Ebola : the English connection

When one considers that many persons from the African continent arrive in Malta legally or otherwise, it is not inappropriate to surmise that some unfamiliar and possibly highly dangerous exotic disease, to which we are not accustomed, may someday be introduced into the island and may primarily and principally expose our medical, nursing and laboratory staff and their families to an alien infection with unpleasant and possibly fatal consequences. This essay illustrates such an incident including medical emergency.peer-reviewe

Sappho and Anacreon in Plato’s Phaedrus

Plato’s praise of the poets Sappho and Anacreon at Phaedrus 235c is a sincere tribute to their vivid presentations of the shock of love. Allusions to the lyric poets in the prologue and Socrates’ narrative of soul support Plato’s exploration of the relationship between mania and self-control. Plato analyses the power-dynamic within a soul experiencing erotic desire and in response to the poets creates an intricate picture of how the force and energy of eros is absorbed, transferred and redirected

Acute toxicity of Gammalin 20 to Chrysichthys nigrodigitatus (Lacepede)

The impact of acute exposure of Gammalin 20 (an organochlorine pesticide) was investigated in a static bioassay test over a 96-(4-day) period on the fingerlings of Chrysichthys nigrodigitatus (lacepede). The 96-hLC sub(50) of Gammalin 20 was determined as 2.31 Ug/l with lower and upper limits of toxicities as 2.10 and 4.44 Ug/l respectively. At higher concentrations, the colour of the exposed fish became darker, opercular movement slowed down while pigmentation pattern increased and respiratory distress was observed, erratic swimming, tonic convulsion and no response to gentle prodding, and finally death. The implications of these results were discussed with a suggestion of the total ban on the use of Gammalin 20 in capture fisheries due to its harmful and persistence nature in the aquatic environmen

Extension of Petri Nets by Aspects to Apply the Model Driven Architecture Approach

Within MDA models are usually created in the UML. However, one may prefer to\ud use different notations such as Petri-nets, for example, for modelling concurrency\ud and synchronization properties of systems. This paper claims that techniques that\ud are adopted within the context of MDA can also be beneficial in modelling systems\ud by using notations other than the UML. Petri-Nets are widely used for modelling\ud of business and application logic of information systems with web services. For\ud certain kinds of applications, therefore, Petri Nets can be more suitable for building\ud Computation Independent, Platform Independent and Platform Specific Models\ud (CIM, PIM and PSM). Unfortunately, the well-known problems with separation of\ud concerns in Petri Nets and keeping track of changes may hinder achieving the aim of\ud MDA: building reusable, portable and interoperable models. In this paper we define\ud Aspect Petri Nets as a structure of several Petri Nets and quantification rules for\ud weaving of those Petri Nets. Aspect Petri Nets are suitable for application of MDA;\ud they support traceability of changes and reusability, portability and interoperability\ud of models. We illustrate advantages of modelling in Aspect Petri Nets for MDA\ud application and describe necessary tool support

Investigating shellfish deposition and landscape history at the Natia Beach site, Fiji

The relationship between environmental variation and subsistence practices is a central point of discussion in much Oceanic archaeology. While human predation can significantly reduce prey populations, environmental variation also contributes to reductions in prey abundance, possibly leading to increased human competition and resource scarcity. At the Natia Beach site, Nacula Island, Fiji, geoarchaeological evidence suggests that coastal progradation began soon after initial occupation of the coastal plain. Additionally, at approximately 650 BP a marked increase in clay and silt deposition occurred. Changes in coastal geomorphology may be explained by landscape response to regional Mid-Holocene sea level fall combined with human induced soil erosion due to upland settlement. Smaller scale environmental changes associated with climate variability may have also played a role. Additionally, landscape change appears to have had a measurable impact on local nearshore mollusks that are sensitive to high levels of water turbidity. Minor evidence of human exploitation is observable in this shellfish assemblage, although changes in predation pressure may have allowed shellfish populations to recover. Increased ceramic diversity and fortified settlements also appear at approximately 650 BP on Nacula and other parts of Fiji. The suite of changes at Natia may be explained by processes of regional and local environmental changes, and human adaptation in terms of subsistence, spatial organization, and competition

The influence of foreign ions on the crystal lattice of barium titanate

From investigations of phase diagrams of ternary oxides the lattice sites of foreign ions and compensating vacancies are established. Large trivalent ions occupy barium sites and are completely compensated by titanium vacancies. Small pentavalent ions occupy titanium sites and are mainly compensated by titanium vacancies. During these investigations a new compound was found, Ba La4 Ti4 O15 isomorphous with Ba5 Nb4 O15

Gender and Education as Determinants of Household Poverty in Nigeria

Gender, Education, Poverty, Nigeria, Households

Investment in the training of technologists for commercial aquaculture

The protein shortage in Nigeria is noted and the role of aquaculture (=fish farming) as a complement in increasing the dwindling food supply is registered. In addition, the manpower shortage especially in the technology cadre is noted and attributed to the lack of co-ordination and standard curricula especially in aquaculture. An inventory of tasks performed in the aquaculture industry was taken and these were classified and validated, then their final priority level was used to assess which ones were critical, important or desirable and which ones would result in disaster or not with inadequate mastery. Based on the above, recommendations are made that all critical and important tasks be included in the teaching curriculum for aquaculture in both theory and practicals: while it is advocated that all tasks listed be undertaken in fish farm operations. This will raise the competence of technologists to run the commercial aquaculture project

Final Report of the DAUFIN project

DAUFIN = Data Assimulation within Unifying Framework for Improved river basiN modeling (EC 5th framework Project

The missing sinks: slip localization in faults, damage zones, and the seismic energy budget

No abstract available