The Wide-field High-resolution Infrared TElescope (WHITE)

The Wide-field High-resolution Infrared TElescope (WHITE) will be dedicated in the first years of its life to carrying out a few (well focused in terms of science objectives and time) legacy surveys. WHITE would have an angular resolution of ~0.3'' homogeneous over ~0.7 sq. deg. in the wavelength range 1 - 5 um, which means that we will very efficiently use all the available observational time during night time and day time. Moreover, the deepest observations will be performed by summing up shorter individual frames. We will have a temporal information that can be used to study variable objects. The three key science objectives of WHITE are : 1) A complete survey of the Magellanic Clouds to make a complete census of young stellar objects in the clouds and in the bridge and to study their star formation history and the link with the Milky Way. The interaction of the two clouds with our Galaxy might the closest example of a minor merging event that could be the main driver of galaxy evolution in the last 5 Gyrs. 2) The building of the first sample of dusty supernovae at z<1.2 in the near infrared range (1-5 um) to constrain the equation of state from these obscured objects, study the formation of dust in galaxies and build the first high resolution sample of high redshift galaxies observed in their optical frame 3) A very wide weak lensing survey over that would allow to estimate the equation of state in a way that would favourably compete with space projects.Comment: Invited talk to the 2nd ARENA Conference : "The Astrophysical Science Cases at Dome C" Potsdam 17-21 September, 200

Innovative education strategies implemented for large numbers of undergraduate nursing students: the case of one South African university nursing department

The nurse education and training landscape in South Africa has changed in different ways over the past century, with the result that education and training of nurses does not necessarily translate into an adequate supply of professional nurses for the health care service. Today there is a shortage in this category. Factors which contribute to this shortage include nurses moving from the public to the private sector due to perceived better conditions of service, migration, burden of disease, reduction in bed occupancy and an ageing nurse population. Many professional nurses are now reaching retirement, and it is imperative that the training and supply of young professional nurses for the country be reconsidered in the light of this. According to Pillay, the majority of nurses’ training begins in the public sector and their knowledge is grounded on this experience. When sufficient experience is gained, they seek out better opportunities in the private sector and migrate to the more developed countries. This loss of experience from the public sector impacts negatively on the capacity to mentor new graduates, which in turn results in the young, professional, trained nurses seeking better opportunities with organizations where they can develop further. The net result of this is that the public sector is left with overworked, older staff who are on the verge of retirement.Web of Scienc

Displaying desire and distinction in housing

The article discusses the significance of cultural capital for the understanding of the field of housing in contemporary Britain. It explores the relationship between housing and the position of individuals in social space mapped out by means of a multiple correspondence analysis. It considers the material aspects of housing and the changing contexts that are linked to the creation and display of desire for social position and distinction expressed in talk about home decoration as personal expression and individuals' ideas of a `dream house'. It is based on an empirical investigation of taste and lifestyle using nationally representative survey data and qualitative interviews. The article shows both that personal resources and the imagination of home are linked to levels of cultural capital, and that rich methods of investigation are required to grasp the significance of these normally invisible assets to broaden the academic understanding of the field of housing in contemporary culture

Lizard epidermal gland secretions II : chemical characterization of the generation gland secretion of the sungazer, Cordylus giganteus

The original publication is available at http://pubs.acs.org/doi/full/10.1021/np1008366In lizards, the epidermal glands of the femoral and precloacal regions are involved in the production of semiochemicals. In addition to its femoral glands, the giant girdled lizard, or sungazer, Cordylus giganteus, which is endemic to South Africa, has generation glands as an additional potential source of semiochemicals. These epidermal glands are described as glandular scales that overlay the femoral glands and are included in the normal epidermal profile located in the femoral (thigh) and anterior antebrachial (fore-leg) regions of the male sungazer. GC-MS analysis of the generation gland secretions and the trimethylsilyl derivatives of some of the steroidal constituents was employed to identify 59 constituents, including alkenes, carboxylic acids, alcohols, ketones, aldehydes, esters, amides, nitriles, and steroids. The quantitative differences of the volatile constituents of the fore- and hind-leg generation glands were compared between individuals. This is the first report on the chemical composition of generation glandular material of lizards. © 2011 The American Chemical Society and American Society of Pharmacognosy.Post-prin

In vitro and in vivo evaluation of superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles coated by bisphosphonates: the effects of electrical charge and molecule length.

Physicochemical coating properties are often considered to be determining factors for in vivo characteristics of superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles, used as contrast agent in Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI). To investigate the electrical charge (modified by zero, one or two ammonium groups) and the molecule length (3, 5 or 7 methylene chains) effects of bisphosphonate-type coatings, we assessed the complement activation, in vivo plasma and tissue relaxation time alterations of intravenously injected small iron oxide nanoparticles (&lt;25 nm) on male healthy Wistar rats. The presence of ammonium groups induces a weak activation of the complement whatever the size and the concentration of particles, whereas hydroxyethylenebisphosphonate (HEBP)-coated particles are poor complement activators only at the lowest concentration. In vivo, HEBP-coated nanoparticles have the greatest prolonged relaxation time effects, despite their higher negative electrical charge, contrary to two ammonium bearing coatings. No significant differences were observed between mono-ammonium molecular coatings

The Gattini cameras for optical sky brightness measurements at Dome C, Antarctica

The Gattini cameras are two site testing instruments for the measurement of optical sky brightness, large area cloud cover and auroral detection of the night sky above the high altitude Dome C site in Antarctica. The cameras have been operating since installation in January 2006 and are currently at the end of the first Antarctic winter season. The cameras are transit in nature and are virtually identical both adopting Apogee Alta CCD detectors. By taking frequent images of the night sky we obtain long term cloud cover statistics, measure the sky background intensity as a function of solar and lunar altitude and phase and directly measure the spatial extent of bright aurora if present and when they occur. The full data set will return in December 2006 however a limited amount of data has been transferred via the Iridium network enabling preliminary data reduction and system evaluation. An update of the project is presented together with preliminary results from data taken since commencement of the winter season

Experiences of misfit as cues for sensemaking of ERPs

The adoption of computer-based enterprise resource planning systems (ERPs) has become an important feature of large organisations in both the public and private sectors. Successfully embedding ERP systems in organisational structures does, however, pose a significant array of technical and social (human) challenges. Chief among these is ensuring that ERP users successfully adapt to new/changed work processes and tasks post-adoption. In this study Karl Weick's theory of Sensemaking is adopted to investigate the process by which users develop the meaningful understandings of ERPs. It is proposed that experiences of misfit, that result from user ignorance or organisation-artefact misalignment, act as triggers for sensemaking. Based on an integrated interpretive framework a case study of a South African Metropolitan Municipality is used to analyse 34 experiences of misfit and their consequences. Findings suggest that experiences of misfit trigger various types of response strategies during which users’ understanding of and beliefs about ERP technology are updated

Conductance Distributions in Random Resistor Networks: Self Averaging and Disorder Lengths

The self averaging properties of conductance $g$ are explored in random resistor networks with a broad distribution of bond strengths P(g)\simg^{\mu-1}. Distributions of equivalent conductances are estimated numerically on hierarchical lattices as a function of size $L$ and distribution tail parameter $\mu$. For networks above the percolation threshold, convergence to a Gaussian basin is always the case, except in the limit $\mu$ --> 0. A {\it disorder length} $\xi_D$ is identified beyond which the system is effectively homogeneous. This length diverges as $\xi_D \sim |\mu|^{-\nu}$ ($\nu$ is the regular percolation correlation length exponent) as $\mu$-->0. This suggest that exactly the same critical behavior can be induced by geometrical disorder and bu strong bond disorder with the bond occupation probability $p$$\mu$. Only lattices at the percolation threshold have renormalized probability distribution in a {\it Levy-like} basin. At the threshold the disorder length diverges at a vritical tail strength $\mu_c$ as $|\mu-\mu_c|^{-z}$, with $z=3.2\pm 0.1$, a new exponent. Critical path analysis is used in a generalized form to give form to give the macroscopic conductance for lattice above $p_c$.Comment: 16 pages plain TeX file, 6 figures available upon request.IBC-1603-01

Ward's Hierarchical Clustering Method: Clustering Criterion and Agglomerative Algorithm

The Ward error sum of squares hierarchical clustering method has been very widely used since its first description by Ward in a 1963 publication. It has also been generalized in various ways. However there are different interpretations in the literature and there are different implementations of the Ward agglomerative algorithm in commonly used software systems, including differing expressions of the agglomerative criterion. Our survey work and case studies will be useful for all those involved in developing software for data analysis using Ward's hierarchical clustering method.Comment: 20 pages, 21 citations, 4 figure