Who Are You? Africa and Africans

In a letter written to his former teacher from the city of Madauros, the Christian bishop Augustine of Hippo addressed the rhetor Maximus by saying, ‘well now, as one African writing to another African, and since we are both from Africa... ’ (Aug. Ep. 17.2 = CCL 31: 41; 390 CE). His deliberate seeking of common ground in being ‘African ’ was, it should be confessed, a rhetorical gambit. It was a powerful ploy because the identity to which appeal was made was a strong one of real substance. Not only among Christians like Augustine, but also among non-Christian interlocutors of the time like Maximus, being African had become an identity that they shared in common. How this came to be was the result of a long process of changes and responses. As late as the first century CE, no persons of Punic background, or any indigenous inhabitants of the land, or any Italian, Etruscan, or Greek settlers living in the region that we today call North Africa ever thought of themselves as ‘African, ’ even if the matrix for this new identity was beginning to be formed all around them. The process of creating the new identity followed a path that ethnic labelling had often travelled in the past. Th

A convenient approach to the deterministic routing of MIDI messages

This research investigates the design and development of a Wireless MIDI Connection Management solution in order to create a deterministic MIDI transmission system. A investigation of the MIDI protocol show it to have certain limitation that can be overcome through the use of transmission solutions. These solutions can be used to improve on the versatility of MIDI while overcoming the MIDI's notorious cable length limitation. XMOS's deterministic XS1 microcontrollers are used to enable the design of a real-time system. The MIDINet system is investigated to identify both the strengths and weaknesses of such a connection management system, while other systems for network transmission of MIDI messages are reviewed. These investigations lead to a design concept for a new network MIDI transmission system that allows for the remote management of connections. The design and subsequent implementation of both the transmission system and the connection management system are then detailed. A testing methodology is then devised to allow for the newly created connection management system to be compared to the MIDINet system. The findings show the deterministic system to have lower latency than that of the MIDINet system, while utilising more compact and power efficient hardware

Opportunity Counts: Teams and the Effectiveness of Production Incentives

This paper investigates the individual and joint effects of group incentive pay and problem-solving teams on productivity. To estimate models of adoption of these work practices and models of the effects of the work practices on productivity, we constructed a data set on the operations of 34 production lines in U.S. steel minimills. Through site visits and interviews, we collected longitudinal data including precise measures on productivity, work practices, and technology of each of these production lines. We find strong support for the proposition that problem-solving teams are an important means for increasing the effectiveness of group incentive pay plans in establishments with complex production processes. With regard to adoption of work practices, we find that problem-solving teams are adopted only in the presence of incentive pay plans, and that more technologically complex production lines are much more likely to adopt teams. The latter result implies that teams are more valuable in these types of production environments. We also present estimates of the productivity effects of adopting these work practices. Group-based incentive pay, on average, raises productivity, and the adoption of teams in addition to incentive pay leads to a further increase in productivity. The average effect of teams together with group incentives is economically important, corresponding to an annual increase of over 3000 additional tons of steel with a value of over $1.4 million. We also find that the productivity effect of teams is significantly larger in more complex production lines, consistent with the result that more complex production lines are more likely to adopt problem-solving teams. Finally, we show that our estimates of the productivity effects of these work practices are little changed by corrections for possible selectivity bias.

Princeton/Stanford Working Papers in Classics Map Resources for Roman North Africa Version 2.1

This is the early draft of a collation of the map resources that are available for the study of Roman North Africa. It is hoped that, even in this earlystage of presentation, it will be of some use to those who are seekin

Identifying Awareness, Use, and Perceptions of text4baby among Family Medicine and Obstetrics and Gynecology Practitioners at the University of Kansas Medical Center

Background. Low income minority women who receive inadequate or no prenatal care have greater infant morbidity and mortality in the postnatal period. Mobile health or mHealth initiatives such as text4baby are presumed to be a means to reach underserved pregnant and postpartum women to increase their use of prenatal and postnatal care. Providers are an important referral source for mHealth initiatives. It is important, therefore, to assess the awareness, use, and perceptions of the text4baby program among Family Medicine and Obstetrics/Gynecology (Ob/Gyn) providers to determine the means to increase referrals and improve outcomes for pregnant mothers and infants. Methods. Family medicine and Ob/Gyn providers (attending physicians, residents, nurse practitioners, nurses, and medical assistants) at the University of Kansas Medical Center (KUMC) completed a survey assessing awareness of use and perceived utility of text4baby as well as experience with technology and reservations about mHealth in general. Results. Seventy-eight providers (38 in Family Medicine and 40 in Ob/Gyn) responded to the survey. Awareness of text4baby among all providers was 18%. Among the 14 providers who knew about text4baby, one individual stated he/she regularly refers patients to text4baby and 11 agreed that text4baby is a useful tool for the care of pregnant patients. Comparison of text4baby awareness by demographic factors showed no significant differences between any of the groups. Providers who knew of mHealth applications were more likely to know about text4baby (p = 0.04). Older providers were less likely to have reservations about using mHealth in their practice (p = 0.02). There was widespread agreement (87%) that providing evidence to clinicians that text4baby improves outcomes would increase use of the service in clinical practice. Conclusions. Awareness of text4baby among practitioners at KUMC is minimal; use is negligible. Our study identified lack of awareness of the text4baby service and of supporting evidence about its effectiveness as the primary barriers to referral

Planetary Nebulae in the VISTA Magellanic Cloud (VMC) Survey

The multi-epoch YJKs sub-arcsecond photometry of the VMC survey provides a long anticipated deep near-infrared (NIR) window into further understanding the stellar populations of the Magellanic Clouds. The first year of observations consisted of six tiles covering ~9% of the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) survey region and contains 102 objects previously classified as planetary nebulae (PNe). A large proportion of the sample were found to be contaminated by non-PNe. These initial results underline the importance of establishing a clean catalogue of LMC PNe before they are applied in areas such as the planetary nebula luminosity function (PNLF) and searches for binary central stars. As the VMC survey progresses it will play a fundamental role in cleaning extant PN catalogues and a complementary role in the discovery of new PNe.Comment: To appear in IAU Symposium 283: Planetary Nebulae, an Eye to the Future. 2 pages, 1 figur

NaF PET/CT for response assessment of prostate cancer bone metastases treated with single fraction stereotactic ablative body radiotherapy

Introduction: In prostate cancer patients, imaging of bone metastases is enhanced through the use of sodium fluoride positron emission tomography (18F-NaF PET/CT). This imaging technique shows areas of enhanced osteoblastic activity and blood flow. In this work, 18F-NaF PET/CT was investigated for response assessment to single fraction stereotactic ablative body radiotherapy (SABR) to bone metastases in prostate cancer patients. Methods: Patients with bone metastases in a prospective trial treated with single fraction SABR received a 18F-NaF PET/CT scan prior to and 6 months post-SABR. The SUVmax in the tumour was determined and the difference between before and after SABR determined. The change in uptake in the non-tumour bone was also measured as a function of the received SABR dose. Results: Reduction in SUVmax was observed in 29 of 33 lesions 6 months after SABR (mean absolute decrease in SUVmax 17.7, 95% CI 25.8 to - 9.4, p = 0.0001). Of the three lesions with increased SUVmax post-SABR, two were from the same patient and located in the vertebral column. Both were determined to be local progression in addition to one fracture. The third lesion (in a rib) was shown to be controlled locally but suffered from a fracture at 24 months. Progression adjacent to the treated volume was observed in two patients. The non-tumour bone irradiated showed increased loss in uptake with increasing dose, with a median loss in uptake of 23.3% for bone receiving 24 Gy. Conclusion: 18F-NaF PET/CT for response assessment of bone metastases to single fraction SABR indicates high rates of reduction of osteoblastic activity in the tumour and non-tumour bone receiving high doses. The occurrence of marginal recurrence indicates use of larger clinical target volumes may be warranted in treatment of bone metastases. Trial registration: POPSTAR, \u27Pilot Study of patients with Oligometastases from Prostate cancer treated with STereotactic Ablative Radiotherapy\u27, Universal Trial Number U1111-1140-7563, Registered 17th April 2013