Rapid recreation assessment: a tool to assess visitor use and associated impacts at coastal and marine protected areas

As more people discover coastal and marine protected areas as destinations for leisure-time pursuits, the task of managing coastal resources while providing opportunities for high quality visitor experiences becomes more challenging. Many human impacts occur at these sites; some are caused by recreation and leisure activities on-site, and others by activities such as agriculture, aquaculture, or residential and economic development in surrounding areas. Coastal management professionals are continually looking for effective ways to prevent or mitigate negative impacts of visitor use. (PDF contains 8 pages) Most coastal and marine protected area managers are challenged with balancing two competing goals—protection of natural and cultural resources and provision of opportunities for public use. In most cases, some level of compromise between the goals is necessary, where one goal constrains or “outweighs” the other. Often there is a lack of clear agreement about the priority of these competing goals. Consequently, while natural resource decisions should ultimately be science-based and objective, such decisions are frequently made under uncertainty, relying heavily upon professional judgment. These decisions are subject to a complex array of formal and informal drivers and constraints—data availability, timing, legal mandate, political will, diverse public opinion, and physical, human, and social capital. This paper highlights assessment, monitoring, and planning approaches useful to gauge existing resource and social conditions, determine feasibility of management actions, and record decision process steps to enhance defensibility. Examples are presented from pilot efforts conducted at the Rookery Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve (NERR) and Ten Thousand Islands National Wildlife Refuge (NWR) in South Florida

Pengaruh Perhitungan Volume Pekerjaan Terhadap Margin Profit Sebagai Acuan Penentuan Harga Satuan Pekerjaan, Studi Kasus Pada Pekerjaan RS. Boromeus Bandung

Salah satu faktor yang membedakan perhitungan volume pekerjaan antara kontraktor dengan konsultan dalam sebuah proyek adalah karena kontraktor mengacu pada standar ukuran bahan yang beredar di pasaran. Perbedaan tersebut akan menjadi acuan pada proses seleksi guna mendapatkan kontrak. Perhitungan yang dilakukan kontraktor kemudian akan menentukan biaya proyek sebelum pembangunan dilaksanakan. Kontraktor juga akan menjadikan perhitungan ini sebagai bagian dari proses konstruksi secara keseluruhan. Hal tersebut melibatkan faktor pemilihan bahan, produktivitas dan upah buruh, yang kemudian menentukan waktu dan biaya konstruksi, biaya subkontraktor, sampai pada biaya tak terduga dan keuntungan. Estimasi sebagai salah satu bagian dari proses konstruksi memerlukan pengetahuan menyeluruh tentang metodologi dan material konstruksi. Mengingat sedemikian banyak aspek yang terlibat, maka kajian kali ini hanya akan menyoroti masalah estimasi dari segi material konstruksi. Prinsip-prinsip estimasi yang dilakukan subkontraktor pada dasarnya sama dengan kontraktor utama. Namun demikian, terdapat sedikit perbedaan dalam terminologi dan strategi kompetisi selama proses estimasi. Hasil perhitungan subkontraktor ini akan mempengaruhi biaya total proyek, sesuai nilai penawaran terhadap kontraktor utamanya. Metode estimasi pada laporan ini didasarkan pada hasil perhitungan konsultan quantity surveyor yang kemudian dikonversikan sebagai asumsi perhitungan versi kontraktor, untuk kemudian dibandingkan

Preventing human immunodeficiency virus infection among sexual assault survivors in Cape Town, South Africa: an observational study.

We describe 131 South African sexual assault survivors offered HIV post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP). While the median days completed was 27 (IQR 27, 28), 34% stopped PEP or missed doses. Controlling for baseline symptoms, PEP was not associated with symptoms (OR = 1.30, 95% CI = 0.66, 2.64). Factors associated with unprotected sex included prior unprotected sex (OR = 6.46, 95% CI = 3.04, 13.74), time since the assault (OR = 1.33, 95% CI = 1.12, 1.57) and age (OR = 1.30, 95% CI = 1.08, 1.57). Trauma counseling was protective (OR = 0.18, 95% CI = 0.05, 0.58). Four instances of seroconversion were observed by 6 months (risk = 3.7%, 95% CI = 1.0, 9.1). Proactive follow-up is necessary to increase the likelihood of PEP completion and address the mental health and HIV risk needs of survivors. Adherence interventions and targeted risk reduction counseling should be provided to minimize HIV acquisition

Caloric restriction in C57BL/6J mice mimics therapeutic fasting in humans

BACKGROUND: Caloric restriction (CR) has long been recognized as a dietary therapy that improves health and increases longevity. Little is known about the persistent effects of CR on plasma biomarkers (glucose, ketone bodies, and lipids) following re-feeding in mice. It is also unclear how these biomarker changes in calorically restricted mice relate to those observed previously in calorically restricted humans. RESULTS: Three groups of individually housed adult female C57BL/6J (B6) mice (n = 4/group) were fed a standard rodent chow diet either: (1) unrestricted (UR); (2) restricted for three weeks to reduce body weight by approximately 15–20% (R); or (3) restricted for three weeks and then re-fed unrestricted (ad libitum) for an additional three weeks (R-RF). Body weight and food intake were measured throughout the study, while plasma lipids and levels of glucose and ketone bodies (β-hydroxybutyrate) were measured at the termination of the study. Plasma glucose, phosphatidylcholine, cholesterol, and triglycerides were significantly lower in the R mice than in the UR mice. In contrast, plasma fatty acids and β-hydroxybutyrate were significantly higher in the R mice than in the UR mice. CR had no effect on plasma phosphatidylinositol levels. While body weight and plasma lipids of the R-RF mice returned to unrestricted levels upon re-feeding, food intake and glucose levels remained significantly lower than those prior to the initiation of CR. CONCLUSION: CR establishes a new homeostatic state in B6 mice that persists for at least three weeks following ad libitum re-feeding. Moreover, the plasma biomarker changes observed in B6 mice during CR mimic those reported in humans on very low calorie diets or during therapeutic fasting