Search

In the post-Apartheid era South Africa's universities have faced serious questions about the quality of their student learning in the face of near impossible challenges. The University of Cape Town, widely seen as the country's leading higher education institution, has shown remarkable resilience, however, in the range of initiatives it has launched to support and enhance student learning. These initiatives, designed with a common purpose, are of course intended to work together so that their effects might be compounded and realized in enhanced student learning outcomes. Drawing substantially on the power of compounding (which is itself redolent of the claim made by complexity theory that relations and emergence are crucial concepts), complexity theory offers unique insights into how and why things change – and also into how and why things remain largely the same or inexorably grind towards failure. The networked initiatives undertaken by the University of Cape Town constitute a case of learning refurbishment that is also well explained and understood in terms of complexity theory. This paper draws on concepts from complexity theory both to understand how learning might be enhanced in higher education institutions in severely straitened circumstances and to offer insights for education leaders and policy-makers in this domain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Global flows of international students have diversified in recent years. As a result, the common association of this form of mobility with affluent members of the global middle class increasingly does not hold. This study focuses on one emergent student migration pattern that has been the subject of relatively little empirical research: that of African international students in China. The main aim is to establish how international student migration is experienced differentially by students positioned in their home societies in unequal ways, thereby moving beyond the notion that international student migration is a middle-class activity. Drawing on data from semi-structured interviews with 40 students from 14 African countries, we apply Bourdieu’s theory of practice to examine the extent and nature of habitus transformation of students from a variety of social backgrounds. We show that differences in social background in this particular case led to distinct trajectories during the sojourn and in terms of post-study plans. Our study makes a theoretical contribution to the international student migration literature, arguing that the nature of transformation that took place among student migrants as a result of study was shaped by the nature of mobility, both spatial and social. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We defend in this paper the importance of redistributing power in the field of education development by enhancing the self-sustainability of education initiatives and minimizing their roots in dependency – these as pre-requisites for improving their sustainable development outcomes. We do this by considering an education development initiative run by the Barefoot College in India, and then developing an explanatory model based in complexity theory (as expounded by Edgar Morin) and in the capability approach (as developed principally by Amartya Sen and Martha Nussbaum). We conclude that such a redistribution of power would help to ensure that education is better connected to its development context, more relevant to the interests and needs of the community it serves, and its quality enhanced. More generally, we reinforce existing arguments – but from the perspective and imperative of sustainability – why it is in the interests of policy-makers to devolve power and to provide resources to such initiatives. Doing so would enhance governments' prospects of realizing their education and social development goals. The arrogation of power and resources towards the centre, an almost natural impulse in policy-making, is, in the end, counter-productive, and threatens sustainable education and social development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This naturalistic study was designed to examine the effectiveness of a 4-week skill-based group therapy that focuses on building resilience. The group, informed by Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT; Linehan, 1993, 2015), targets general clients at college counseling centers and emphasizes mindfulness as a coping strategy to stress, cognitive rigidity, emotion dysregulation, and interpersonal difficulties. Results indicated that group members showed clinically significant improvement in psychological resilience and general mental health at the conclusion of group therapy. Implications are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Injured older adults often receive delayed care in the emergency department (ED) because they do not meet criteria for trauma team activation (TTA). This is particularly dangerous for the increasing number of patients taking anticoagulant or antiplatelet (AC/AP) medication at the time of injury.Objectives: The present study examined improvements in processes of care and triage accuracy when TTA criteria include an escalated response for older anticoagulated patients.Methods: A retrospective study was performed at a Level I trauma center. The study population (referred to as A55) included patients aged 55 years or older who were taking an AC/AP medication at the time of injury. Study periods included 11 months prior to the criteria change (Phase 1: July 2013-May 2014; n = 107) and 11 months after the change (Phase 2: July 2014-May 2015; n = 211). Differences were assessed with Kruskal-Wallis and chi-squared tests.Results: More A55 patients received a full or limited TTA after criteria were revised (70% vs. 26%, p < 0.001). Undertriage was reduced from 13% to 2% (p < 0.001). The trauma center significantly decreased time to first laboratory result, time to first computed tomography scan, and total time in ED prior to admission for A55 patients arriving from the scene of injury or by private vehicle.Conclusion: Criteria that escalated the trauma response for A55 patients led to reductions in undertriage for anticoagulated older adults, as well as more timely mobilization of important clinical resources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the possibility of implementing policy change in education using the complexity theory. Topics include the complexity of the decentralisation of the education systems due to the dynamic open systems, the implementation and sustainability of policy change in education governance, and the role of status quo in the resistance to change.

This paper describes the measurement and model evaluation of formaldehyde source emissions from composite and solid wood furniture in a full-scale chamber at different ventilation rates for up to 4000 h using ASTM D 6670-01 (2007). Tests were performed on four types of furniture constructed of different materials and from different manufacturers. The data were used to evaluate two empirical emission models, i.e., a first-order and power-law decay model. The experimental results showed that some furniture tested in this study, made only of solid wood and with less surface area, had low formaldehyde source emissions. The effect of ventilation rate on formaldehyde emissions was also examined. Model simulation results indicated that the power-law decay model showed better agreement than the first-order decay model for the data collected from the tests, especially for long-term emissions. This research was limited to a laboratory study with only four types of furniture products tested. It was not intended to comprehensively test or compare the large number of furniture products available in the market place. Therefore, care should be taken when applying the test results to real-world scenarios. Also, it was beyond the scope of this study to link the emissions to human exposure and potential health risks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: Telomerase is a ribonucleoprotein reverse transcriptase that replicates the ends of chromosomes, thus maintaining genome stability. Telomerase ribonucleoprotein assembly is primarily mediated by the RNA binding domain (TRBD) of the enzyme. Here we present the high-resolution TRBD structure of the vertebrate, Takifugu rubripes (trTRBD). The structure shows that with the exception of the N-terminal linker, the trTRBD is conserved with the Tribolium castaneum and Tetrahymena thermophila TRBDs, suggesting evolutionary conservation across species. The structure provides a view of the structural organization of the vertebrate-specific VSR motif that binds the activation domain (CR4/5) of the RNA component of telomerase. It also reveals a motif (TFLY) that forms part of the T-CP pocket implicated in template boundary element (TBE) binding. Mutant proteins of conserved residues that consist of part of the T and TFLY motifs disrupt trTRBD-TBE binding and telomerase activity and processivity, supporting an essential role of these motifs in telomerase RNP assembly and function. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: Cdc13 is an essential yeast protein required for telomere length regulation and genome stability. It does so via its telomere-capping properties and by regulating telomerase access to the telomeres. The crystal structure of the Saccharomyces cerevisiae Cdc13 domain located between the recruitment and DNA binding domains reveals an oligonucleotide-oligosaccharide binding fold (OB2) with unusually long loops extending from the core of the protein. These loops are involved in extensive interactions between two Cdc13 OB2 folds leading to stable homodimerization. Interestingly, the functionally impaired cdc13-1 mutation inhibits OB2 dimerization. Biochemical assays indicate OB2 is not involved in telomeric DNA or Stn1 binding. However, disruption of the OB2 dimer in full-length Cdc13 affects Cdc13-Stn1 association, leading to telomere length deregulation, increased temperature sensitivity, and Stn1 binding defects. We therefore propose that dimerization of the OB2 domain of Cdc13 is required for proper Cdc13, Stn1, Ten1 (CST) assembly and productive telomere capping. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: In this paper we consider why students in poor and rural regions of China are dropping out of school in numbers that may be greater than official statistics admit. With questions about education quality among the most intractable in Education for All initiatives across the developing world, we sketch a portrait of education in a remote mountain village community as it might be painted from the perspective of a primary school dropout: a portrait in which education quality is well in the shadows. We indicate the limits of the view that commonly relates the phenomenon of school dropout primarily with poverty, a lack of school resources and inequities in resource distribution, suggesting that the picture is more nuanced and subtly shaded at local levels. Our research indicates that the education system in the radically transitional society that China is today brings with it values that clash with those of its citizens, particularly those who are marginalized and cannot easily adjust, perhaps because of their disadvantaged socio-economic, cultural and geographic location. In an ethnographic study in a poor, rural area in Yunnan province, we found significant disjunctions in values: between those of the school system and those of parents with regard to the aims and purposes of education; between those of the curriculum and those of teachers with regard to their role in the classroom vis-à-vis knowledge as represented in textbooks; between those of government education policy and the concerns of the remote rural poor with regard to resource distribution; and between those of a newly market-oriented society and educational ideals about teachers’ and students’ abilities. We also offer some insight into the scale and complexity of the problems associated with a lack of education quality and students’ dropping out of school as a consequence, which cannot be revealed by the official 1% dropout rate. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

An analysis of air exchange rates due to intentional window and door openings in a research test house located in a residential environment is presented. These data inform the development of ventilation rate control strategies as building envelopes are tightened to improve the energy efficiency of residential structures. Common physical processes in the building are evaluated for their ability to alter building air exchange rates through increased natural ventilation. The impact on indoor air quality as related to contaminant concentrations is not considered. Air exchange rates were determined for door opening frequency in addition to several window open areas using multiple zone tracer gas decay measurements. Data analysis shows that window opened area, door opening frequency, and indoor-to-outdoor temperature differences have the greatest effect on air exchange rates out of the measured parameters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper situates the philosophy and politics of partnership in educational development cooperation in the context of wider epistemological and axiological shifts in contemporary social theory. Partnerships in development cooperation are also considered in the light of the alleged failure of international development assistance, a claim that has received much attention with the publication of, among others, William Easterly's The White Man's Burden: Why the West's efforts to aid the rest have done so much ill and so little good () and of Dambisa Moyo's Dead Aid: Why aid is not working and how there is another way for Africa (). Partnership as a development strategy offers one response to these claims, but if shared development objectives and policies, shared ownership, shared decisions about where aid is targeted, shared rights, shared responsibilities, and shared implementation strategies still leave the education development community facing challenges as big as ever, it might be time, the paper concludes, to consider whether the concept of partnership has not been expanded too far as a modality in development cooperation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drawing on work in epistemology and the philosophy of science, this paper seeks to provide very general reasons for why a comparative perspective needs to be applied to the inferential procedures of research methodologies where these concern the issue of justifying knowledge claims. In particular, the paper explores the role of culture on a number of important patterns of reasoning that figure in inferential arguments in research methodologies. The patterns examined are induction, both enumerative and analytical, hypothetico-deductive reasoning, and abductive inference. In each case it is argued that substantive theories about the world, including cultures, significantly affect inferential procedures. Examples chosen to illustrate this in more detail mostly reflect the impact of Confucian heritage cultures on inference. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Telomeres and their associated proteins are specialized structures at the ends of linear chromosomes that function as caps that protect the DNA from exonuclease degradation and recombination events that could lead to genomic instability. In this review, we discuss recent publications describing the high-resolution structures of individual domains and of the full-length catalytic subunit of telomerase alone and in complex with its putative RNA template and telomeric DNA. These structures, together with existing biochemical data, provide novel insights into the basic mechanism of telomere replication and length homeostasis by telomerase. Moreover, these data further enrich our understanding of the mechanism of DNA replication by polymerases in general and they provide a framework to design small molecule inhibitors of telomerase that may be of therapeutic value for cancer and other diseases associated with cellular aging. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This article considers the challenge of sustainable change and development in education from the perspective of complexity theory. Complexity theory’s concept of emergence implies that, given a significant degree of complexity in a particular environment, new properties and behaviours emerge that are not necessarily contained in the essence of the constituent elements, or easily able to be predicted from a knowledge of initial conditions. These concepts of emergent phenomena from a critical mass, associated with notions of lock-in, path dependence, and inertial momentum, contribute to a perspective on continuity and change that indicates what conditions might need to be in place for the emergence of sustainable, positive, system-wide change and development in education. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

In this paper I discuss Sande Cohen's engagements with Specters of Marx, Jacques Derrida's most sustained and significant contribution to historical theory (a term that I take to include historiography and philosophy of history) broadly construed. I begin by asserting Cohen's importance for contemporary historical theory in general and, specifically, all historical theory influenced by Derrida's work and/or concerned with issues of justice. I support this assertion by providing an outline of what I understand to be some of the main themes and emphases of Cohen's critique of historiography and historical culture - a critique that has not been given sufficient attention by most historians and historical theorists. Following a few introductory comments regarding Specters, and a more detailed discussion of the idea of 'the messianic' contained therein, I turn to the specifics of Cohen's critique of the mode of philosophical thinking in that text, linking the points he makes back to the themes and emphases of his position previously described. Cohen's critique takes in a range of concepts found in Specters, such as 'the messianic' and 'haunting/hauntology' as well as Derrida's idea of the 'new scholar': the model historiographer. This essay seeks to explore the reasons why Cohen finds Specters to be a 'deeply problematical' text vis-a-vis historical theory. However, in keeping with the desire for 'legitimate contentiousness' advocated by Cohen, and whilst acknowledging the brilliance and timeliness (in terms of current developments in contemporary historical theory that draw on Derrida's work) of his engagement with the (Cohen's word) 'historiospectography' he understands Derrida to be advancing, this paper concludes by raising some questions regarding aspects of his criticisms of Specters; a - minor - critique in response to (aspects of) Cohen's critique. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hypothesis: Video capsule endoscopy (VCE) can be used to diagnose subacute intestinal obstruction in patients with otherwise negative imaging studies. Patients and Methods: Nine patients with symptoms consistent with intermittent small-bowel obstruction who received a VCE and ultimately required surgical intervention. Results: Patients were identified who had symptoms consistent with subacute bowel obstruction and a negative diagnostic work-up prior to VCE. All 9 patients underwent several radiologic and endoscopic examinations with no clear etiology for their symptoms. Ultimately, in every case, a stricture or mass was found to be the cause of the obstruction at either the time of VCE or exploratory laparotomy/laparoscopy. Conclusions: Patients can have a small-bowel stricture or mass that can cause symptoms of subacute small-bowel obstruction. Diagnosis of the lesion may be difficult in these patients and can often result in multiple nondiagnostic radiologic and endoscopic examinations. VCE can be helpful in finding these lesions, leading to surgical resection of the diseased bowel and a cure for the patient's signs and symptoms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Reactions of t Bu3M (M=Al, Ga) with CO have been studied by density functional theory employing the B3PW91 functional. Calculations suggest that CO insertion into a M–C bond of t Bu3M is thermodynamically favorable at room temperature, whereas CO coordination to t Bu3M to form t Bu3M·CO is unfavorable due to an unfavorable entropy change. These results are in agreement with experimental observations. Reaction of carbon monoxide with t Bu3Ga at 50°C and atmospheric pressure yields the dimeric tert-butylacyl complex [ t Bu2GaC(O) t Bu]2 (1). Compound 1 has been characterized by X-ray crystallography and NMR and IR spectroscopy. Isotopic labeling with 13CO confirmed that the acyl carbon of 1 results from the CO starting material. CO insertion into a Ga–C bond does not occur for Me3Ga or n Bu3Ga under a range of reaction conditions. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This study aims to validate radioactive seed localization (RSL) as an alternative to wire localization (WL) in the operative excision of nonpalpable breast lesions. Eligible patients were recruited sequentially. A sample of 99 patients treated with WL was compared to the next 383 patients treated with RSL. Margins were considered “negative” if ≥2 mm from in-situ and invasive disease. Pain and convenience scores were recorded on a 10-point scale. Patient characteristics and histology were similar. The lesion and localization device were retrieved in all patients. Margins of the first specimen were negative in 73% of RSL patients, versus 54% of WL patients (p < 0.001). A second operation was required in 8% of RSL patients to achieve negative margins, versus 25% of WL patients (p < 0.001). Pain scores were not statistically different. However, the RSL group had higher convenience scores (p = 0.015). RSL is safe, effective, and compared to WL, reduces the rates of intraoperative re-excision and reoperation for positive margins by 68%. Patient satisfaction is improved with RSL. We strongly favor RSL over WL. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Following a brief introduction to complexity theory, this paper considers how various themes in the field relate to the philosophical study of education. Issues and questions introduced include the challenge of complexity theory for the philosophy of education—and, conversely, some critical challenges for complexity theory from educational philosophy; complexity theory and educational continuity and change; the importance that complexity theory places on interpretive perspectives that are transphenomenal, transdisciplinary and transdiscursive; the risks of simplifying complexity to a point that excludes its ambiguities and includes only its dominant usages; the degree of coherence between Dewey's philosophical orientation and that of complexity theory; how Foucault might be read as a complexity theorist; how educational research informed by complexity theory might ask different questions with different analytical perspectives—connectionist, holistic, non-linear, rather than input–output ‘black-box’ causal modelling, for example; and how curriculum, teaching, the epistemology of schooling, and the ‘education of consciousness’—understood as an emergent phenomenon—might be different when viewed from the perspective of complexity theory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper considers questions of continuity and change in education from the perspective of complexity theory, introducing the field to educationists who might not be familiar with it. Given a significant degree of complexity in a particular environment (or ‘dynamical system’), new properties and behaviours, which are not necessarily contained in the essence of the constituent elements or able to be predicted from a knowledge of initial conditions, will emerge. These concepts of emergent phenomena from a critical mass, associated with notions of lock-in, path dependence, and inertial momentum, suggest that it is in the dynamic interactions and adaptive orientation of a system that new phenomena, new properties and behaviours, emerge. The focus thus shifts from a concern with decontextualised and universalised essence to contextualised and contingent complex wholes. This is where complexity theory seeks the levers of history. The paper posits the notion of inertial momentum as the conceptual link between the principle of emergent phenomena as developed principally in the natural sciences and the notion of socio-historical change in human society. It is argued that educational and institutional change is less a consequence of effecting change in one particular factor or variable, and more a case of generating momentum in a new direction by attention to as many factors as possible. Complexity theory suggests, in other words, that what it might take to change a school's inertial momentum from an ethos of failure is massive and sustained intervention at every possible level until the phenomenon of learning excellence emerges from this new set of interactions among these new factors, and sustains itself autocatalytically. The paper concludes with a summary consideration of the conditions that contribute to the emergence of new properties and behaviours in a system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper introduces some of the debates in the field of critical thinking by highlighting differences among thinkers such as Siegel, Ennis, Paul, McPeck, and Martin, and poses some questions that arise from these debates. Does rationality transcend particular cultures, or are there different kinds of thinking, different styles of reasoning? What is the relationship between critical thinking and learning? In what ways does the moral domain overlap with these largely epistemic and pedagogical issues? The paper concludes by showing how Peters, Evers, Chan and Yan, Ryan and Louie, Luntley, Lam, Doddington, and Kwak, respond to these questions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper I explore one possible motivational (quasi-) philosophy for historians continuing to write history in the wake of Derridean deconstruction. This philosophy of history is structured around one of the alternative terms for deconstruction in Derrida's work, namely the notion of ‘the impossible’. Throughout this paper I will be concentrating on John Caputo's interpretation of Derrida's work and, in the process, addressing some alternative (mis)readings of deconstruction (i.e. those at odds with my own reading and that of Caputo's) as they relate to the development of a philosophy of history and historical praxis generally. Specifically, I will argue for the importance of Caputo's exegesis of—and reflections on—‘the impossible’, as well as his own closely related notion of ‘a hermeneutics more radically conceived’, as important starting points for the development of a viable philosophy of history after the postmodern turn; a philosophy of history that is undecidably future oriented as opposed to closure oriented. I will argue that the implications of Derrida's work, and particularly of Caputo's reading of Derrida (and, in my estimation, Caputo is the most stimulating and suggestive interpreter and developer of Derrida's thought currently writing), opens up vital possibilities and challenges for historians in the production of their histories. Following Caputo, I will argue that a philosophy of history that is ‘open’ to and structured around exploring ‘the impossible’ is inescapably religious and messianic in structure—albeit in the Derridean sense of ‘religion without religion’ and ‘messianicity’—thus re-emphasizing the axioms of faith and belief vis-à-vis the role and work of the historian rather than—although not in opposition to—relativism and scepticism. In the course of this argument I suggest some possible distinctives of a philosophy of history that is shaped by a passion for ‘the impossible’—as opposed to appropriating it as just another method—as well as Caputo's associated desire for a hermeneutics more radically conceived and consider how they might, in turn, mould the types of histories produced by historians. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The implementation of education programmes in different cultures invites the question whether we are justified in doing so in cultures that may reject the programmes’ underlying principles. Are there indeed ethical principles and educational ideals that can be justified as applicable to all cultures? After a consideration of Zygmunt Bauman's postmodern rejection of the possibility of universal ethics, Ι cite and extend Harvey Siegel's defence of multiculturalism as a transcultural ethical ideal. I conclude the paper with a justification of the transcultural normative reach of moral principles that I have elsewhere defended as the ethics of integrity . The paper's significance lies in its justification of educational interventions founded in these principles across different cultures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This paper addresses the problem of post-Apartheid South African schools as ineffective learning environments, and the question whether there are strategies for enhancing learning that are more effective and that might be more easily and successfully implemented than an outcomes-based education. Because of historical and situational constraints, an outcomes-based education has limited potential for enhancing learning there. We argue that there are other factors, notably proximal variables such as teaching strategies that focus on the setting of learning goals and the provision of feedback and reinforcement to students, and the quality of teaching itself, that could more effectively enhance learning in South African schools, and that could be more successfully implemented. The paper thus aims to recommend and justify a policy decision in South African education to limit the implementation of an outcomes-based education to only those selected aspects that have been shown to enhance learning most effectively, and to implement other effective strategies for enhancing learning that might be more successfully introduced into schools. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Deprotonation of gramine with n BuLi and subsequent reaction with PCl3 yielded [(LiCl)6{(Me2NCH2C8H5N)3P}2] (2). Compound 2 was characterized by NMR (1H, 13C, 31P) spectroscopy, elemental analysis, and X-ray crystallography. The molecular structure of 2 reveals a novel hexameric lithium chloride aggregate ligated on each of two hexagonal faces by three dimethylamino groups from the intended product, tris{(3-dimethylamino-methyl)indolyl}phosphine. Crystal data for 2 ·3CH2Cl2: C36H45Cl9Li3N6P, monoclinic, P21/n, a =12.732(4) Å, b =22.251(6) Å, c =16.815(5) Å, β =108.233(5)°, V =4525(2) Å3, Z =4, D calc =1.369 g/cm3. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Volatile organic compound (VOC) emissions from one electrical plug-in type of pine-scented air freshener and their reactions with O3 were investigated in the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency indoor air research large chamber facility. Ozone was generated from a device marketed as an ozone generator air cleaner. Ozone and oxides of nitrogen concentrations and chamber conditions such as temperature, relative humidity, pressure, and air exchange rate were controlled and/or monitored. VOC emissions and some of the reaction products were identified and quantified. Source emission models were developed to predict the time/concentration profiles of the major VOCs (limonene, α-pinene, β-pinene, 3-carene, camphene, benzyl propionate, benzyl alcohol, bornyl acetate, isobornyl acetate, and benzaldehyde) emitted bythe airfreshener. Gas-phase reactions of VOCs from the air freshener with O3 were simulated by a photochemical kinetics simulation system using VOC reaction mechanisms and rate constants adopted from the literature. The concentration-time predictions were in good agreement with the data for O3 and VOCs emitted from the air freshener and with some of the primary reaction products. Systematic differences between the predictions and the experimental results were found for some species. Poor understanding of secondary reactions and heterogeneous chemistry in the chamber is the likely cause of these differences. The method has the potential to provide data to predict the impact of O3/VOC interactions on indoor air quality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Presents an overview of drug supply and trafficking in Great Britain as of September 2003. Factors hindering the development of effective drug trafficking interventions; Problems posed by weak drug trafficking interventions; Changes in strategies of the Great Britain government to tackle drug misuse since 1980.

Aims: Recent studies have suggested that patients with coronary disease suitable for angioplasty have an equally good outcome with medical therapy if clinically stable. Complex lesion morphology may predict acute events without intervention and stenosis severity influences the degree of collateralisation. This study was designed to assess the influence of these factors on clinical outcome. Methods and results: A retrospective review of patients suitable for angioplasty who were randomised to initial medical therapy as part of a multicentre study. Angiograms were reviewed for lesion characteristics, TIMI flow grade, and degree of collateralisation. Angiograms were available on 79 patients (13 female, 66 male). Mean age was 54.8 years (range 43–68) in the group crossing-over to revascularisation, and 58.4 (range 37–78) in the group who did not (P=ns). Seventeen patients crossed-over (two to CABG, 15 to PTCA) at 5.4 months (range 0–10) after initial angiography. Disease progression had occurred in 10/17 patients (58.8%), three of whom developed a new occlusion. Collateralisation was more likely in smokers, independent of lesion severity (P<0.05). Time to cross-over was not influenced by progression of disease. Crossing-over was not affected by age, diabetic status, cholesterol level, vessel involved, lesion severity, TIMI flow, lesion morphology, collateralisation, or the number of vessels diseased, but was more likely in females (P<0.05). Conclusion: This group of patients generally does well with medical therapy. Whilst the numbers are relatively small, there does not appear to be any reliable prospective marker, including the presence of spontaneous collateral channels on diagnostic angiography, to indicate which patients will fail medical therapy and require revascularisation. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Examines the reaction of tungsten hexachloride with salicylic acid to generate tungsten oxo salicylate complexes. Solubility of the Bronsted free acid complex; Intramolecular hydrogen bonds of the complexes; Molecular structure of the complexes; Effectiveness of the chlorine transfer agent tungsten hexachloride.

Investigates the variable-temperature nuclear magnetic resonance spectra for a series of Fe(CO)[sub 4](PR[sub 3]) complexes ligated by different phosphine compounds. Intramolecular rearrangement of carbonyls in the complexes; Presence of slow-exchange spectrum at -20 degree celsius; Electronic properties and structure of the complexes.

I address the problems of diminished moral responsibility and of moral relativism, typically associated with education in late modern society, by developing, beyond the problematic contemporary formulations of postmodern ethics, an ethics of integrity as a moral resource for education. This ethics is constituted by the principles of respect for the dignity of persons, and the acceptance of responsibility for the consequences of our moral choices. I show how it offers more than the scant resources of postmodern ethics to educators who seek to enable their students to develop a deeply-founded sense of moral comportment and an authentic identity in the face of the moral complexity of late modernity's globalised and plural society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Examines the role of teachers with respect to knowledge, an issue that has been reopened as a consequence of the widespread interest in outcomes-based education. Proponents of an outcomes-based education; Notion of teachers as mediators of knowledge; Teachers as socio-cultural critics.

Presents information on the Curriculum 2005, one of the government's initiatives to address the legacy of apartheid education and proposed by the outcomes-based education (OBE) in South Africa. Concerns of writer Jonathan Jansen on OBE; Reason for proposing the Curriculum 2005; Conclusion.

Focuses on a study which looked at the characterization of gallophosphonates and gallophosphates. Significance of the pores in gallophosphate cloverite; Preparation of the materials used in the study; Procedures used to conduct the study; X-ray crystallography of the compounds; Synthesis and characterization of cyclic compounds; Conclusions reached based on the study's results.

Discusses the hydrolysis of tri-tert-butylaluminum and the characterization of alkylalumoxanes. Low temperature hydrolysis in pentane; Hydrated salt hydrolysis in toluene; Determination of molecular structures of the products through X-ray crystallography; Relationship between the tert-butylalumoxanes and Kaminsky cocatalyst methylalumoxane.

The article examines the relationship of a variety of demographic factors to Beta Intelligence Quotient (IQ) test performance for a sample of state hospital patients. Numerous social factors and various clinical diagnostic groups were shown to have significant independent sources of variation. Beta IQ scores and 14 social history variables were recorded for a sample of 257 children and adolescent patients referred for psychological testing in a state hospital setting between January, 1966 and January, 1972.

The article discusses the renewed critical realism as well as the implications for education after postmodernism era. The emergence of postmodernism in an era of modernity when people had available the wherewithal to make progress through human efficacy informed by reason and rationality is tackled. The most significant implications for educational theory of the end of postmodernism is also explored.

• A critical examination of changing modalities in international development and related research in education. • A critical analysis of North-South research and development partnerships. • A critique of the notion of 'best practice' in education and development. • A consideration of the issues raised by the emergence of large-scale social and educational research modalities. • A discussion of the potential and limitations of 'one size fits all' ethical frameworks in the field. This article critically examines the nature of changing modalities in international development and related research in education. The consequences of contemporary trends and trajectories in these domains are considered with particular reference to their conceptual and ethical implications. Drawing on contemporary social theory, comparative and international research in education, and research ethics, the analysis focuses on North-South research and development partnerships, conceptions of 'best practice' in the arenas of education and development, the emergence of large-scale social and educational research modalities, and the potential and limitations of 'one size fits all' ethical frameworks in the field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Evaluates the preliminary catalytic activities of titanium and zirconium amido complexes ligated by 2,2'-di(3-methylindolyl)methanes for the polymerization of ethylene. Reduction in pi-donating ability of the indolyl moiety; Elemental analysis; X-ray crystallography; Molecular structure.

Describes the synthesis and characterization of chelating triamide complexes of bismuth and antimony. Triamides of bismuth and antimony as potential MOCVD precursors to thin films of bismuth- or antimony containing materials; Carbon incorporation in films; Homoleptic triamides of bismuth; Polyimido anions of antimony.

Presents a study which involves the aluminophosphates and gallophosphates. Information on the corresponding arsenate materials; Reference to the chemical properties of the aluminophosphates and gallophosphates; Performance of all reactions.