The efficacy of jury trials in the South African civil justice system

In classical terms, democracy is synonymous with direct participation. However, as states grew and direct public participation became more difficult, a more minimal concept of democracy associated with enfranchisement was adopted. Democracy, however, should not be limited to the enfranchisement of the masses. It ought to include some level of direct public participation in branches of the government such as the judicial system

Development of a tool to measure patient expectations with complete removable dentures

INTRODUCTION: Patients' expectations of complete removable dentures may play a role in determining their level of satisfaction with newly constructed complete removable dentures. AIMS AND OBJECTIVES: To develop a Patient Expectation Questionnaire using a validated satisfaction questionnaire as framework and subsequently determine patients' expectations of complete removable dentures. OBJECTIVES: 1. To formulate a patient expectations questionnaire using a validated satisfaction questionnaire framework-that will assesses their perceptions of new dentures 2. To determine patient expectations related to masticatory functional, pain, psychological discomfort and social disability with complete removable dentures. METHODOLOGY: All the aspects of the newly formed Patient Expectation Questionnaire (PEQ) was formulated following the framework of the OHIP-20 patient satisfaction tool. The expectation questionnaire was administered to patients at their first dental visit with the information sheet and informed consent form. RESULTS: A series of statistical tests was done to assess the validity and reliability of the Patient Expectation Questionnaire. These tests concluded that the newly formulated questionnaire was reliable. CONCLUSION: Patient expectations can be determined prior to treatment thereby allowing the clinician to manage these expectations and strive to meet the attainable ones during the construction of the complete removable denture. Amongst others masticatory efficiency and pain were identified as being high on the request list for new complete removable dentures

Role of probiotics in lower reproductive tract infection in women of age group 18 to 45 years

Background: This study has been designed to assess the effectiveness of the probiotic strains having Lactobacillus rhamnosus GR-1 and Lactobacillus reuteri RC-14 in the management of lower genital infections (bacterial vaginosis and candidiasis) as an integral therapy with antibiotics.Methods: Double blind, randomized placebo controlled study in women between 18-45 years attending Sree Avittom Thirunal Hospital (SATH), Government Medical College, Thiruvananthapuram, India with symptoms of bacterial vaginosis and vulvovaginal candidiasis. Women giving consent were given probiotics along with conventional antibiotics and were followed up over a period of two months. Outcome is measured as percentage of women showing a score of less than 4 at the end of thirty days of treatment, and sixty days of treatment in the test and control group in the case of bacterial vaginosis and no discharge and absence of hyphae and pseudohyphae in wet smear and gram stain in case of candidiasis.Results: Out of 42 women studied, 32 had bacterial vaginosis and 10 had vulvovaginal candidiasis. 81.3% women with BV had a normal vaginal picture after sixty days of treatment as compared to placebo which was only 31.3%. The p value is 0.004 which is significant. In the treatment of VC, the percentage of women cured was the same in both probiotic and placebo group.Conclusions: In the treatment of bacterial vaginosis, addition of probiotics to the conventional antibiotics can improve the cure rate of bacterial vaginosis and reduce the rate of recurrences. In the treatment of vulvovaginal candidiasis, addition of probiotics to the conventional antifungal did not have a significant improvement

Do patients' expectations influence their satisfaction with complete dentures?

Magister Scientiae Dentium - MSc(Dent)Background: Most edentulous patients have expectations regarding complete dentures that are not only dependant on past experiences but also the information they received from others. These expectations may impact on the level of satisfaction the patient would have when receiving their complete dentures. When determining levels of satisfaction, factors such as comfort, speech, aesthetics, mastication, retention, fit / stability and occurrence of pain should be assessed. The dental student should be able to clinically apply theoretical knowledge to provide the patient with a stable and retentive denture that fulfils their expectations on function and aesthetics. Not much has been written regarding this link between patients' expectations and satisfaction with complete dentures at the University of the Western Cape, thus it warranted further investigation. Aim: The aim of this study was to determine whether patients' expectations influence their satisfaction with new complete dentures constructed by undergraduate dental students. Objectives:- 1. To determine the expectations of the edentulous patients prior to receiving new complete dentures. 2. To determine if patients’ expectations influences satisfaction with new complete dentures. 3. To investigate the influence of socio-demographic factors on patients' satisfaction wearing complete dentures. 4. To determine if the level of experience of the undergraduate student influences patient satisfaction. Methodology: This was an observational study using two questionnaires for data collection namely the Patient Expectation Questionnaire and the Oral Health Impact Profile- 20. Socio-demographic data was collected as part of the first questionnaire. Each participant was given an individual case number that corresponded on both questionnaires. This facilitated correlation between the expectations and satisfaction results of individual patients. Results: The age range for the majority of the patients was between 56-65 years. Females made up 72% of the sample with 85% of the sample of coloured ethnicity. Statistical analysis included reliability testing of the Patient Expectation Questionnaire and the Cronbach's Alpha of .773 was recorded, which indicates good reliability. Results following analysis of the Oral Health Impact Profile-20 showed high levels of satisfaction in most domains. The correlation between patients' expectations and satisfaction with new complete dentures was not proven using Pearson correlation. However, the comparison between the expectations questionnaire and Oral Health Impact Profile-20 frequency distribution showed positive results and most expectations of the patient were met or even exceeded for certain domains. Conclusion: Once analysis of both questionnaires was completed high levels of expectations were recorded and these expectations were met in most domains. Even though the statistical relationship between patient expectations and satisfaction was not proven, analysis of the questionnaires yielded positive results. No association was found between pre-treatment expectation and patient satisfaction with complete dentures. Some socio-demographic factors influenced patient satisfaction with complete dentures. High levels of patient satisfaction were recorded regardless of the clinical experience of the undergraduate dental student

Household Solar Photovoltaic Adoption in the Maldives: A Socioeconomic Perspective

Energy has become an essential part of our lives, but the current energy sources we used are depleting and non-renewable. In the case of Maldives, fuel energy is expensive due to importation and high transportation cost.  Besides, Atoll islands' characteristics require each island to have a power plant using fossil fuel, and the fuel storage availability is limited, making the electricity in these islands unstable and costly. Therefore, the need for cleaner and reliable resources for energy is essential in order to ensure a better future.  This study aimed to determine the factors influencing solar energy acceptance by inviting people to participate in the electronic survey in the Maldives, with 119 samples collected. The result revealed that most respondents were willing to go for a solar energy source for electrification due to the current high electricity bills. A binary logistic regression analysis was performed to predict the factors for the acceptance of solar energy. The result showed that people's attitudes and current electricity bills were significantly influential in solar energy acceptance. The presumptions for policymakers are to increase the people's knowledge and awareness to elevate a positive attitude and involve the private sector to increase competition and utility in the fiel

Factors Affecting the Recruitment and Selection Process of Private Commercial Banks in Bangladesh

Vol. 2, Number 4, Fall 201

Determination of Financial Rotation of Acacia nilotica (L.) Plantations: A Case Study in Faridpur District of Bangladesh

Knowing the rotation age of farming trees is important to urge maximum return from it. Acacia nilotica (Babla) may be a widely planted farming tree especially in modern agroforestry practice mainly in northern, north western and south western region of Bangladesh. Farmers have little idea about optimum age of the trees to be cut. So, they fail to realize maximum enjoy it. No study has been undertaken to work out the optimum rotation age for A. nilotica in Bangladesh. during this study, an effort has been taken to unravel this problem. Plantations done by Bangladesh Forest Department (BFD) in Faridpur district has taken into consideration as study area. Total cost and total benefit for every plantation site was identified first. Then, Present Value of Benefit (PVB), Present Value of Cost (PVC) and Net Present Value of Benefit (NPVB) were determined to live the Land Expectation Value (Le), Internal Rate of Return (IRR) and Benefit-Cost Ratio (B/C). Using those parameters during this study, it's found that 11 to 14 years old plantations provided highest benefit to the farmers and this could be the acceptable rotation age for Babla trees in Faridpur district. Keywords: Babla, Financial rotation, Forest Management, Faridpur, Bangladesh. DOI: 10.7176/JESD/12-4-05 Publication date: February 28th 202

Computational investigation of the haemodynamics shows criticalities of central venous lines used for chronic haemodialysis in children

Background: Haemodialysis is a life-saving treatment for children with kidney failure. The majority of children have haemodialysis through central venous lines (CVLs). The use of CVLs in pediatric patients is often associated to complications which can lead to their replacement. The aim of this study is to investigate haemodynamics of pediatric CVLs to highlight the criticalities of different line designs. Methods: Four models of CVLs for pediatric use were included in this study. The selected devices varied in terms of design and sizes (from 6.5 Fr to 14 Fr). Accurate 3D models of CVLs were reconstructed from high-resolution images including venous and arterial lumens, tips and side holes. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) analyses were carried out to simulate pediatric working conditions of CVLs in ideal and anatomically relevant conditions. Results: The arterial lumens of all tested CVLs showed the most critical conditions with the majority of blood flowing through the side-holes. A zone of low flow was identified at the lines' tip. The highest shear stresses distribution (>10 Pa) was found in the 8 Fr line while the highest platelet lysis index in the 10 Fr model. The analysis on the anatomical geometry showed an increase in wall shear stress measured in the 10 F model compared to the idealised configuration. Similarly, in anatomical models an increased disturbance and velocity of the flow was found inside the vein after line placement. Conclusion: This study provided a numerical characterization of fluid dynamics in pediatric CVLs highlighting performance criticalities (i.e. high shear stresses and areas of stagnation) associated to specific sizes (8 Fr and 10 Fr) and conditions (i.e. anatomical test)

Scrap computer keyboards a sustainable resource for silver (Ag) and low density oil (L D Oil)

Most neglected part of the scrap computers are the keyboards, which are generally incinerated by the informal recycling sectors creating environmental pollution and leads to the wastage of precious metallic contents present in it. Present paper is focused on a novel chemical processing technique developed to recover silver (Ag) as value added product and low density oil (L D Oil) from the computer keyboards. Initially, scrap keyboards were manually dismantled to separate Mylar sheets and the same were pyrolysed at 300 ◦C for 2 h to recover L D Oil. The obtained pyrolysed Mylar sheets was further crushed, milled and homogenized to reduce particle size (− 100 mesh). The crushed sample was leached using 2 M HNO3 at 60 ◦C in mixing time of 20 min and pulp density of 100 g/L to achieve maximum dissolution of Ag. The leaching kinetics for Ag dissolution well fitted with chemical reaction control dense constant size cylindrical particles, 1-(1-X)1/2 = kct. The obtained leach liquor was put to cementation process using metallic copper (Cu). Almost 99% of Ag gets cemented as Ag powder in 15 min at a constant solution temperature of 60 ◦C and pH 1.1. The developed bench scale process has application orientation to the industry after piloting the process

Hyperparathyroidism Is an Independent Risk Factor for Allograft Dysfunction in Pediatric Kidney Transplantation

Allograft outcome; Hyperparathyroidism; Kidney transplantationResultado del aloinjerto; Hiperparatiroidismo; Trasplante de riñónResultat de l'aloempelt; Hiperparatiroïdisme; Trasplantament de ronyóIntroduction Little is known about the consequences of deranged chronic kidney disease–mineral and bone disorder (CKD-MBD) parameters on kidney allograft function in children. We examined a relationship between these parameters over time and allograft outcome. Methods This registry study from the Cooperative European Paediatric Renal Transplant Initiative (CERTAIN) collected data at baseline, months 1, 3, 6, 9, and 12 after transplant; and every 6 months thereafter up to 5 years. Survival analysis for a composite end point of graft loss or estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) ≤30 ml/min per 1.73 m2 or a ≥50% decline from eGFR at month 1 posttransplant was performed. Associations of parathyroid hormone (PTH), calcium, phosphate, and 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D) with allograft outcome were investigated using conventional stratified Cox proportional hazards models and further verified with marginal structural models with time-varying covariates. Results We report on 1210 patients (61% boys) from 16 European countries. The composite end point was reached in 250 grafts (21%), of which 11 (4%) were allograft losses. In the conventional Cox proportional hazards models adjusted for potential confounders, only hyperparathyroidism (hazard ratio [HR], 2.94; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.82–4.74) and hyperphosphatemia (HR, 1.94; 95% CI, 1.28–2.92) were associated with the composite end point. Marginal structural models showed similar results for hyperparathyroidism (HR, 2.74; 95% CI, 1.71–4.38), whereas hyperphosphatemia was no longer significant (HR, 1.35; 95% CI, 0.87–2.09), suggesting that its association with graft dysfunction can be ascribed to a decline in eGFR. Conclusion Hyperparathyroidism is a potential independent risk factor for allograft dysfunction in children.This study was supported by a research grant from the European Society for Paediatric Nephrology to AP. The authors gratefully acknowledge the funding of the Cooperative European Paediatric Renal Transplant Initiative Registry by a grant from the Dietmar Hopp Stiftung, the European Society for Paediatric Nephrology, and the German Society for Paediatric Nephrology and by grants from the pharmaceutical companies Astellas and Novartis