Fusarium dry rot is a significant postharvest disease of potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) and is often controlled by applying thiabendazole to tubers prior to storage. However, thiabendazole-resistant isolates of Fusarium spp. have been reported from Europe (2), the United States (1), and Canada (1,4). To address concerns, samples of potato tubers showing symptoms of dry rot caused by Fusariumspp. were collected from three storage bays in a commercial storage facility in Nova Scotia, Canada, in February 2001. All tubers had been treated with thiabendazole after harvest and prior to storage. Tubers were cut longitudinally, and small tissue samples (10 × 5 × 3 mm) were taken from the margins of internal necrotic regions with a sterile scalpel, surface-sterilized in 0.6% sodium hypochlorite for 15 s, rinsed twice in sterile distilled water (SDW), and blotted dry on sterile filter paper. Tissue pieces were plated on 0.5-strength potato dextrose agar (PDA) amended with tetracycline (0.05 g/liter) and streptomycin sulfate (0.1 g/liter). Petri dishes were incubated in the dark at 22°C for 4 to 7 days. After incubation, hyphal tips from the margins of actively growing isolates were removed with a sterile probe and plated on 0.5-strength PDA to generate pure cultures. Of 35 potato tubers examined, 10 (29%) yielded Fusarium isolates for further study. All 10 isolates were identified as F. sambucinum Fuckel according to Nelson et al. (3). Agar plugs (5 mm diameter) taken from the margins of 7- to 10-day-old cultures of F. sambucinum isolates were transferred to petri dishes containing 0.5-strength PDA amended with thiabendazole at 0, 1, 5, 10, 20, 50, or 100 mg/liter. Thiabendazole was prepared as a stock solution in SDW and added to molten agar after autoclaving. Cultures were grown in the dark for 7 days at 22°C, after which mycelial growth diameter was measured using digital calipers. Two measurements, along orthogonal diameters, were taken from each of three replicate plates for a total of six measurements per thiabendazole concentration. Means were calculated, and the diameter of the inoculation plug was subtracted from each mean. Calculated EC50 values (thiabendazole concentration inhibiting pathogen growth by 50%) were obtained by regression of the log of the chemical concentration against the corresponding probit of percent fungal inhibition. All isolates of F. sambucinum were resistant to thiabendazole, with EC50 values ranging from 7 to 82 mg/liter. Six isolates had EC50 values between 40 and 82 mg/liter. Control isolates of F. sambucinum, F. avenaceum, F. solani, and F. oxysporum were sensitive to thiabendazole, with EC50 values of <1 mg/liter. Although isolates of F. sambucinum resistant to thiabendazole have been recovered from eastern Canada (1,4), this is the first report of thiabendazole resistance in F. sambucinum isolates from tubers in commercial storage in the Annapolis Valley of Nova Scotia, Canada, a production region that concentrates on growing processing potatoes for the potato chip industry and is several hundred kilometers from other potato-growing regions of Prince Edward Island and New Brunswick. References: (1) A. E. Desjardins. Am. Potato J. 72:145, 1995. (2) G. A. Hide et al. Plant Pathol. 41:745, 1992. (3) P. E. Nelson et al. 1983. Fusarium Species: An Illustrated Manual for Identification . Pennsylvania State University Press, University Park, PA. (4) H. W. Platt. Phytoprotection 78:1, 1997.


Athletes, who use mouthguards (MGs) as a protective device, often experience obstruction of airflow and interferences with performance. The aim of this study was to investigate the influence of three custom–made MGs (MG1, MG2, MG3), which differed in design and thickness, on respiratory flow and blood lactate during exercise. Fourteen elite male boxers (Age: 26 ± 8 yr; Mass: 80±11) performed newly developed sport specific protocol under laboratory conditions on four occasions – without a MG and with each of the three MGs. The exercise consisted of 4 boxing rounds of 3 mins, with a minute rest after each round. Breath-by-breath analysis (METALYZER® 3B, Cortex) showed that there were no differences in the uptake of oxygen (p > 0.157) between the four conditions. Likewise, the use of different MG did not affect blood lactate accumulation (p = 1.00). However, at the end of the first round the minute ventilation was higher when MG3 was used (86.2 ± 17.5 L/min) compared to MG2 (71.7 ± 13.2) and having no MG (73.7 ± 16.4) (p = 0.002). The fact that a negative effect was not determined on physiological responses could further encourage players to use MGs during both training and competition.


Many small peptides that serve as important signaling molecules have been identified in animals, and more recently similar molecules have been recognized in plants. Matsubayashi et al. have now identified the likely receptor for a sulfated peptide, phytosulfokine, in carrot cells. The protein is a receptor kinase with a single transmembrane domain and features leucine-rich repeats in the extracellular domain. Interactions between the phytosulfokine and its receptor regulate proliferative and regenerative ability of the plant tissues. Y. Matsubayashi, M. Ogawa, A. Morita, Y. Sakagami, An LRR receptor kinase involved in perception of a peptide plant hormone, phytosulfokine. Science 296, 1470-1472 (2002). [Abstract] [Full Text]


Bankruptcy judges enjoy neither of the twin structural protections provided by Article III of the Constitution: life tenure and compensation that cannot be diminished. Yet, they exercise broad adjudicatory powers. This Article questions whether the conventional justifications for non-Article III tribunals should apply to the bankruptcy courts and offers alternative rationales for the current system of bankruptcy courts that are absent from the literature. The first conventional justification for non-Article III tribunals - a balancing test crafted by the Supreme Court - holds that they may handle specialized matters whose substance is narrow and technical, with limited prospects for generating the political heat from which Article III is supposed to insulate the federal judiciary. But bankruptcy adjudication is not narrow and technical. Bankruptcy courts routinely decide matters covering a range of subjects as broad as the civil docket of the Article III district courts, often with the potential to spark considerable political interest. Bankruptcy cases may involve a specialized process, but their substance is not specialized. The second conventional justification assumes that appellate review by Article III courts will be sufficient to check the power of a non-Article III tribunal. Bankruptcy cases, however, generate relatively few appeals, and those cases that do make it out of the bankruptcy courts to Article III courts face a variety of constraints as vehicles to control bankruptcy judges. Bankruptcy judges remain largely autonomous from the Article III courts that supposedly superintend them. In spite of the inadequacy of these standard justifications, this Article makes a tentative case for non-Article III adjudication in bankruptcy. First, the autonomy of bankruptcy judges comes in part from the appointment process to the bankruptcy bench and their lack of promotion to the Article III courts. That autonomy gives them, paradoxically, a layer of insulation from outside political pressure that is the core value of Article III. Second, the process for appointing bankruptcy judges has created a bench that remains oriented toward an audience - the bankruptcy bar - that holds in highest esteem professionalism, creativity, and non-ideological adjudication, which are also key values associated with Article III.


Abstract
 The tropical benthic dinoflagellate Ostreopsis cf. ovata recently occurred in the shallow coastal NW Mediterranean where blooms have caused health problems to humans. As part of the MediOs 2 project within the French research program Liteau III, we investigated the possible effects of this toxic microalga on the meiofauna (i.e. metazoans ranging from 40 µm to 1 mm in size) inhabiting the very common brown macroalga Halopteris scoparia. The macroalga was sampled in triplicate at 0.5 m depth in six stations along the French and Italian coasts on seven occasions in 2008. Ostreopsis bloomed in summer in three out of the six stations with abundances ranging from 2.5 to 6.6 105 cells g—1 macroalgal wet weight. Mean metazoan meiofauna densities ranged from 1274 to 9774 individuals g—1 macroalgal spin-wet weight. Statistical analyses revealed that changes in the community structure were associated with high abundances of Ostreopsis. The most affected organisms were the nauplii suggesting a negative impact on harpacticoid copepod reproduction.


Recruitment and retention is a crucial and central goal for almost all higher education institutions. Therefore, it is important for universities and colleges to provide diverse activities and events to keep the students and prospective students interested and engaged. Previous research suggests that intramural and club sports programs are activities that could help increase recruitment and retention (McElveen & Rossow, 2014; Kampf & Teske, 2013). There is still a need, however, to show the impact of participation in intramural and club sports on a student's intention to return to campus. This study examined how participation, commitment, and satisfaction levels effect a student's intention to return to campus the following semester. The sample consisted of 140 students that responded to the questionnaire but only 82 (58.6%) of those were usable (57.3% male and 42.7% female). Results of this study showed that participation levels had no significant effect on retention of the student for both intramural and club sports (.067 and .162 respectively). However, commitment and satisfaction had a significant impact on the student's intention to return for the intramural and club sports programs (intramural = .035 & .012; club sports = .016 & .017 respectively). These results show that overall experience of intramural and club sports matter much more to the student's behavior than level of participation. Universities/colleges should be focusing more on the satisfaction of their participants to keep them committed to continue playing and coming back to campus the following year.


of a thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements of the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy FROM EARTH'S LAST ISLANDS The global origins of Green politics by Christine R. Dann Since World War Two the world has undergone a profound economic and political transformation, from an international economy and internationalist politics to a global economy and globalist politics. The Bretton Woods international financial institutions have 'structurally adjusted' Third World countries, and similar structural reforms have occurred in First World countries. The environmental consequences of globalising economic activity have been severe and also global; the social consequences of the structural reform process are equally severe. National sovereignty has been radically compromised by globalisation, and previous nationally-based initiatives to manage the activities of capital in order to mitigate its negative impacts on society and the environment, such as social democrat/labour politics, have ceded their authority to globalism. Green parties have arisen to contest the negative environmental and social consequences of the global expansion of capital, and are replacing socialist parties as a global antisystemic political force. Green politics had its origins in the world-wide 'new politics' of the New Left and the new social movements of the 1960s, and the world's first two Green parties were formed in Australia and New Zealand in 1972. A general history of the global forces which gave rise to Green politics, and a specific history of the first two Green parties, demonstrates the interplay of global and local political forces and themes, and provides an opportunity to redefine the core elements of Green politics.


This volume brings together, for the first time, the voices of feminist theorists, public policy administrators, philosophers, sociologists, art critics, lawyers, and political and human rights activists on the topic of Jewish feminism in Israel. Essays range from broad discussions of Israeli feminism and women and religion in Israel to more specific examinations of gender (in)equality on the kibbutz, Women in Black and other peace movements, and domestic violence and its link to Israeli culture. By addressing such a wide variety of issues, this volume highlights the complex ways in which the interplay of religion, culture, political processes, and the state impacts the lives of Israeli women in contemporary society. This theme enhances the volume's timeliness in the face of the current Intifadah in the Occupied Territories and the response to it by Israeli security forces. Collectively, the essays in Jewish Feminism in Israel present a view of Israeli Jewish feminism within its specific social and political context. Its particular strength lies in the multiple ways it addresses women's experiences in Israeli society.


The Spatial Language of Time presents a crosslinguistically valid state-of-the-art analysis of space-to-time metaphors, using data mostly from English and Wolof (Africa) but additionally from Japanese and other languages. Metaphors are analyzed in terms of their most direct motivation by basic human experiences (Grady 1997a; Lakoff & Johnson 1980). This motivation explains the crosslinguistic appearance of certain metaphors, but does not say anything about temporal metaphor systems that deviate from the types documented here. Indeed, we observe interesting culture- and language-specific metaphor phenomena. Refining earlier treatments of temporal metaphor and adapting to temporal experience Levinson's (2003) idea of frames of reference, the author proposes a contrast between perspective-neutral and perspective-specific frames of reference in temporal metaphor that has important crosslinguistic ramifications for the temporal semantics of FRONT/BEHIND expressions. This book refines the cognitive-linguistic approach to temporal metaphor by analyzing the extensive temporal structure in what has been considered the source domain of space, and showing how temporal metaphors can be better understood by downplaying the space-time dichotomy and analyzing metaphor structure in terms of conceptual frames. This book is of interest to linguists, psychologists, anthropologists, philosophers, and others who may have wondered about relationships between space and time.


Assessments of the past are essential to the struggle over the right to define the normative position of history under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). Despite this importance, attempts to analyze the use of history in this context are rare. This thesis aims to investigate how assessments of the past are used in UNFCCC negotiations on responsibilities to act, focusing on negotiations on historical responsibilities. The research questions concern how discourse on historical responsibility: 1) can be structured, 2) is influenced by UNFCCC negotiating practice, 3) has been structured in the UNFCCC, and 4) has enabled agreement despite considerable conflict. Official UNFCCC documentation between 1991 and 2011 was studied using discourse analysis. This study suggests: first, the UNFCCC discourse on historical responsibility conveys two main assessments—a proportional and a conceptual one—of how the past could be used to differentiate responsibilities to act. Second, the strong consensus focus necessitates rationales underlying an "agreeable history" that is neither too flexible, allowing arbitrariness, nor too rigid, reducing Parties' likelihood of ratifying. Third, as the past evolves, new situations challenge discourse that potentially engages policy makers with a need to rearticulate history. Fourth, if the context changes, so may the importance ascribed to particular assessments of the past. If the stakes increase over time, even more effort is required to reach agreement, which simultaneously becomes more important in solving problems of common concern. Fifth, power seems difficult to circumvent, even by means of cleverly designed negotiating practice. If so, multilateral environmental negotiations could increase the legitimacy of outcomes among Parties in two principal ways: first, by identifying the core conflict that drives negotiations and, second, by evaluating how multilateral environmental negotiations handle conflict. Obscuring or ignoring conflict will likely only reduce the legitimacy of the negotiations.


The transition metal-catalyzed transformation of otherwise inert C–H bonds into substituted alkenes offers a versatile tool for the synthesis of value added olefinic molecules. Recent developments in the directing group assisted C–H activation approach ensured high levels of positional selectivity. A vast number of coordinating groups have been utilized in directed C–H alkenylation, which are often not removable after the desired transformation. However, the concept of easily removable or traceless directing group strategy overcomes this limitation and enables site-selective C–H alkenylation of relevance to academia and the practitioners in industry. Various easily removable or transformable directing groups utilized in the transition metal-catalyzed oxidative C–H alkenylations are discussed in this review until February 2017.


For a long time historians saw the increased wealth, numbers and power of British manufacturers, merchants and professionals as simply an inevitable part of the process of industrialization. As a result the formation of the class seemed to require no further exploration. More recently interest in the middle class has increased and much closer attention has been given to specific dimensions. It seems evident from this work that any analysis of the middle class faces a number of problems. Firstly, that of definition. There was a wide range of status and income groups within the middle class. What criteria of wealth and occupation should be used, how important is it to fix upper and lower boundaries for the class, how are questions of lifestyle and attitudes to be gauged? Secondly, there were certain divisions within groups who can reasonably be considered middle class by any criteria. Above all, we must note that there was no distinctive middle-class political party and differences were as deeply felt in politics as were antagonisms between Anglicans and Nonconformists in religion. In view of such diversities is it possible to speak of the middle class and, if so, what does class formation and unity consist of? What levels of unity allow or inhibit class power? This is the subject of my overall research, of which only a glimpse can be given here.


In recent years, the platform economy has been recognised by researchers and governments around the world for its potential to contribute to the sustainable development of society. Yet, platform economy cases such as Uber, Airbnb, and Deliveroo have created a huge controversy over their socioeconomic impact, while other alternative models have been associated with a new form of cooperativism. In parallel, the United Nations are advocating global sustainable development by promoting Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), considering elements such as decent work, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, and fostering innovation. In any case, the SDGs have been also criticised for the lack of digital perspective. This dataset draws from two 2020 European projects' (DECODE and PLUS) data collections and presents the possibility to compare different platform economy models and their connections with the SDGs.


This article will offer an examination of complex predicates in Swahili, an aspect of the language that few have explored in depth. Utilizing a corpus of Swahili complex predicate data compiled using the Helenski Corpus of Swahili 2.0, Tuki's Kamusi ya Kiswahili – Kiingereza, Swahili – English Dictionary, and online Swahili discussion forums, I will discuss how Swahili complex predicate forms reveal a number of interesting syntactic phenomena. I will then compare two frameworks for analyzing complex predicates in Swahili: 1) a complex head analysis, which is commonly utilized in analyses of complex predicates in other languages, and 2) a DP comple-ment analysis. These two frameworks will be tested against their ability to account for three unique characteristics of Swahili complex predicates: agreement, adjacency, and passivation. The discussion will reveal how the DP complement analysis is better equipped to explain the syntactic phenomena of Swahili complex predicates.


The radioprotective effect of an extract of Aegle marmelos (L.) Correa (AME), family Rutaceae, was investigated in mice exposed to different doses of gamma-radiation. Mice were administered orally AME 250 mg/kg b.wt. orally daily for 5 consecutive days before exposure to 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, or 11 Gy of gamma-radiation. The animals were monitored daily up to 30 days after irradiation for the development of symptoms of radiation sickness or death. Treatment of mice with AME before irradiation reduced the symptoms of radiation sickness and delayed death compared to the irradiated controls given sterile physiological saline (SPS). AME provided protection against both gastrointestinal and hematopoietic toxicities. Reducing the administration schedule of AME to 1 or 3 consecutive days or increasing the schedule to 7 consecutive days was not as effective as 5 consecutive days of preradiation schedule. The administration of AME after irradiation was not effective, and no survivors could be reported 30 days after irradiation. The LD50/30 was found to be 8.1 Gy for the SPS + irradiation group and 9.7 Gy for the AME + irradiation group. The oral administration of AME resulted in an increase in radiation tolerance by 1.6 Gy, and the dose reduction factor was found to be 1.2. Preradiation treatment of mice with AME caused a significant depletion in lipid peroxidation followed by a significant elevation in glutathione concentration in the liver of mice 31 days after irradiation. The drug was nontoxic up to a dose of 6000 mg/kg b.wt., the highest drug dose that could be tested for acute toxicity.


The work is devoted to the application and further development of modern statistical methods to study pharmacokinetics of drugs. Specifically, it deals with applications and development of repeated measures analysis, so called 'population approach' methods, in the field of pharmacokinetics. hi the first part of the thesis, a new, model-free approach is developed and tested. It introduces a model-free measure of patient's exposure to drugs, and then investigates the relationships between the exposure level and covariates using various statistical techniques. Classification tree models (CART) and regression analysis are used to study various subpopulations of interest. It is shown, via simulations, that the model-free method is capable to identify predictors of exposure in a wide range of variability in the data. The non-linear mixed effect modelling is used to confirm the results of the model-free investigation. Model-free approach is successfully applied to several drugs. Non-linear Mixed Effects population models developed for the same data agree with its results. Limits of the new method are also identified. Specifically, it does not allow the estimation of the variability: either the within-subject (intra-individual) variability in response, or between-subject (inter-individual) variability of the pharmacokinetic parameters in the population. The second part of the thesis is devoted to applications of the Non-linear Mixed Effect methodology to population pharmacokinetics and dose-response analysis. Population pharmacokinetic and dose-response models of several drugs are developed. Pharmacokinetic models allow for complete characterisation of the drug's pharmacokinetics and its relationships to safety and efficacy. The developed models are used to explore the relationships between the exposure (individual Bayes estimates) and demographic predictors of exposure, and safety and efficacy of the drug. Finally, the developed models are used in simulations to guide the design of new studies.


Background: The Individual Education Plan (IEP) and related resource documents shape the lived realities of children in special education programs. Although these documents aim to assist children in achieving their educational goals, a point of disjuncture can exist between the documents' intentions and the actual experiences of children. Addressing this issue is crucial in order to prevent inequality and to foster educational development and social well being for children.
Purpose: This study explores the discursive construction of children in IEP resource documents in order to illuminate the underlying implications of the language comprising these texts.
Method: Data was collected by gathering IEP resource documents from the Ontario Ministry of Education website. Discourse analysis was then employed to examine the presence of the equative and attributive models, the passive voice, and the possessive construction. Lastly, disability theory was used to explore how these language practices conceptualize children.
Results: The data set included zero instances of the equative model, an infrequent use of the attributive model, and a strong presence of both the passive voice and the possessive construction. These findings contributed to representations of children as exceptional, passive, and subordinate despite an explicit attempt to resist such conceptions.
Conclusion: This study serves as a model through which the language practices of other special education documents can be critically evaluated, and offers potential avenues for creating documents that avoid disabling children further.


Fiber migration in ring yarn is found to be affected by the high draw frame delivery speed and associated sliver preparations. Considering the importance of high draw frame delivery speed, and its preparatory (viz., card draft and coiler diameter), earlier work (Ishtiaque et al., 2007) reveals a strong influence on the fiber orientation parameters in the sliver. The effect of the above parameters transmits up to the yarn fiber assembly affecting its structure and properties. In the present study it has been observed that the impact of the three process variables (viz., card draft, coiler diameter of card and delivery speed of draw frame) on the mean fiber position, root mean square deviation and mean migration intensity is very significant as confirmed from higher R2 values. As draw frame delivery speed and coiler diameter of card increases, mean fiber position, root mean square deviation and mean migration intensity decreases. However, with the increase in card draft, there is marginal increase in mean fiber position and no significant change in the mean migration intensity is observed.


Few recent issues have sparked such debate in the churches as homosexuality, same-sex unions, and ordination of gays and lesbians. A key point of contention is the meaning and authority of the biblical witness. In this brief book, two New Testament scholars discuss the relevant biblical texts on the subject of homosexual behavior and orientation. Discussing both Old Testament and New Testament texts, each author also raises important interpretive and moral questions and then offers a response to the other's main assertions. Chief questions examined by each include what the Bible has to say about homosexuality and homosexual behavior, the meaning of those texts in their cultural contexts, and the larger hermeneutical dilemma of what kind of authority the Bible's teaching, if recoverable, has for Christians today. A thoughtful and irenic dialogue, this volume can facilitate reflection and discussion among church members on a vital and contentious issue in American church life.


The purpose of this thesis is to gain a deeper understanding of the relationship between support and control. The purpose is reached by a study of the probation service as an organization and the practical side of its work The thesis is based on two empirical studies. One is a study of records and published texts from the period 1820-2000. The second is an interview study, in which twenty probation-service clients, twenty probation officers and ten layman supervisors have contributed their stories of the probation service. Assisted by Charles Tilly's (2000) explanations of categorical inequality, Michel Foucault's (1980; 1987) explanations of disciplinary power, and Erving Goffman's (1998) dramaturgic perspective, it has been possible to explain the patterns and the variations that are presented. During the first, disciplinary, period from the early 19th to the early 20th century, philantropic organizations tried to find work for offenders who wanted to lead a steady life. During the second period, from the turn of the century to the 1940s, the demands on the offenders had been specified and special officials were employed. The third period, from the 1940s to the end of the 1980s, was characterized by an idea of psychosocial work with individuals in a manner concurring with the work performed by the municipal social services. The fourth period, from the 1990s, is characterized by a "management" idea, in which the increasingly professionalized officials of the probation service administer the clients' problems rather than help solving them. The probation service is still presented in terms of "alternative", but the meaning of the words has changed. From their previous meaning of "something other than", they now mean "another form of". Complementing the prison, the social services and other human service organizations, the probation service has a strengthening effect Probation officers and clients vary in their attitude towards their common task.When the parties' attitudes towards each other are similar, their positions are congruous, and when their attitudes differ, their positions are discrepant. Congruous positions accumulate stories of the probation service's supportive aspects. When the positions are discrepant, the parties describe the action by the controlling aspects. The probation service changes its shape in every relation and will be interpreted differently depending on who is describing and who is interpreting. In this way, the disciplinary power will function and avoid the pronounced resistance. By that, it is also possible to individualize the support so as to help each person in the way most appropriate to him.


The structure and morphology as well as the mechanism of formation of porous polyelectrolyte multilayers consisting of linear poly(ethylenimine) (LPEI) and poly(acrylic acid) (PAA) have been systematically investigated as a function of pH. The structures obtained exhibit dramatic differences with small changes in the pH of multilayer assembly and pH of postassembly treatment, yielding an observed range of pore sizes from tens of nanometers to micrometers and pore volume fractions from 0 to 77%. The porous phase transition is quite rapid (<20 min), and structures observed include asymmetric membranes and isolated craters. It is thought that asymmetric membranes are achieved due to the high mobility of LPEI, which can exhibit interdiffusion when layered with PAA. To further understand the nature of the porous LbL multilayers, the pores were filled with liquid electrolyte and the impedance response of electrolyte-filled porous multilayers was examined; two time constants or two dry-state room temperature con...


Neurotrauma or cranio-spinal trauma is the most common pathology in multiple injuries, causing significant morbidity and mortality. Majority of cases result from road traffic accidents. In one of Nigeria's centres for neurosurgery, we evaluated our local etiological patterns to ascertain the impact of motorcycles, the most commonly used mode of intra-city transportation, on neurotrauma. This is a retrospective study of all consecutive neurotrauma patients presenting in our unit in the first 30 months after the commencement of neurosurgical services. The data were collected for each patient with a structured proforma, and were analyzed. A total of 1055 neurosurgical cases were attended to in our service in the period under study, out of which 138 had congenital anomalies and 917 had acquired diseases. Among the acquired cases, 785 had trauma but only 748 (95.3%) of them had complete re-cords, with 658 (88%) cases of head injury, 61 (8.1%) cases of spinal injury, and 29 (3.9%) concomitant head and spinal injuries. These are distributed thus: road traffic accidents 537 (71.8%), falls 120 (16.0%), assaults 47 (6.3%), missiles 20 (2.7%), falling objects 11 (1.5%), deceleration/acceleration injuries 7 (0.9%), sports/recreational activities 3 (0.4%) and birth trauma 3 (0.4%). Majority were males 569 (76.1%), and in the 15-40year age group 376 (50.3%). Of the 537 cases of road accidents, those related to motorcycles were 367 (68.3%), motor vehicles 169 (31.5%) and bicycle 1 (0.2%); and none of the motorcycle cases wore a protective helmet at the time of the accident. Most of the cases were treated conservatively 559 (74.7%), and the mortality rate from all neurotrauma cases was 17.7%. Neurotrauma is the major reason for neurosurgical consultations in our service, affecting mostly the young male age group, and most cases result from motorcycle accidents caused by the poor compliance with traffic regulations. There is an urgent need to stringently control the use of motorcycles to reduce the morbidity and mortality amongst Nigerian youths.

 Key words: Head, injury, spinal, road, traffic, accidents.


Description: Deep Earth: Physics and Chemistry of the Lower Mantle and Core highlights recent advances and the latest views of the deep Earth from theoretical, experimental, and observational approaches and offers insight into future research directions on the deep Earth. In recent years, we have just reached a stage where we can perform measurements at the conditions of the center part of the Earth using state–of–the–art techniques, and many reports on the physical and chemical properties of the deep Earth have come out very recently. Novel theoretical models have been complementary to this breakthrough. These new inputs enable us to compare directly with results of precise geophysical and geochemical observations. This volume highlights the recent significant advancements in our understanding of the deep Earth that have occurred as a result, including contributions from mineral/rock physics, geophysics, and geochemistry that relate to the topics of: I. Thermal structure of the lower mantle and core II. Structure, anisotropy, and plasticity of deep Earth materials III. Physical properties of the deep interior IV. Chemistry and phase relations in the lower mantle and core V. Volatiles in the deep Earth The volume will be a valuable resource for researchers and students who study the Earth's interior. The topics of this volume are multidisciplinary, and therefore will be useful to students from a wide variety of fields in the Earth Sciences.


The concept of human dignity provides a useful reference point for evaluating American exceptionalism in the context of welfare rights. Since World War II, human dignity has emerged as the preeminent value in many modern constitutions and various human rights documents. Particularly in countries that have extensive welfare states, dignity is often about being part of the community, being protected and provided for by the government. In America, however, political and legal discourse link dignity with individual rights and freedom from interference by the State. In this short Essay I explain how different concepts of dignity reflect fundamental disagreements about welfare rights and highlight aspects of American exceptionalism. The traditional American conception of human dignity may resist welfare rights, as can be seen in the current debate about whether and how government should expand healthcare coverage.


Establishing if and when South Atlantic hotspots interacted with surface processes during rifting and continental
breakup is important for understanding the mechanisms that control the evolution of passive margins and their
adjacent continents. One approach is to reconstruct the volcanic history of hotspot trails located on the African
Superswell in order to find the locations of hotspots during rifting and breakup to determine if, for example, they
caused extreme fluxes of magma and post-rift uplift along the continental margin. However, because hotspot trails
located south of the classical Tristan-Gough are virtually un-sampled we don't know how many hotspots might
have existed or for how long, and whether they originated from the core-mantle boundary or much shallower
depths. In 2006 we dredge sampled hotspot trails located on the African Superswell using the RV Polarstern, an
icebreaker capable of working in the poor weather conditions in the Southern Ocean. Combining new and existing
Ar/Ar isotopic ages shows that volcanism migrated synchronously along co-parallel hotspot trails consistent with
northeastern African plate motion relative to the leading edges of the African Superswell and an underlying stable
Superplume (large low-shear-velocity province) extending from the core-mantle boundary. Between roughly 132
and 100 million years ago only the Tristan-Gough hotspot trail developed where rifting and breakup facilitated
the rise of hotspot melts to the surface, while along rest of the leading edge hotspot volcanism was suppressed by
the African continent. Such a notion implies that the African passive continental margin was migrating relative to
the leading edge of the African Superplume for as long as 30 million years after continental rifting and breakup
had facilitated the 132 Ma Parana-Etendeka continental flood basalts and initiation of the Tristan-Gough hotspot
trail. This provides a mechanism for extended late stage interplay between deep mantle processes and the passive margin and adjacent continents that might explain extensive magmatism, lithospheric thinning and phases of postrift
uplift.


The subject of this work concerns the development of an ultra-low NOx emission burner for aircraft and industrial gas turbine applications. Thesis includes the development of a model that incorporates the thermal, aerodynamic and kinetic model of a low-emission combustion system.

Flameless oxidation is based on the principle of fuel combustion in hot vitiated air and it appears that this topic is still relatively unknown. Analysis showed that to develop such combustion systems, it is necessary that studies of combustion chemistry of fuels diluted with large quantities of combustion products, stability limits of flameless oxidation, and development of numerical simulation tools should be performed. The investigation under PSR (perfect stirred reactor) conditions of the influence of the chemical models on the flame temperature and species concentration predictions has showed that in certain cases the detailed chemistry model can be replaced with the global chemistry model giving reasonable error. Current global chemistry combustion models have important shortcomings; nevertheless they can be used when dealing with thermodynamics.

The influence of combustion air temperature and oxygen content (dilution) was studied using global heat - mass balance equations with special emphasis on the optimum of the equivalence and recirculation ratios. It was demonstrated that an increase in air dilution (decrease in oxygen content) decreases the flame temperature. A decrease in the equivalence ratio below 0.3 is irrational because the oxygen content in diluted mixture remains above 15% (oxygen content in diluted mixture must be less than 15%) even for high recirculation ratios. It was also demonstrated that combustion was possible under high concentration (high recirculation ratio) of CO2 in diluted mixture (reactants).

The developed flameless combustion model was integrated into a newly developed computer program. This computer program can be used further in prediction of the main characteristics of flameless combustion in the preliminary design phase. An integrated heat transfer model can be used as initial approximation in more sophisticated CFD simulations. The wall temperatures of the combustor calculated by the heat transfer model are expected to be quite well-predicted.

In this study, the influence of compressor pressure ratio (temperature after compressor), recirculation ratio, and type of fuel on main flameless combustion was illustrated. It showed the importance of adequately choosing the recirculation ratio for a specific working point. It was concluded that special care should be taken to optimize the geometric parameters of the flameless combustor to obtain fully homogeneous flameless oxidation combustion.


A FOURIER DESCRIPTION OF COVARIANCE, AND SEPARATION OF SIMULTANEOUSLY ENCODED SLICES WITH IN-PLANE ACCELERATION IN FMRI Mary C. Kociuba Marquette University, 2016 Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies aim to identify localized neural regions associated with a cognitive task performed by the subject. An indirect measure of the brain activity is the blood oxygenation level dependent (BOLD) signal fluctuations observed within the complex-valued spatial frequencies measured over time. The standard practice in fMRI is to discard the phase information after image reconstruction, even with evidence of biological task-related change in the phase timeseries. In the first aim of this dissertation, a complex-valued time-series covariance is derived as a linear combination of second order temporal Fourier frequency coefficients. As opposed to magnitude-only analysis, the complex-valued covariance increases the sensitivity and specificity in fMRI correlation analysis, which is particularly advantageous for low contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR) fMRI time-series. In the remaining aims, increased statistical significance is achieved through a higher sampling rate of the fMRI time-course, by simultaneously magnetizing multiple slice images. With multifrequency band excitations, a single k-space readout reconstructs to an image of composite aliased slice images. To disentangle the signal, or aliased voxels, phase and coil encoding techniques are incorporated into the data acquisition and image reconstruction. Inter-slice signal leakage, which also manifests as improper placement of the BOLD signal, presents in the separated slice images from induced correlations as a result of suboptimal simultaneous multi-slice (SMS) reconstruction methods. In the second aim of this dissertation, the Multi-coil Separation of Parallel Encoded Complexvalued Slices (mSPECS) reconstruction method is proposed as a solution to preserve the activation statistics in the separated slice images through a Bayesian approach of sampling calibration images. In the third aim of this dissertation, the mSPECS reconstruction is extended to include In-Plane Acceleration (mSPECS-IPA), to reconstruct aliased slice images with additional in-plane subsampling using a twodimensional orthogonal phase encoding derivation of Hadamard encoding. Mitigating induced correlations with mSPECS(-IPA), results in accurately placed functional activation in the previously aliased complex-valued slice images. The development of novel complex-valued analysis and reconstruction methods in fMRI strengthens the significance of the activation statistics and precludes inter-slice signal leakage, so the true underlying neural dynamics are modeled in complex-valued fMRI data analysis.


The descriptor, 'highly qualified teacher,' serves as a trope in educational reform rhetoric that invites interrogation if it is to be vaunted as a key signifier of utopian thinking about improving American education in our times. Such interrogation may be furthered by informed awareness of the past, critical attentiveness to the present, and engaged openness for a future that reaches towards democratic aspiration as its guiding ethos. A trilateral orientation of historical awareness, policy critique, and democratic educative theory are linked to interrogate how 'quality' as a construct is constrained and distorted in talk about '21 st century skills' and teacher quality as guarantors of global economic competitiveness. Of primary concern is how the distortion manifests in the face of risk and uncertainty as features of a 'culture of blame' under a neo-liberal logic that replaces democracy with corporatist control. The 'highly qualified teacher' trope is interrogated and subverted as it is contrasted with a 'democratic conception of professionalism' and  'wide-awakeness' in 'the nightmare that is the present'.


According to the resistance of bacteria to antibiotics, researchers have been trying to discover new antibiotics, among medical plants have played an important role. Stachys lavandifolia is one of these plants which has been used for treatment of pneumonia by the people of Boyerahmad in old traditional medicine. First, we provide hydroalcoholic extract of Stachys lavandifolia and then during several different experiments and by a plate method minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) and Pseudomonas Aeruginosa growth obtained, and then diameter of this extract were compared with the diameter of the standard antibiotics. Stachys lavandifolia extract had a good effect on pneumococcal that concentrations mg / ml1000 formed a diameter equal to 3.5. At concentrations mg / ml 750 and mg / ml500 diameter of the respectively is mm33 and mm27 at MIC and MLC equal to mg / ml 25/31.Stachys lavandifolia extract had a modest effect on Pseudomonas concentration mg / ml1000 and mg / ml500 and mg / ml750 each zone that formed the MIC and MLC equivalent mm 15 mg / ml 500 registered. In concentrations 750mg/ml and 500mg/ml their diameters are respectively 33 mm and 27 mm that its MIC is equivalent to 31/25 mg/ml. Stachys lavandifolia extract had a modest effect on Pseuodomonas which in concentration of 1000mg/ml and 500mg/ml 750mg/ml each three have conformed 15mm halo that its MIC and MLC is equivalent to 500mg/ml. The result of this research showed that hydroalcholic extract of stachy Salavan-difolia in comparison with standard anti biotic has shown a positive antimicrobial effect, however, we hope with more efforts done on this plant , we can use the plant as an alternative to antibiotics, synthetic and semi-fabricated. So that, concentration of 750mg/ml its effect on streptococc pneumonia is better than all compared antibiotics, but about psedomonas aenginosa aerations in concentration of 1000 mg/ ml which was the highest concentration of our experiment from the most compared antibiotics, had a weaker effect.