HOW CAN A SYSTEM WITH NO PUBLIC EXAMS BE FAIR?

For 25 years, I have worked in a high school education system, where for the final 2 years of schooling, teachers at each school write their own programs of work and write their own assessment items. They then mark and report on this assessment. There are no final public statewide exams, and as an outcome students right throughout the State are ranked for University entry. What follows is an exploration into the procedures that are put in place to ensure that each and every student is treated fairly and equitably. I will discuss the various levels of moderation that take place between schools, the processes that aid in keeping a level playing field for all concerned

Designing a fully compensated half-metallic ferrimagnet

Recent experimental work on Mn2RuxGa demonstrates its potential as a compensated ferrimagnetic half-metal (CFHM). Here we present a set of high-throughput ab initio density functional theory calculations and detailed experimental characterisation, that enable us to correctly describe the nominal Mn2RuxGa thin films, in particular with regard to site-disorder and defects. We then construct models that accurately capture all the key features of the Mn-Ru-Ga system, including magnetic compensation and the spin gap at the Fermi level. We find that electronic doping is neccessary, which is achieved with a Mn/Ga ratio smaller than two. Our study shows how composition and substrate-induced biaxial strain can be combined to design a ferrimagnetic half-metal with a compensation point close to room temperature

Nitrogen Spatial Heterogeneity Influences Diversity Following Restoration in a Ponderosa Pine Forest, Montana

The resource heterogeneity hypothesis (RHH) is frequently cited in the ecological literature as an important mechanism for maintaining species diversity. The RHH has rarely been evaluated in the context of restoration ecology in which a commonly cited goal is to restore diversity. In this study we focused oil the spatial heterogeneity of total inorganic nitrogen (TIN) following restoration treatments in a ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa)/Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga inenziesii) forest in western Montana, USA. Our objective was to evaluate relationships between understory species richness and TIN heterogeneity following mechanical thinning (thin-only), prescribed burning (burn-only), and mechanical thinning with prescribed burning (thin/burn) to discern the ecological and management implications of these restoration approaches. We employed a randomized block design, with three 9-ha replicates of each treatment and an untreated control. Within each treatment, we randomly established a 20 X 50 in (1000 m(2)) Plot in which we measured species richness across the entire plot and in 12 I-m 2 quadrats randomly placed within each larger plot. Additionally, we measured TIN from a grid consisting of 112 soil samples (0-5 cm) in each plot and computed standard deviations as a measure of heterogeneity. We found a correlation between the net increase in species richness and the TIN standard deviations one and two years following restoration treatments, supporting RHH. Using nonmetric multidimensional scaling ordination and chi-squared analysis, we found that high and low TIN quadrats contained different understory communities in 2003 and 2004, further supporting RHH. A comparison of restoration treatments demonstrated that thin/burn and burn-only treatments created higher N heterogeneity relative to the control. We also found that within prescribed burn treatments, TIN heterogeneity was positively correlated with fine-fuel consumption, a variable reflecting burn severity. These findings may lead to more informed restoration decisions that consider treatment effects on understory diversity in ponderosa pine/Douglas-fir ecosystems

Additions to the marine decapod (Crustacea: Decapoda) fauna of South Africa

This report adds five previously unreported species to the decapod crustacean fauna of South Africa, as well as removing one species previously listed in error. It also documents locality (and/or reference specimen) data for 12 other species, most of which had been depicted in regional field guides, but without reporting when and where they had been collected. Almost all the species added were already known from adjacent African countries and their ranges are here extended into South Africa. Although some of these records are based on photographs, rather than collected specimens, it is argued that such records should be accepted as adequate evidence for inclusion of at least visually-distinctive crustacean species into the regional fauna

Reply to “Comments on ‘Monitoring and Understanding Trends in Extreme Storms: State of Knowledge’”

We welcome the comments of Landsea (2015, hereafter L15) and we1 applaud his efforts toward reanalyzing past tropical cyclone data in the Atlantic (Landsea et al. 2008, 2012, 2014; Hagen et al. 2012). However, L15 does not substantially change the conclusions stated in Kunkel et al. (2013, hereafter K13). L15 voices two main concerns: 1. The U.S. landfalling hurricane time series considered by K13 is dated. 2. The U.S. landfall record exhibits multidecadal variability that places the changes since 1970 into a larger perspective than K13 provided. Related to this concern, L15 introduces assertions about the relationship between U.S. landfall variability and basinwide North Atlantic variability

Too poor or too far? Partitioning the variability of hospital-based childbirth by poverty and travel time in Kenya, Malawi, Nigeria and Tanzania

Background: In sub-Saharan Africa, women are most likely to receive skilled and adequate childbirth care in hospital settings, yet the use of hospital for childbirth is low and inequitable. The poorest and those living furthest away from a hospital are most affected. But the relative contribution of poverty and travel time is convoluted, since hospitals are often located in wealthier urban places and are scarcer in poorer remote area. This study aims to partition the variability in hospital-based childbirth by poverty and travel time in four sub-Saharan African countries. Methods: We used data from the most recent Demographic and Health Survey in Kenya, Malawi, Nigeria and Tanzania. For each country, geographic coordinates of survey clusters, the master list of hospital locations and a high-resolution map of land surface friction were used to estimate travel time from each DHS cluster to the nearest hospital with a shortest-path algorithm. We quantified and compared the predicted probabilities of hospital-based childbirth resulting from one standard deviation (SD) change around the mean for different model predictors. Results: The mean travel time to the nearest hospital, in minutes, was 27 (Kenya), 31 (Malawi), 25 (Nigeria) and 62 (Tanzania). In Kenya, a change of 1SD in wealth led to a 33.2 percentage points change in the probability of hospital birth, whereas a 1SD change in travel time led to a change of 16.6 percentage points. The marginal effect of 1SD change in wealth was weaker than that of travel time in Malawi (13.1 vs. 34.0 percentage points) and Tanzania (20.4 vs. 33.7 percentage points). In Nigeria, the two were similar (22.3 vs. 24.8 percentage points) but their additive effect was twice stronger (44.6 percentage points) than the separate effects. Random effects from survey clusters also explained substantial variability in hospital-based childbirth in all countries, indicating other unobserved local factors at play. Conclusions: Both poverty and long travel time are important determinants of hospital birth, although they vary in the extent to which they influence whether women give birth in a hospital within and across countries. This suggests that different strategies are needed to effectively enable poor women and women living in remote areas to gain access to skilled and adequate care for childbirth

Epidemiological Effectiveness and Cost of a Fungal Meningitis Outbreak Response in New River Valley, Virginia: Local Health Department and Clinical Perspectives.

OBJECTIVE: We evaluated the effectiveness and cost of a fungal meningitis outbreak response in the New River Valley of Virginia during 2012-2013 from the perspective of the local public health department and clinical facilities. The fungal meningitis outbreak affected 23 states in the United States with 751 cases and 64 deaths in 20 states; there were 56 cases and 5 deaths in Virginia. METHODS: We conducted a partial economic evaluation of the fungal meningitis outbreak response in New River Valley. We collected costs associated with the local health department and clinical facilities in the outbreak response and estimated the epidemiological effectiveness by using disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) averted. RESULTS: We estimated the epidemiological effectiveness of this outbreak response to be 153 DALYs averted among the patients, and the costs incurred by the local health department and clinical facilities to be $30,413 and$39,580, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: We estimated the incremental cost-effectiveness ratio of $198 per DALY averted and$258 per DALY averted from the local health department and clinical perspectives, respectively, thereby assisting in impact evaluation of the outbreak response by the local health department and clinical facilities. (Disaster Med Public Health Preparedness. 2018;12:38-46)

Economic Evaluation of Fungal Meningitis Outbreak Response in New River Valley: Local Health Department Perspective

Background: The multi-state fungal meningitis outbreak started in September 2012 in Tennessee. The cause of the outbreak was injection of contaminated lots of methylprednisolone acetate used in epidural spinal injections. Roanoke and New River Valley were the epicenter of this outbreak in Virginia, with two clinical centers having administered the contaminated injections to their patients. New River Health District, in coordination with hospitals, and state and federal agencies, deployed its resources to control the local impact of the outbreak. Purpose: The objective of this study was to conduct an economic evaluation of the fungal meningitis outbreak response in New River Valley of Virginia, from the local public health department perspective. Methods: The health department conducted the outbreak investigation from October 2012 until March 2013 to ascertain that all possible cases were identified and treated. Data were collected on the costs associated with the local health department in the outbreak response, and the epidemiologic effectiveness estimated, using the metric of disability adjusted life years (DALYs). Results: The cost incurred by the local health department was estimated to be $30,493; the epidemiologic effectiveness was estimated to be 138 DALYs averted among the patients, for an incremental cost-effectiveness ratio of$221 per DALY averted. Implications: The incremental cost effectiveness ratio of the fungal meningitis outbreak response in New River Valley assists the local health department to analyze the costs and epidemiologic effectiveness of the outbreak response

Clinical Response, Outbreak Investigation, and Epidemiology of the Fungal Meningitis Epidemic in the United States: Systematic Review.

We conducted a systematic review of the 2012-2013 multistate fungal meningitis epidemic in the United States from the perspectives of clinical response, outbreak investigation, and epidemiology. Articles focused on clinical response, outbreak investigation, and epidemiology were included, whereas articles focused on compounding pharmacies, legislation and litigation, diagnostics, microbiology, and pathogenesis were excluded. We reviewed 19 articles by use of the PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses) framework. The source of the fungal meningitis outbreak was traced to the New England Compounding Center in Massachusetts, where injectable methylprednisolone acetate products were contaminated with the predominant pathogen, Exserohilum rostratum. As of October 23, 2013, the final case count stood at 751 patients and 64 deaths, and no additional cases are anticipated. The multisectoral public health response to the fungal meningitis epidemic from the hospitals, clinics, pharmacies, and the public health system at the local, state, and federal levels led to an efficient epidemiological investigation to trace the outbreak source and rapid implementation of multiple response plans. This systematic review reaffirms the effective execution of a multisectoral public health response and efficient delivery of the core functions of public health assessment, policy development, and service assurances to improve population health