Two new species of Trichodorus from South Africa, with a note on T. petrusalberti (Nemata : Trichodoridae)

Two new species of the genus Trichodorus are described from South Africa. Trichodorus magnus n. sp. is characterized in males, by the presence of one medioventral cervical papilla, shape of spicules (stout with indentation) and non-thickened terminal cuticle; in females, by the shape of the vaginal sclerotizations, the pore-like vulva in ventral view and a pair of postadvulvar sublateral body pores and in both sexes by the long body and long onchiostyle (62.5-71 mum). Trichodorus kilianae n. sp. is characterized in males by presence of a single cervical medioventral papilla, a non-thickened terminal tail cuticle and shape of spicules (slender, with septum in front of a clear but irregular indentation); in females by small vaginal sclerotizations and pore-like vulva in ventral view and in both sexes by a slender and long body, onchiostyle length of 45-49 mum and anterior position of the excretory pore. For the first time an inner stylet was observed in adults of a Trichodorus species : T. petrusalberti De Waele, 1988. Additional details are given for T petrusalberti

An experimental investigation into the efficacy of multicomponent treatment programmes for test-anxious student nurses

Bibliography: pages 169-183.The present investigation was initiated with the aim of assessing the efficacy of multicomponent treatment programmes for test-anxiety in student nurses, in order to develop a programme that could be included in the nursing curricula. The subjects were 103 student nurses currently in their first year of the four-year Diploma in Nursing (General, Community and Psychiatry) and Midwifery at Carinus Nursing College CCNC). They had been randomly allocated to four classes at the College. The study compared high-test-anxious, low-test-anxious and mid-test-anxious subjects within these four groups, three of which received multicomponent treatment programmes, while the fourth was the control· group. Programmes comprised Systematic Desensitisation (SD), Progressive Muscle Relaxation Training and Guided Imagery (PMRT & Gl) and Study Skills Training (SST), each of which included a core component of cognitive restructuring. Treatment spanned six weeks. The following self-report questionnaires were used at pre- and post-intervention: The Anxiety Achievement Test <AATl, the Anticipated Anxiety Rating Scale (AARS) and the Subjective Units of Disturbance (SUD). Academic achievement was also measured at both pre- and post-intervention by means of examination scores. Differences between pre and post scores were analysed by means of One- and Two-Way Multivariate Analysis of Variance. The only group to differ significantly from the Control group at post-test was the SD group, showing reductions on the Debilitative scale of the AAT (p < 0.01), the SUD (p < 0.01) and the AARS (p < 0.05). However, this group expressed less satisfaction with the programme than the PMRT & GI group on the Treatment Evaluation Questionnaire. A subsidiary study compared the CNC student nurses (n = 103) with first-year paramedical students from the following disciplines: logopaedics (n = 12); physiotherapy (n = 24); occupational therapy (n = 18); BSc nursing (n = 12); radiography (n = 27), on the Profile of Mood States (POMS), Health Behaviour Assessment Scale (HBAS) and Matric scores. CNC nurses obtained significantly lower Matric scores than the other .students (p < 0.0001), and showed significant differences on other variables, indicating higher negative mood states and less healthy lifestyles. At one-year follow-up; 33 of the original 103 subjects had failed or resigned: sixteen of whom were high-test-anxious, nine low-test-anxious, eight mid-test-anxious. The drop-out rate was consistent across groups, i.e. treatment had had no long-term effect. Reasons for this are discussed, and the conclusion reached that high levels of test anxiety were realistically felt by student nurses with comparatively low Matric scores when faced with the demands of the four-~ear Diploma course. Such anxiety which at present tends to be dealt with by somewhat self-destructive behaviours could not be easily alleviated by short-term anxiety management programmes. Recommendations are made regarding possible alternative nurse training programmes. There would appear to be good reason to offer a programme with emphasis on clinical skills in addition to the heavily academic four-year Diploma course. A prophylactic stress management programme emphasising healthy lifestyles, and commencing at the start of training, was recommended

Managing mine road maintenance interventions using mine truck on-board data

The management of unpaved mine road networks on large surface mines rarely results in optimal road maintenance strategies and minimised total road-user costs. This is ascribed mostly to the complex and dynamic combination of variable road networks and loading and discharge points. In a dynamic mining environment - typically those mines in which production is managed by a centralised truck dispatch system - there is no guarantee that a particular road maintenance intervention will contribute significantly to reducing total road-user costs or increasing productivity. Most large surface mines operating ultra-heavy mine trucks rely on an integrated on-board diagnostic data collation, communication and GPS-asset location system as a real-time fleet management tool. By extending this system to incorporate a multi-sensor analytical procedure in which specific truck vital signs are monitored and filtered, a road defect can be recognised and a trigger level set to relay the location of defects on the mine haul road to the centralised truck data management system. Previous work established the feasibility of the multi-sensor approach to road defect recognition on large mine haul trucks, and outlined the defect recognition, analytical and modelling issues and system limitations. This paper presents the development of the analytical procedure used as a basis for evaluating the truck on-board data to establish maintenance priorities amongst a network of mine roads. Following an introduction to the system architecture, the results of system field trials are analysed and the results discussed in the light of defect density and traffic volume as the primary variables in an approach to prioritising road maintenance. The paper concludes that by supplementing the existing mine communication and asset management systems, road maintenance can be managed on a near real-time basis and maintenance equipment dispatched to where most immediate benefit will realised from a maintenance intervention on the network, thereby generating the maximum improvement in service and reduction in cost per ton hauled

The effect of perceptual skill of RFT scores : a cross-cultural study

The increasing need to select individuals for tasks suited to their personality make-up, has added to the challenge psychology faces of developing tests which can be applied to subjects from different cultures and environments. Many attempts at such designs litter the history of industrial and cross- cultural personality research. Among those to have survived years of reassessment, is the cognitive style approach developed by Herman Witkin. Intro., p. 1

The REPAIRER Reporting System for Integrating Human Factors into SMS in Aviation Maintenance

Acknowledging the FAA’s well-known PEAR model, and the influence of the dirty dozen in aviation maintenance, the authors examine a tracking and reporting system that fulfills FAA requirements for safety management systems in aviation maintenance organizations. Implications and suggestions for a robust safety management system which encompasses human factors and ORM, applicable to an aviation maintenance environment are presented, with the inclusion of specific risk hazards. The resulting safety reporting system proposed addresses both consistency and reliability challenges, unique to the aviation maintenance environment. Using the four pillars of safety as a foundation, the REPAIRER strategy procedures serves as the safety policy pillar, through the examination and rating of potential risk hazards, based on the dirty dozen. The resulting reporting system leverages aviation maintenancespecific factors to identify and correct for human errors, improving the reliability of maintenance procedures, enhancing safety practices, and ultimately creating a greater state of operational readiness

Spectral, mineralogical, and geochemical variations across Home Plate, Gusev Crater, Mars indicate high and low temperature alteration

Over the last ~ 3 years in Gusev Crater, Mars, the Spirit rover observed coherent variations in color, mineralogy, and geochemistry across Home Plate, an ~ 80 m-diameter outcrop of basaltic tephra. Observations of Home Plate from orbit and from the summit of Husband Hill reveal clear differences in visible/near-infrared (VNIR) colors between its eastern and western regions that are consistent with mineralogical compositions indicated by Mössbauer spectrometer (MB) and by Miniature Thermal Emission Spectrometer (Mini-TES). Pyroxene and magnetite dominate the east side, while olivine, nanophase Fe oxide (npOx) and glass are more abundant on the western side. Alpha Particle X-Ray Spectrometer (APXS) observations reveal that eastern Home Plate has higher Si/Mg, Al, Zn, Ni, and K, while Cl and Br are higher in the west. We propose that these variations are the result of two distinct alteration regimes that may or may not be temporally related: a localized, higher temperature recrystallization and alteration of the east side of Home Plate and lower temperature alteration of the western side that produced npOx

The NOMA track module on nutrition, human rights and governance: Part 2. A transnational curriculum using a human rights-based approach to foster key competencies in nutrition professionals

Background. In response to the challenge of the global health needs of the 21st century, four academic institutions in Norway, South Africa and Uganda,each offering a Master’s degree in nutrition, collaboratively developed the NOrwegian MAsters (NOMA) track module on nutrition, human rights andgovernance, integrating a human rights-based approach into graduate education in nutrition.Objective. To capture students’ perceptions about the NOMA track module, focusing on the development of key competencies.Methods. Employing a qualitative approach, 20 (91% response rate) in-depth telephonic interviews were conducted with participating students, voicerecorded and transcribed. Through an inductive process, emerging themes were used to compile a code list for content analysis of the transcribed text. Relevant themes were reported according to the professionals’ roles described by the CanMEDS competency framework.Results. Participation in the module enhanced key competencies in the students, e.g. communication skills and the adoption of a holistic approach tointeraction with people or communities. Their role as collaborator was enhanced by their learning to embrace diversity and cultural differences and similarities. Students had to adapt to different cultures and educational systems. They were inspired to contribute in diverse contexts and act as agents for change in the organisations in which they may work or act as leaders or co-ordinators during interaction with community groups and policy makers. Higher education institutions offering transnational modules should support lecturers to manage the inherent diversity in the classroom as a way of enhancing student performance.Conclusion. The development of future transprofessional modules will benefit from the inclusion of desirable key competencies as part of the moduleoutcomes by following a competency by design process

Clustered bottlenecks in mRNA translation and protein synthesis

We construct an algorithm that generates large, band-diagonal transition matrices for a totally asymmetric exclusion process (TASEP) with local hopping rate inhomogeneities. The matrices are diagonalized numerically to find steady-state currents of TASEPs with local variations in hopping rate. The results are then used to investigate clustering of slow codons along mRNA. Ribosome density profiles near neighboring clusters of slow codons interact, enhancing suppression of ribosome throughput when such bottlenecks are closely spaced. Increasing the slow codon cluster size, beyond $\approx 3-4$, does not significantly reduce ribosome current. Our results are verified by extensive Monte-Carlo simulations and provide a biologically-motivated explanation for the experimentally-observed clustering of low-usage codons

Critical Values for Yen’s Q3: Identification of Local Dependence in the Rasch model using Residual Correlations

The assumption of local independence is central to all IRT models. Violations can lead to inflated estimates of reliability and problems with construct validity. For the most widely used fit statistic Q3 there are currently no well-documented suggestions of the critical values which should be used to indicate local dependence, and for this reason a variety of arbitrary rules of thumb are used. In this study, we used an empirical data example and Monte Carlo simulation to investigate the different factors that can influence the null distribution of residual correlations, with the objective of proposing guidelines that researchers and practitioners can follow when making decisions about local dependence during scale development and validation. We propose that a parametric bootstrapping procedure should be implemented in each separate situation in order to obtain the critical value of local dependence applicable to the data set, and provide example critical values for a number of data structure situations. The results show that for the Q3 fit statistic no single critical value is appropriate for all situations, as the percentiles in the empirical null distribution are influenced by the number of items, the sample size, and the number of response categories. Furthermore, our results show that local dependence should be considered relative to the average observed residual correlation, rather than to a uniform value, as this results in more stable percentiles for the null distribution of an adjusted fit statistic