selectins, VCAM) which help inflammatory cells reach the site of infection. TNF-a and lL-8 are key players in immuno-inflammatory responses. Studies regarding TNF-a response to bacterial infection and mycolactone treatment in vitro showed that WT M. ulcerans and mycolactone did not induce TNF-a production while myc- M. ulcerans did. Interestingly, LPS mediated TNF-u production was inhibited by WT M. ulcerans and mycolactone. Both WT and myc- M. ulcerans as well as mycolactone did not induce IL-8 production. WT M. ulcerans and mycolactone induced expression of the cell adhesion molecule ICAM-I was less than that induced by myc- M. ulcerans or LPS. Microarray analysis of genes modulated by mycolactone yielded interesting information. Genes that were significantly upregulated by mycolactone included those related to transcriptional repressors, cytoskeletal rearrangement, cell cycle control/proliferation, apoptosis, G-protein receptors, tumor supression and immune response. Genes downregulated by mycolactone included those related to DNA repair, inactivation of complement and metalloproteinases, immune response, leukotrienes production, receptors for collagen and laminin. Data from the present study provide new insight into the effect of mycolactone on macrophages, fibroblasts, neutrophils and host gene-expression pathways induced or repressed by mycolactone. Knowledge obtained from the present study can be expected to contribute to a better understanding of the role of mycolactone in host-pathogen interactions as well as pathophysiology of the disease

Science laboratory dynamics and acquisition of science process skill among form four science female students

Laboratory activities have been regarded as an integral and essential aspect of learning experience in school science teaching. So to achieve the goals of the science curriculum, there was a need to enhance the diagnostic study of the science laboratory environment. Thus, the general purpose of this study was to investigate the nature of the laboratory dynamics and determine the dominant types of variables existing in a science laboratory. The study also sought to investigate the relationships between variables such as lesson structures, class setting, student interactions and student behaviours in a science laboratory. Besides that, the researcher attempted to examine the relationship between the above variables and student acquisition of science process skills. Hence, a conceptual framework based on an adapted causal model p roposed by Pizzini and Sherpardson (1992) was used In the study