Forward gaily together : the school music compositions of Samuel McBurney

As one of the leading figures in nineteenth century school music in Victoria and more widely in Australia, Samuel McBurney contributed significantly to the promotion of Tonic Sol-fa as a music teaching method as well as to supporting the role of music as a subject in the school curriculum. However his role also extended to that of composer of vocal and choral works for both adults and children. Although largely conforming to the established genre of choral writing of his time, McBurney’s compositional output nevertheless represents a variety of styles ranging from lieder to school and popular songs, and from children’s cantatas to celebratory and patriotic anthems.

This paper considers a representative sample of McBurney’s compositional output in the light of both its musical and extra-musical content. It is argued that his compositions represent several important themes that emerged in Australian colonial society during the latter part of the nineteenth century. His music contributed not only to the moral and aesthetic development of school children but also supported the growing tide of nationalism (which resulted in Federation in 1901) in adult choral music making. Moreover, particularly in relation to his school cantatas, McBurney continued the tradition established by earlier school music composers in Australia - such as James Fisher in New South Wales - by providing a repertoire of choral music for use in schools which, to the present day with the current vogue for school musical productions, continues to be a source of enjoyment, celebration and 'healthful recreation' for young people.

Consumer notes clinical indicators : determining inter-rater reliability with multiple users, nominal categories and several cases

A method of determining inter-rater reliability when there are multiple raters, nominal rating categories and several cases is described and applied in the development of an instrument for auditing the ANZCMHN (1995) standards of practice for mental health nursing in New Zealand. Clinical statements (n=41) from the O’Brien et al (2002a, 2003) study, which reflected nursing behaviours contributing to the achievement of the standards of practice, were used to audit consumer files. During two Phases, the clinical indicator statements were refined and rules for judging the achievement of each statement from case note documentation were established. The resultant statements have adequate inter-rater reliability for the assessment of nursing practice with respect to the ANZCMHN (1995) standards of practice.

Are nominal exchange rates and price levels co-integrated? new evidence from threshold autoregressive and momentum-threshold autoregressive models

The goal of this paper is to examine evidence for co-integration between nominal exchange rates for Canada, the UK, Japan, Germany, Italy and France (G6) vis-à-vis the US dollar, and the relative price ratios using monthly data over the period 1973:01 to 1997:04. Motivated by the fact that exchange rate adjustment may be asymmetric, we allowed for asymmetric adjustment in exchange rates by using the threshold autoregressive model and the momentum threshold autoregressive model. We do not find any evidence of a co-integrating relationship; hence, we fail to establish long-run purchasing power parity.

Compositions comprising Porphyra and methods of making and using thereof

The disclosed subject matter generally relates to compositions comprising Porphyra, as well as to methods of making and using such compositions

Ascophyllum compositions and methods

The invention provides extracts of brown seaweed of the genus Ascophyllum that have valuable pharmacological properties. In particular, compositions of the invention are useful for e.g.: inhibiting alpha-glucosidase activity; preventing or treating conditions mediated by alpha-glucosidase activity; reducing blood glucose levels; preventing or treating diabetes; modulating glucose uptake in adipocytes; preventing or treating obesity; scavenging free radicals; stimulating the immune system; activating macrophages; preventing or treating condition mediated by macrophage activation; and modulating nitric oxide production by macrophages. Methods for using the Ascophyllum extracts of the invention are provided, as are kits comprising Ascophyllum extracts of the invention and instructions for using the extracts.

Visibly transparent UV photoprotective compositions

A broad-spectrum UV photoprotective composition is described. The composition is characterized in that the composition comprises mesoporous zinc oxide aggregates having an average aggregate size of at least 0.8 microns dispersed in a carrier and the composition is visibly transparent. Sufficient zinc oxide is included in the composition to achieve an SPF greater than 15, greater than 25, greater than 30, or greater than 50.

Compositions of cis-9, trans-11 conjugated linoleic acid and vaccenic acid and uses thereof

The invention relates to use of the cis-9, trans-11 isomer of conjugated linoleic acid or a salt or ester thereof (cis-9, trans-11 CLA) and vaccenic acid or a salt or ester thereof (VA) to treat or prevent conditions associated with one or more of leukocyte infiltration, eosinophilia, airway remodelling, bronchoconstriction, mucus hypersecretion, and lung and skin inflammation. The present invention also relates to a composition comprising cis-9, trans-11 CLA and VA and use of the composition to treat or pre-vent conditions associated with one or more of leukocyte infiltration, eosinophilia, airway remodelling, bronchoconstriction, mucus hypersecretion, and lung and skin inflammation. In particular, the medicinal uses, compositions and methods of the invention may be used to treat or prevent conditions such as asthma and dermatitis, and related disorders.

Quantitative determination of fatty acid compositions in micro-encapsulated fish-oil supplements using Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy

The research describes a rapid method for the determination of fatty acid (FA) contents in a micro-encapsulated fish-oil (μEFO) supplement by using attenuated total reflection Fourier transform infrared (ATR-FTIR) spectroscopic technique and partial least square regression (PLSR) analysis. Using the ATR-FTIR technique, the μEFO powder samples can be directly analysed without any pre-treatment required, and our developed PLSR strategic approach based on the acquired spectral data led to production of a good linear calibration with R^₂ = 0.99. In addition, the subsequent predictions acquired from an independent validation set for the target FA compositions (i.e., total oil, total omega-3 fatty acids, EPA and DHA) were highly accurate when compared to the actual values obtained from standard GC-based technique, with plots between predicted versus actual values resulting in excellent linear fitting (R² ⩾ 0.96) in all cases. The study therefore demonstrated not only the substantial advantage of the ATR-FTIR technique in terms of rapidness and cost effectiveness, but also its potential application as a rapid, potentially automated, online monitoring technique for the routine analysis of FA composition in industrial processes when used together with the multivariate.