From Civil Strife to Civil Society: civil and military responsibilities in disrupted states

"The 1990s saw the United Nations, the militaries of key member states, and NGOs increasingly entangled in the complex affairs of disrupted states. Whether as deliverers of humanitarian assistance or as agents of political, social, and civic reconstruction, whether in Somalia, Bosnia, Kosovo, or East Timor, these actors have had to learn ways of interacting with each other in order to optimize the benefits for the populations they seek to assist. Yet the challenges have proved daunting. Civil and military actors have different organizational cultures and standard operating procedures and are confronted with the need to work together to perform tasks to which different actors may attach quite different priorities."--BOOK JACKET.

Marketing VM services to achieve competitive advantage in the Malaysian Construction Sector

Value Management (VM) has been proven to provide a structured framework, together with supporting tools and techniques that facilitate effective decision-making in many types of projects, thus achieving ‘best value’ for clients. It is identified at International level as a natural career progression for the construction service provider and as an opportunity in developing leading-edge skills. The services offered by contractors and consultants in the construction sector have been expanding. In an increasingly competitive and global marketplace, firms are seeking ways to differentiate their services to ever more knowledgeable and demanding clients. The traditional demarcations have given way, and the old definition of what contractors, designers, engineers and quantity surveyors can, and cannot do in terms of their market offering has changed. Project management, design and cost and safety consultancy services, are being delivered by a diverse range of suppliers. Value management services have been developing in various sectors in industry; from manufacturing to the military and now construction. Given the growing evidence that VM has been successful in delivering value-for-money to the client, VM would appear to be gaining some momentum as an essential management tool in the Malaysian construction sector. The recently issued VM Circular 3/2009 by the Economic Planning Unit Malaysia (EPU) possibly marks a new beginning in public sector client acceptance on the strength of VM in construction. This paper therefore attempts to study the prospects of marketing the benefits of VM by construction service providers, and how it may provide an edge in an increasingly competitive Malaysian construction industry.

Land use effects on soil carbon fractions in the southeastern United States. II. changes in soil carbon fractions along a forest to pasture chronosequence

Since land use change can have significant impacts on regional biogeochemistry, we investigated how conversion of forest and cultivation to pasture impact soil C and N cycling. In addition to examining total soil C, we isolated soil physiochemical C fractions in order to understand the mechanisms by which soil C is sequestered or lost. Total soil C did not change significantly over time following conversion from forest, though coarse (250-2,000 mum) particulate organic matter C increased by a factor of 6 immediately after conversion. Aggregate mean weight diameter was reduced by about 50% after conversion, but values were like those under forest after 8 years under pasture. Samples collected from a long-term pasture that was converted from annual cultivation more than 50 years ago revealed that some soil physical properties negatively impacted by cultivation were very slow to recover. Finally, our results indicate that soil macroaggregates turn over more rapidly under pasture than under forest and are less efficient at stabilizing soil C, whereas microaggregates from pasture soils stabilize a larger concentration of C than forest microaggregates. Since conversion from forest to pasture has a minimal impact on total soil C content in the Piedmont region of Virginia, United States, a simple C stock accounting system could use the same base soil C stock value for either type of land use. However, since the effects of forest to pasture conversion are a function of grassland management following conversion, assessments of C sequestration rates require activity data on the extent of various grassland management practices.

Land use effects on soil carbon fractions in the southeastern United States. I. Management-intensive versus extensive grazing

Changes in grassland management intended to increase productivity can lead to sequestration of substantial amounts of atmospheric C in soils. Management-intensive grazing (MiG) can increase forage production in mesic pastures, but potential impacts on soil C have not been evaluated. We sampled four pastures (to 50 cm depth) in Virginia, USA, under MiG and neighboring pastures that were extensively grazed or bayed to evaluate impacts of grazing management on total soil organic C and N pools, and soil C fractions. Total organic soil C averaged 8.4 Mg C ha(-1) (22%) greater under MiG; differences were significant at three of the four sites examined while total soil N was greater for two sites. Surface (0-10 cm) particulate organic matter (POM) C increased at two sites; POM C for the entire depth increment (0-50 cm) did not differ significantly between grazing treatments at any of the sites. Mineral-associated C was related to silt plus clay content and tended to be greater under MiG. Neither soil C:N ratios, POM C, or POM C:total C ratios were accurate indicators of differences in total soil C between grazing treatments, though differences in total soil C between treatments attributable to changes in POM C (43%) were larger than expected based on POM C as a percentage of total C (24.5%). Soil C sequestration rates, estimated by calculating total organic soil C differences between treatments (assuming they arose from changing grazing management and can be achieved elsewhere) and dividing by duration of treatment, averaged 0.41 Mg C ha(-1) year(-1) across the four sites.

Coal Seam Gas Water from Maramarua, New Zealand: Characterisation and Comparison to United States Analogues

Groundwater from Maramarua has been identified as coal seam gas (CSG) water by studying its composition, and comparing it against the geochemical signature from other CSG basins. CSG is natural gas that has been produced through thermogenic and biogenic processes in underground coal seams; CSG extraction requires the abstraction of significant amounts of CSG water. To date, no international literature has described coal seam gas water in New Zealand, however recent CSG exploration work has resulted in CSG water quality data from a coal seam in Maramarua, New Zealand. Water quality from this site closely follows the geochemical signature associated with United States CSG waters, and this has helped to characterise the type of water being abstracted. CSG water from this part of Maramarua has low calcium, magnesium, and sulphate concentrations but high sodium (334 mg/l), chloride (146 mg/l) and bicarbonate (435 mg/l) concentrations. In addition, this water has high pH (7.8) and alkalinity (360 mg/l as CaCO3), which is a direct consequence of carbonate dissolution and biogenic processes. Different analyte ratios ('source-rock deduction' method) have helped to identify the different formation processes responsible in shaping Maramarua CSG water

Multiple indicators of ambient and personal ultraviolet radiation exposure and risk of non-Hodgkin lymphoma (United States)

Recent epidemiologic studies have suggested that ultraviolet radiation (UV) may protect against non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL), but few, if any, have assessed multiple indicators of ambient and personal UV exposure. Using the US Radiologic Technologists study, we examined the association between NHL and self-reported time outdoors in summer, as well as average year-round and seasonal ambient exposures based on satellite estimates for different age periods, and sun susceptibility in participants who had responded to two questionnaires (1994–1998, 2003–2005) and who were cancer-free as of the earlier questionnaire. Using unconditional logistic regression, we estimated the odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence intervals for 64,103 participants with 137 NHL cases. Self-reported time outdoors in summer was unrelated to risk. Lower risk was somewhat related to higher average year-round and winter ambient exposure for the period closest in time, and prior to, diagnosis (ages 20–39). Relative to 1.0 for the lowest quartile of average year-round ambient UV, the estimated OR for successively higher quartiles was 0.68 (0.42–1.10); 0.82 (0.52–1.29); and 0.64 (0.40–1.03), p-trend = 0.06), for this age period. The lower NHL risk associated with higher year-round average and winter ambient UV provides modest additional support for a protective relationship between UV and NHL.

The Patches program : supporting the development of Malaysian pre-service teachers' academic literacy

The Patches program involves Malaysian pre-service teachers working closely with Australian pre-service teachers on a series of academic and intercultural communication tasks. A recurring problem for international students is the challenge to develop social relationships with Australian students. Similarly, it is often difficult for Australian students to step outside their accustomed social worlds to establish relationships with international students. The Patches Program supported rich cross-cultural social and academic exchanges among the students facilitating the development of students' academic literacy skills, their knowledge of self and knowledge of learning, and their skills in cross-cultural communication.

Agglutinins from marine macroalgae of the southeastern United States

Protein extracts from 22 species of marine macroalgae from Florida and North Carolina were compared for their abilities to agglutinate sheep and rabbit erythrocytes. Protein extracts from 21 algal species agglutinated rabbit erythrocytes compared to 19 for sheep erythrocytes. However, agglutination by brown algal extracts was variable. The agglutination produced by protein extracts from Dictyota dichotoma could be blocked by addition of polyvinylpyrrolidone. Protein extracts from North Carolina macroalgae were also tested against five bacterial species. Three of these agglutinated bacterial cells. Ulva curvata and Bryopsis plumosa agglutinated all five species. Protein extracts from five species of Florida algae were tested for their effects on mitogenesis in mouse splenocytes and human lymphocytes. Gracilaria tikvahiae HBOI Strain G-5, Ulva rigida and Gracilaria verrucosa HBOI Strain G-16S stimulated mitogenesis in mouse splenocytes, while Gracilaria tikvahiae HBOI Strain G-16stimulated mitogenesis in human lymphocytes.

Reference bias : presentation of extreme health states prior to EQ-VAS improves health-related quality of life scores. A randomised crossover trial.

Background: Clinical practice and clinical research has made a concerted effort to move beyond the use of clinical indicators alone and embrace patient focused care through the use of patient reported outcomes such as healthrelated quality of life. However, unless patients give consistent consideration to the health states that give meaning to measurement scales used to evaluate these constructs, longitudinal comparison of these measures may be invalid. This study aimed to investigate whether patients give consideration to a standard health state rating scale (EQ-VAS) and whether consideration of good and poor health state descriptors immediately changes their selfreport. Methods: A randomised crossover trial was implemented amongst hospitalised older adults (n = 151). Patients were asked to consider descriptions of extremely good (Description-A) and poor (Description-B) health states. The EQ-VAS was administered as a self-report at baseline, after the first descriptors (A or B), then again after the remaining descriptors (B or A respectively). At baseline patients were also asked if they had considered either EQVAS anchors. Results: Overall 106/151 (70%) participants changed their self-evaluation by ≥5 points on the 100 point VAS, with a mean (SD) change of +4.5 (12) points (p < 0.001). A total of 74/151 (49%) participants did not consider the best health VAS anchor, of the 77 who did 59 (77%) thought the good health descriptors were more extreme (better) then they had previously considered. Similarly 85/151 (66%) participants did not consider the worst health anchor of the 66 who did 63 (95%) thought the poor health descriptors were more extreme (worse) then they had previously considered. Conclusions: Health state self-reports may not be well considered. An immediate significant shift in response can be elicited by exposure to a mere description of an extreme health state despite no actual change in underlying health state occurring. Caution should be exercised in research and clinical settings when interpreting subjective patient reported outcomes that are dependent on brief anchors for meaning. Trial Registration: Australian and New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry (#ACTRN12607000606482) http://www.anzctr. org.au

Challenges of Malaysian developers in creating good interfaces for interactive courseware

There are many reasons why interface design for interactive courseware fails to support quality of learning experiences. The causes such as the level of interactivity, the availability of the interfaces to interact with the end users and a lack of deep knowledge about the role of interface design by the designers in the development process are most acknowledged. Related to this, as a creator for the interactive courseware, generally the developers expect the resources that they produced are effective, accurate and robust. However, rarely do the developers have the opportunity to create good interfaces with the emphasis on time consuming, money and skill. Thus, some challenges faces by them in the interface design development can’t be underestimated as well. Therefore, their perspective of the interactive courseware is important to ensure the material and also the features of the interactive courseware can facilitate teaching and learning activity. Within this context in mind, this paper highlights the challenges that faces by the Malaysian developer from the ten face to face interviewed data gathered. It discusses from the Malaysian developer perspectives that involved in the development of interface design for interactive courseware for the Smart School Project. Particularly, in creating such a great interfaces, the highlights challenges will present within the constraints of time, curriculum demand, and competencies of the development team.

Bayesian filtering over compressed appearance states

This paper presents a framework for performing real-time recursive estimation of landmarks’ visual appearance. Imaging data in its original high dimensional space is probabilistically mapped to a compressed low dimensional space through the definition of likelihood functions. The likelihoods are subsequently fused with prior information using a Bayesian update. This process produces a probabilistic estimate of the low dimensional representation of the landmark visual appearance. The overall filtering provides information complementary to the conventional position estimates which is used to enhance data association. In addition to robotics observations, the filter integrates human observations in the appearance estimates. The appearance tracks as computed by the filter allow landmark classification. The set of labels involved in the classification task is thought of as an observation space where human observations are made by selecting a label. The low dimensional appearance estimates returned by the filter allow for low cost communication in low bandwidth sensor networks. Deployment of the filter in such a network is demonstrated in an outdoor mapping application involving a human operator, a ground and an air vehicle.

The identification of Malaysian contractor satisfaction dimensions : a strategy for continuous improvement

The unique characteristics of the construction industry - such as the fragmentation of its processes, varied scope of works and diversity of its participants - are contributory factors to poor project performance. Several issues are unresolved due to the lack of a comprehensive technique to measure project outcomes including: inefficient decision making, insufficient communication, uncertain site conditions, a continuously changing environment, inharmonious working relationships, mismatched objectives within the project team and a blame culture. One approach to overcoming these problems appears to be to measure performance by gauging contractor satisfaction (Co-S) levels, but this has not been widely investigated as yet. Additionally, the key Co-S dimensions at the project level are still not fully identified. ----- ----- This paper concerns a study of satisfaction dimensions, primarily by a postal questionnaire survey of construction contractors registered by the Malaysian Construction Industry Development Board (CIDB). Eight satisfaction dimensions are identified that are significantly and substantially relate to these contractors - comprising: project cost performance, schedule performance, product performance, design satisfaction, site safety, project profitability, business performance and relationships between participants. -Each of these dimensions is accorded different priority levels of satisfaction by different contractors. ----- ----- The output of this study will be useful in raising the awareness and understanding of project teams regarding contractors’ needs, mutual objectives and open communication to help to deliver a successful project.

Predicting single-vehicle fatal crashes for two-lane rural highways in Southeastern United States

The rural two-lane highway in the southeastern United States is frequently associated with a disproportionate number of serious and fatal crashes and as such remains a focus of considerable safety research. The Georgia Department of Transportation spearheaded a regional fatal crash analysis to identify various safety performances of two-lane rural highways and to offer guidance for identifying suitable countermeasures with which to mitigate fatal crashes. The fatal crash data used in this study were compiled from Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, and South Carolina. The database, developed for an earlier study, included 557 randomly selected fatal crashes from 1997 or 1998 or both (this varied by state). Each participating state identified the candidate crashes and performed physical or video site visits to construct crash databases with enhance site-specific information. Motivated by the hypothesis that single- and multiple-vehicle crashes arise from fundamentally different circumstances, the research team applied binary logit models to predict the probability that a fatal crash is a single-vehicle run-off-road fatal crash given roadway design characteristics, roadside environment features, and traffic conditions proximal to the crash site. A wide variety of factors appears to influence or be associated with single-vehicle fatal crashes. In a model transferability assessment, the authors determined that lane width, horizontal curvature, and ambient lighting are the only three significant variables that are consistent for single-vehicle run-off-road crashes for all study locations.

Constructability implementation among Malaysian building contractors

The basic researches about constructability issue done in different countries demonstrate the potential power of this concept to affect the total goals of the construction projects which can lead to significant cost saving, time saving and better quality via considering the contractors’ construction experience in earlier construction project phases. The present research assesses the familiarity of Malaysian building contractors with constructability concept and activities; then it tests their general opinions on its implementation in different construction phases and projects. As the result, some descriptive studies are done on amount of contractors’ familiarity with this term among various kinds of contractors, projects and contracts which can illustrate constructability implementation level among Malaysian contractors. The results of this study show that Malaysian contractors are not all familiar enough with this term and there are still some barriers that prevent them from taking part in its activities completely. The differences in amount of familiarity with constructability matter and its terms of implementation are quite obvious among various types of participants.