298 research outputs found
The impact of pregnancy on peak flow values in women with asthma
No full textAsthma is the most common respiratory complication of pregnancy and affects approximately four per cent of all pregnant women. The purpose of this study was to establish normative data regarding how peak flow values change during gestation in pregnant women with asthma. Eighteen pregnant women with asthma were recruited and completed dally logs throughout their pregnancies. The findings suggest there is a difference in peak flow values in different trimesters. Specifically peak flow values were highest in the second trimester with significant differences between the second and third trimesters. While the sample size is small it does provide longitudinal data that suggest changes in asthma as the pregnancy progresses. This study represents a logical next step in identifying the impact of pregnancy on asthma.Peer reviewe
Peak Flow Values by Gestation in Women with Asthma
No full textAsthma is one of the most common medical complications of pregnancy. Control of asthma is associated with improved perinatal outcomes compared with pregnancies of women whose asthma is not controlled. Peak flow measures have been recommended to determine the status of asthma yet norms for peak flow values in women with asthma are missing from the literature. The purpose of this prospective, longitudinal study was to determine average peak flow values in pregnant women with asthma. Forty three women were recruited into the study prior to the twentieth week of pregnancy. Demographic data including age, ethnic background, and number of pregnancies were collected. Type and severity of asthma, medications used for asthma, and past hospitalizations for asthma was recorded. Peak flow values increased across the three trimesters. Significant differences were found in peak flow values between the first and third trimesters (>0.001) and the second and third trimesters (>0.007). Findings from the present study contradict those of studies on pregnant women without asthma. Since hormonal levels change during pregnancy and hormones are thought to influence the status of asthma, the interaction of hormonal changes of pregnancy and asthma warrant further study.Peer reviewe
The Role of Coordination and Cooperation for Bt-maize cultivation in Brandenburg, Germany
No full textSince 2006, several varieties of transgenic Bt-maize are approved for commercial cultivation in Germany. The German regulatory framework for growing these crops comprises ex-ante regulations as well as ex-post liability rules to protect conventional and organic farming from possible negative side effects of transgenic plants and to ensure co-existence. Public regulation is also suspected to impose additional costs to those farmers who intend to plant Bt-maize. We address the question how Bt-maize growing farmers perceive the additional costs of regulation and whether coordination or cooperation takes place in order to diminish these costs. In 2006, we carried out a case study in the Oderbruch region (Brandenburg, Germany) comprising eight Bt-maize growing farmers and six adjacent neighbours. The predominantly large farms chose intrafarm coordination to manage the construction of buffer zones within their own fields and to avoid the planting of Bt-maize close to their neighbours. Inter-farm coordination or cooperation with adjacent farmers was not regarded necessary to achieve co-existence.Coordination, Cooperation, Bt-maize, Crop Production/Industries,
Faculty Perception of Bullying in Schools of Nursing
No full textAims: This paper is a report of a study of conducted to determine the prevalence of bullying among faculty members in Schools or Colleges of Nursing.
Background: The issue of bullying of nursing faculty in the academic setting is of interest in terms of recruitment, retention, job satisfaction, and the overall quality of the work environment.
Method: This cross-sectional, descriptive study of faculty in three northeastern states of the U.S. was carried out in 2010. The Negative Acts Questionnaire-Revised was used to survey faculty members in Schools of Nursing who award a baccalaureate degree (or higher) in nursing.
Results: 473 faculty members met the inclusion criteria and responded to the NAQ-R. An iterative exploratory principal components analysis with orthogonal rotation was performed. Thirteen of the original 22 items were retained to measure the experiences of negative acts in the nursing faculty workplaces. The mean total score for the 13 item instrument was 17.90 (SD 6.07) and ranged from 13 to 56. The resulting components structure produced three clear subscales identifying the experiences of: Verbal abuse, Physical abuse, and Devaluing. The revised 13 item instrument had a Cronbach’s alpha value of 0.88. Experiences of bullying were reported in 169 of the 473 (36%) respondents. A significant correlation was found between meeting frequency and the report of bullying (r = 0.18, p ≤ 0.001). Administrators and senior faculty were more likely than expected to be the perpetrators of bullying.
Discussion: If the leaders are identified as bullies, the environment cannot be perceived as supportive and healthy. These unhealthy environments may have serious consequences related to retaining nursing faculty.Peer reviewe
A dance or a marriage? The relationship between education and the law in South Africa some personal observations from two vantage points
No full textThis article deals with the debate in education and law circles about the convergence of the two fields of knowledge in an area conveniently called education law. It recognises that there is no universal acknowledgement of the existence of such a discipline.
Although the article does not present a full scale analysis of the relationship between education and law, it does present some views emerging from the existence and functioning of two organisations in South Africa namely the South African Education Law Association (SAELA) and the Interuniversity Centre for Education Law and Policy (CELP). Both of the organisations aim to promote education law research and training. In light of the existing literature the relationship is likened to a marriage of convenience or a dance in which the quality of the relationship between the two fields varies.
The author examines and concurs with opinions that there are grounds to support the notion that a discrete field of inquiry named education law does exist in South Africa. However, the relationship still needs to be developed for the field to mature as an academic discipline. Among the problems that have to be addressed are the lack of interest in universities (especially law faculties at former English universities) in this field, the subsequent imbalance between educators and jurists active in the field and the failure of educational administrators to abide by the law even if they are aware of what the law requires. Added to this failure is a lack of knowledge among administrators of education law and the presence of a phenomenon termed the use of imagined power among them.
The article concludes that there are indications that the relationship between education and the law can lead to the development and promotion of a discrete field of law named education law
Islamic Law, Adat and State Law Franz Von Benda-Beckmann on Systems of Property and Inheritance in Minangkabau
No full textFranz von Benda-Beckmann is a famous figure in the field of legal pluralism. He is one among scholars who propose to understand the plurality of norms in a society. Among his many works, those on Minangkabau are well-known in the study of Anthropology of Law (Rechtsethnologie). This article attempts to analyse his ideas in a book entitled Property in Social Continuity: Continuity and Change in the Maintenance of Property Relationships through Time in Minangkabau, West Sumatra published in 1979. It has its relevance in the seminar Anthropology of Islamic Law, especially when the book talked about the pluralistic situation of laws in Minangkabau on problems of property and inheritance. Because the book is predominantly about Minangkabau adat, the author focuses on adat's relation with Islamic law and more specifically on the problem of inheritance which has been a source of much “competition” between both systems to regulate the society
Comparison of progress and several specific masterpieces of Oscar Kokoschka`s Prague exile period and Max Beckmann`s Amsterdam exile period
No full textThe work deals with Prague exile period of Oscar Kokoschka and Amsterdam exile period of Max Beckmann. Right these two artists were choosen for the reason, that both were representatives of expressionistic style, they belonged to same generation (Beckmann born in 1884, Kokoschka 1886) and both were affected by the similar social-political influences (from the work point of view is the most important influence the political oppression of the third decade). The main part of this work deals with a question, how the life in exile, as well as repression and intimidation from the nazi regime, changed artisctic progress of both artists, whereas the author tries to describe these changes in three features of art - in self-portrait, landscape-painting and allegoric paintings. In the scope of these areas he tries to compare how did these two artists react to the same influences outside art (for example politicized exhibition "Entartete Kunst"), how did they see themselves in this dramatic era, and to show this at specific pieces of art
The reorientation of t-butyl groups in butylated hydroxytoluene: A deuterium nuclear magnetic resonance spectral and relaxation time study
No full textDeuterium nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectra and spin-lattice relaxation times were determined in order to study the dynamics of t-butyl groups in butylated hydroxytoluene. The results are consistent with a model first proposed by Beckmann et al. [J. Magn. Reson. 36, 199 (1979)], where there is an inequivalence between the methyl groups within each t-butyl group. While two methyl groups reorient rapidly relative to the whole t-butyl rotation, the remaining methyl group is more restricted in its motion, reorienting at a rate comparable to that of the t-butyl group itself. The spin-lattice relaxation data show two T1 minima, the high temperature minimum (40-degrees-C) corresponding to the combined t-butyl and "slow" methyl rotations, and the low temperature minimum corresponding to "fast" methyl group rotation. Using an explicitly defined T1 fitting function, the T1 data yield activation energies of 2.2 and 6.0 kcal/mol for the fast methyl and t-butyl rotations, respectively, both in agreement with Beckmann's values obtained from proton T1 experiments. It was also possible to simulate the low temperature deuterium NMR spectra from T = - 160-degrees-C to T = - 80-degrees-C using the aforementioned dynamical inequivalence between the t-butyl methyl groups. While the fast methyl group rotation was in the motional narrowing region for T > - 160-degrees-C, it was possible, from the simulations, to determine the t-butyl exchange rates to within 10%. The jump rates are remarkably close to the values predicted from the T1 results. Above - 80-degrees-C, the spectra could not be simulated, implying that a third motion must be present to further alter the high temperature line shapes. The effective axial asymmetry of the T > - 20-degrees spectra indicates that the additional motion involves a two site exchange.PT: J; CR: ABRAGAM A, 1961, PRINCIPLES NUCLEAR M, P451 ALBERT S, 1972, J CHEM PHYS, V56, P1332 ALBERT S, 1976, J CHEM PHYS, V6, P3277 ALBERT S, 1976, J CHEM PHYS, V64, P3277 ARONSON M, 1981, CHEM PHYS, V63, P349 BECKMANN P, 1978, J MAGN RESON, V32, P391 BECKMANN P, 1979, J MAGN RESON, V36, P199 BECKMANN P, 1981, CHEM PHYS, V63, P359 BECKMANN PA, 1984, J MAGN RESON, V59, P63 BEVINGTON PR, 1969, DATA REDUCTION ERROR, CH11 BLOEMBERGEN N, 1948, PHYS REV, V73, P679 BLOOM M, 1980, CAN J PHYS, V58, P1510 DAVIS JH, 1976, CHEM PHYS LETT, V42, P390 DAVIS JH, 1983, BIOCHIM BIOPHYS ACTA, V737, P117 DRUYAN ME, 1976, J AM CHEM SOC, V98, P4801 ELSAFFAR ZM, 1972, J CHEM PHYS, V56, P1477 FABER DH, 1974, ACTA CRYSTALLOGR B, V30, P449 FROST JC, 1980, PHILOS T ROY SOC B, V290, P567 FROST JC, 1982, J CHEM SOC FARAD T 2, V78, P2139 GALL CM, 1981, J AM CHEM SOC, V103, P5039 GOLDBERG I, 1975, ACTA CRYSTALLOGR B, V31, P2592 GRIFFIN RG, 1981, METHOD ENZYMOL, V72, P108 HASEBE T, 1985, J CHEM SOC FARAD T 2, V81, P735 HASEBE T, 1985, J CHEM SOC FARAD T 2, V81, P749 HURT CJ, 1975, ACTA CRYSTALLGR, V91, P273 LEADBETTER AJ, 1985, J CHEM SOC FARAD T 2, V81, P1067 MAZEBAUDET M, 1973, ACTA CRYSTALLOGR B, V29, P602 MCKENZIE TC, 1975, ACTA CRYSTALLOGR B, V31, P1778 MOOIBROEK S, 1985, CAN J CHEM, V63, P2926 MOOIBROEK S, 1988, CAN J CHEM, V66, P734 OREILLY DE, 1973, J CHEM PHYS, V59, P3576 OWEN NL, 1974, INTERNAL ROTATIONS M, P157 POWLES JG, 1953, J CHEM PHYS, V21, P1695 POWLES JG, 1953, J CHEM PHYS, V21, P1704 RIPMEESTER JA, 1985, J CHEM PHYS, V82, P1053 SPIESS HW, 1981, J MAGN RESON, V42, P381 STEJSKAL EO, 1958, J CHEM PHYS, V28, P388 STEJSKAL EO, 1959, J CHEM PHYS, V31, P55 TORCHIA DA, 1982, J MAGN RESON, V49, P107 VEGA AJ, 1987, J CHEM PHYS, V86, P1803 WITTEBORT RJ, 1987, J CHEM PHYS, V86, P5411; NR: 41; TC: 13; J9: J CHEM PHYS; PG: 8; GA: FA778Source type: Electronic(1
Public transaction cost of agri-environmental schemes and its determinants - Analysing stakeholders’ involvement and perceptions
No full textDespite a total budget increase for rural development in the new programming period (2007- 2013), for most older Member States in the now expanded European Union the multi-annual spending plan for the period 2007-2013 predicts a substantial decrease of the budget for rural development and thus for agri-environmental schemes (AESs). It can be assumed that nothing or only part of this loss could be compensated by national funds in most countries. Therefore designing more efficient national governance structures for AESs, which decrease public transaction costs (TCs), would be an appropriate answer to this problem. The objective of this paper is to define the factors influencing these public TCs, because then appropriate action can be taken to reduce them. A statistical analysis with a proxy for public TCs is combined with an analysis of the perception on public TCs influencing factors of the stakeholders involved (not including farmers). The research showed that mainly scheme related factors are perceived to be important, although the governance structure, institutional environment and trust also play a role. High public TCs are however not necessarily a problem, if they would lead to a higher environmental effectiveness of the schemes. It is important to pay attention to the heterogeneity of the natural environment and on the basis of that decide for a more centralised or decentralised approach to AES design.Public transaction costs, agrienvironmental schemes, Environmental Economics and Policy,
- …
