Accurate identification is fundamental in any study of grasses by farmers, ranchers, range specialists, ecologists, or students interested in the changes taking place in the grass habitat. Frequently it is convenient, and sometimes it is necessary, to identify the grasses by their vegetative characters. Some are readily recognized at a glance by their habitat and certain characters well known to the experienced observer. In other cases, identification is more difficult; and, perhaps with a few, it is impossible to be certain of the species from vegetative characters. However, this may also be true when the characters of the floral parts alone are considered. The inflorescence, used in most keys and descriptions, is often available only for a short period of time. Identification by the characters of the vegetation can be used throughout the growing season, even if grazing or mowing has removed or prevented the development of the floral parts. There have been other studies of grass identification related to vegetative characters, but they have been local and have not covered North Central Texas. This paper provides a means of identifying grasses by their vegetative characters. It can be used by the scientist, the technician, and the layman interested in the grasses of North Central Texas. A key using technical terminology is provided for use by the ecologist, range specialist, plant taxonomist, and student in these areas of study. For the ranchman, farmer, greens keeper, gardener, or nurseryman, a key with symbols is given that can be used without a technical knowledge of taxonomic botany. The distribution maps and diagnoses will aid any user of the keys. They will also make available additional information that may be useful in the establishment of a numerical classification and identification of plants--grasses in particular.

Several European countries, including the UK, are investing in large-scale telehealthcare pilots, to thoroughly evaluate the benefits of telehealthcare. Due to the high level of risk associated with such projects, it becomes desirable to be able to predict the success of telehealthcare systems in potential deployments, in order to inform investment and help save resources. An important factor for the success of any telehealthcare deployment is usability, as it helps to achieve the benefits of the technology through increased productivity, decreased error rates, and better acceptance. In particular, efficiency, one of the characteristics of usability, should be seen as a central measure for success, as the timely care of a high number of patients is one of the important claims of telehealthcare. Despite the recognized importance of usability, it is seen as secondary in the design of telehealthcare systems. The resulting problems are difficult to predict due to the heterogeneity of deployment contexts. This thesis proposes the automation of usability evaluation through the use of modelling and simulation techniques. It describes a generic methodology which can guide a modeller in reusing models for predicting characteristics of usability within different deployment sites. It also describes a modelling approach which can be used together with the methodology, to run in parallel a user model, inspired from a cognitive architecture, and a system model, represented as a basic labelled transition system. The approach simulates a user working with a telehealthcare system, and within her environment, to predict the efficiency of the system and work process surrounding it. The modeller can experiment with different inputs to the models in terms of user profile, workload, ways of working, and system design, to model different potential- real or hypothetical- deployments, and obtain efficiency predictions for each. A comparison of the predictions helps analyse the effects on efficiency of changes in deployments. The work is presented as an experimental investigation, but emphasises the great potential of modelling and simulation for helping to inform investment, help reduce costs, mitigate risks and suggest changes that would be necessary for improving the usability, and therefore success or telehealthcare deployments. My vision is that, if used commercially, the approaches presented in this thesis could help reduce risks for scaling up telehealthcare deployments.

Ph.D., Internal Medicine, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, 2008. / In many developing countries with advanced stages of the nutrition transition, the burden of coronary artery disease (CAD) has shifted from the rich to the poor. Much of this transition is caused by changes in lifestyle, in particular: dietary changes, an increase in weight and obesity, a decrease in physical activity, high levels of stress, and increasing tobacco and alcohol consumption. However, we have come to appreciate a prominent role for inflammation in atherosclerosis and its complications. Globalization, urbanization and Westernization of lifestyle will increase the socioeconomic burden posed by non-communicable diseases in middle-to-low-income countries. In South Africa, it is mainly the African population that is experiencing rapid urbanization and the nutrition transition. Reliable ischaemic heart disease (IHD) mortality data are not available for the black population of South Africa. The purpose of this thesis was: to determine whether factors such as inflammation, postprandial lipaemia and hyperglycaemia are important determinants in black patients with documented CAD (with no previous known history of diabetes mellitus) and their age matched controls; to assess the prevalence of the metabolic syndrome (MS) in black patients and abnormal glucose regulation on black patients with CAD; and to compare the metabolic syndrome prevalence rates using the National Cholesterol Education Program Adult Treatment III (NCEP: ATP III) and International Diabetes Federation (IDF) definitions. Socio-economic status, anthropometric data, glucometabolic variables, LDL particles and MS prevalence rates were measured using 40 patients and 20 controls. The patients were selected consecutively on the basis of a coronary angiogram performed during the preceding 24 months. All subjects had significant CAD, which was defined as more than 50% lesions in one or more major coronary arteries. Subjects with severe hypercholesterolaemia, defined as an untreated total cholesterol level over 7.5 mmol/l, were excluded from the study. Those subjects with diabetes mellitus or HIV/AIDS were excluded from the study. Paper 1, titled ‘Metabolic syndrome, undiagnosed diabetes mellitus and insulin resistance are highly prevalent in urbanized South African blacks with coronary artery disease’, demonstrated a high prevalence of MS in black patients with established CAD. To our knowledge, this is the first report from South Africa that documents the prevalence of the syndrome in black patients with CAD. Almost all of our patients had previously diagnosed hypertension (95%). The second most frequent risk factor was an elevated glucose concentration, which was seen in half the patient cohort. The importance of obesity, particularly abdominal obesity expressed as waist circumference (WC), is well documented as a risk factor for MS. An unexpected outcome of our study was that half of the patients had abnormal glucose regulation, despite the exclusion of previously diagnosed DM. This high prevalence was revealed by the oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT). Paper 2 compares the MS prevalence estimates, as defined by NCEP: ATP III and IDF, amongst urbanized black South Africans with CAD. The IDF proposed a single unifying definition in 2005, as different definitions used different sets of criteria; this led to confusing and inconsistent estimations of MS prevalence. The new definition standardizes the criteria for the diagnosis of MS and offers a fresh assessment of the syndrome. The main findings that arose from the study were that both definitions generated similar prevalence estimates of MS and the two definitions similarly identified the presence or absence of MS in more than 80% of patients. This study demonstrated that postprandial lipaemia and hyperglycemia were common in black CAD patients. Small dense LDL particles were highly associated with CAD. Fasting triglyceride concentrations was the strongest determinant. Prolonged exposure of the endothelium to TG–rich atherogenic remnant particles might be the reason why postprandial increases in TG account for greater CAD risk. Paper 3 assessed postprandial lipaemia in black CAD patients with and without metabolic syndrome. This study was the first to contribute information about postprandial lipaemia and hyperglycaemia in urbanized South African blacks with CAD. Fasting lipid profiles and postprandial responses to the oral fat load were similar in patients with and without metabolic syndrome. A possible explanation might be that because patients in both groups had established CAD, they exhibited some of the underlying features of CAD, such as atherogenic dyslipidaemia. The main finding was that postprandial lipaemia was common in black CAD patients, including patients with metabolic syndrome. Fasting triglycerides concentration was the strongest determinant. Small, dense LDL particles were highly associated with CAD. Paper 4 reports on the assessment of postprandial hyperglycaemia in urbanized blacks with and without CAD. Results showed that glucose AUC was significantly higher in the patients than in control subjects and 120 min. glucose, followed by 0 min. glucose concentration, were the strongest determinants of postprandial hyperglycaemia. Our study demonstrated that as glucose tolerance declined across the normal glucose tolerance, impaired glucose tolerance and diabetes mellitus categories, peak glucose concentrations occurred later in the oral glucose tolerance test; insulin and proinsulin responses were also delayed. A comparison between CAD patients and control subjects drawn from the same ethnic population verified that abnormal glucose tolerance and insulin resistance were more prevalent in the patients with CAD. Paper 5 aimed at investigating whether carotid intima-media thickness (CIMT) is a predictor of CAD in South African black patients. The results showed that CIMT correlated with evidence of angiographically proven CAD. The findings of this study need to be considered within the context of its limitations, i.e. the low number of women and some bias towards only hospital referred CAD patients. It was not our intention to recruit more men than women, but because CAD is more prevalent in men, the majority of participants happened to be male. Performance of the OGTT and hyperinsulinaemic euglycaemic clamp technique is time consuming and requires considerable laboratory resources; therefore a relatively small number of patients and control subjects were studied. These limitations do not detract from the overall conclusions. Paper 6 evaluated markers of inflammation in black CAD patients, some of whom had MS. Leptin was the only marker that increased with additional MS criteria. Elevated hs- CRP concentrations indicated an inflammatory state in CAD patients. Association of leptin with BMI, waist circumference (WC) and hs-CRP revealed a close link with MS, obesity and inflammation in urban black South African CAD patients. Paper 7 investigated the role of diet, socio-demographics and physical activity in a black South African population with CAD, compared to a healthy control group. While diet is known to be affected by urbanisation, differences in dietary intake were observed between the two urban groups, despite the similarity in their socio-demographic profile. The study highlighted the clinical relevance of MS, its likely impact on morbidity and mortality, and that its identification is, therefore, important in risk assessment of patients with CAD. Increasing recognition of MS is, therefore, an initial step in addressing the metabolic problems associated with the syndrome. Furthermore, it was shown that a preponderance of small, dense LDL particles was highly associated with CAD in black patients. Although CAD prevalence is still low at this stage, it is likely to increase rapidly among urban dwellers as they adopt a Western lifestyle.

by Chu Wai-chi, Rodney. / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 1997. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 157-169). / Acknowledgment --- p.i / Abstract --- p.ii / Chapter Chapter One --- The Issue --- p.1 / The Weight of the American China-Watchers --- p.5 / Peasant Studies - A Platform to understand the Chinese Society --- p.14 / Chapter Chapter Two --- Scholars in Disputes --- p.24 / Grasping the Paradigms --- p.26 / Analyzing the Paradigms --- p.41 / Chapter Chapter Three --- Decoding the Cases --- p.55 / Continuity and Change - Where is the Boundary of Concern? --- p.59 / Development toward Socialism - So Peasants must be Practical? --- p.66 / Communist Clientelism - Culture of Dependence? --- p.76 / Complicity and Compliance - A Strong Reach of the State? --- p.84 / Rational Choice Approach - A Theory of Universal Application? --- p.95 / Chapter Chapter Four --- Making Sense of the Lived Experience --- p.104 / The Story: Three Paradoxical Developments of Rural China --- p.106 / The Attention: What and How One Thinks --- p.124 / The Reflection: Importance of Cultural Empathy --- p.129 / Chapter Chapter Five --- Concluding Remarks: Between Americans and Chinese --- p.138 / Understanding Americans --- p.140 / Understanding Chinese --- p.146 / Bibliography --- p.157

A review of the literature demonstrates that, to date, no concerted effort has been made to conceptualize and develop typologies for youthful male sex offenders on the basis of offense type. Such typologies are deemed important to the understanding of possible developmental antecedents for sexual offending, as well as to the development of theory-driven, empirically based interventions and preventions. This study attempts to begin the conceptualization process through a meta-analytic examination of 140 research samples that provide data on over 16,000 individuals who have committed sexual offenses as youth. Three subtypes of offenders are identified on the basis of offense type: sexual assault offenders, pedophilic offenders (those who molest children significantly younger than they are), and mixed offense offenders (those who commit multiple types of offenses, e.g., voyeurism, sexual assault, and pedophilic acts). The paucity of research that exists for youth voyeurs and exhibitionists precluded the inclusion of these and other "hands-off" offense subtypes. Descriptive and inferential analyses are conducted and described, typologies are presented, and implications for treatment are suggested. Recommendations for future research are made.

Abstract not available

<p>For many individuals gambling gives an opportunity for relaxation and social relations. The positive effects of gambling are for most individual’s considerable more than the negative effects. Even if gambling gives positive effects there is individuals that cannot control there gambling and therefore develop an addiction which disturb there life situation and health. The aim of this study was to describe which personal characteristics distinguish people with a pathological gambling and which psychological, physical and social consequences this pathological gambling causes for the individual. The method of the study was a literary study and was based on twenty scientific articles. These articles were found in different scientific databases. The result of the study indicated that pathological gamblers have a higher grade of impulsivity and therefore they are seeking for quick satisfaction. The characteristic of pathological gamblers causes psychological, physiological and social consequences. Pathological gamblers have a increased risk of economical problems, work loses, anxiety, fear and depression. The consequences of pathological gambling does not only affect the individual with the addiction but also people in the person’s environment; therefore it is important that the society receive increased knowledge about pathological gambling. Further research about which individual’s that have an increased risk of become pathological gamblers, research about the increased accessibility to gamble and the mass medium effect on the individual is a desire.</p>

For many individuals gambling gives an opportunity for relaxation and social relations. The positive effects of gambling are for most individual’s considerable more than the negative effects. Even if gambling gives positive effects there is individuals that cannot control there gambling and therefore develop an addiction which disturb there life situation and health. The aim of this study was to describe which personal characteristics distinguish people with a pathological gambling and which psychological, physical and social consequences this pathological gambling causes for the individual. The method of the study was a literary study and was based on twenty scientific articles. These articles were found in different scientific databases. The result of the study indicated that pathological gamblers have a higher grade of impulsivity and therefore they are seeking for quick satisfaction. The characteristic of pathological gamblers causes psychological, physiological and social consequences. Pathological gamblers have a increased risk of economical problems, work loses, anxiety, fear and depression. The consequences of pathological gambling does not only affect the individual with the addiction but also people in the person’s environment; therefore it is important that the society receive increased knowledge about pathological gambling. Further research about which individual’s that have an increased risk of become pathological gamblers, research about the increased accessibility to gamble and the mass medium effect on the individual is a desire.

No description available.

This research aims to find out the relations among human capital characteristics, total numbers of employees and expectation of line manager toward HR function on strategic involvement of HR department. 135 questionnaires are conducted and the effective samples are 55. The results indicate the relationship between the total numbers of employees in the company and involvement of HR department in strategic decisions is the strongest. Besides, expectation from line managers toward HR function is unrelated to strategic involvement of HR department.