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The present study sought to evaluate trial designs and training designs that are commonly used in popular commercially available computer-assisted language-learning (CALL) programs. The first two experiments (Experiment 1a and 1b) compared the effects of passive viewing and active student response methods in vocabulary learning. Contingencies on active student responding were implemented in the form of compound matching to sample (MTS), in which each trial presented a compound sample (i.e., an auditory and a textual FL stimulus), to which the learner was required to respond by selecting a matching picture from an array of choices. This approach is characteristic of vocabulary-learning trials in Rosetta Stone[R]. Passive viewing was represented by stimulus pairing (SP) trials, in which the auditory FL stimulus, the textual FL stimulus, and the matching picture were presented simultaneously, and no response was required from the learner other than clicking to advance to the next trial. This approach is characteristic of vocabulary-learning trials in Memrise[R]. With respect to training design, the goal of Experiment 2 was to compare the efficiency with which participants acquired the same emergent stimulus relations as a result of an instruction that teaches a small number of relations (Compound MTS condition) versus an instruction that directly targets a greater number of relations separately (Mixed condition). The prediction for Experiments 1a and 1b was that the Mixed group would have an advantage over the two other conditions, as participants assigned to this condition received both response contingencies and reliable presentation of each picture along with its associated foreign auditory-visual compound. This prediction was not confirmed. By contrast, Experiment 2 confirmed the prediction that the compound MTS condition would require fewer trials to complete to mastery, while resulting in similar post- and follow-up test performance. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]

Pain is crucial for survival, and the ability to detect potentially harmful stimuli and respond accordingly is evolutionarily conserved. However, pain can also be undesirable in several situations, such as chronic pain. Pain management represents an unmet clinical need, with promising drugs identified in pre-clinical studies in rodents often failing to produce analgesia in clinical trials. This highlights the need for a better understanding of the mechanisms underlying the processing of noxious stimuli. The zebrafish has been increasingly used as an animal model in various fields. In this study, I aimed to establish the zebrafish as a model to study the genetics of nociception. I first established an infrared laser assay to deliver temporally precise noxious heat stimuli, and studied the behavioural responses of tethered zebrafish larvae upon stimulation. I found that there are two components in these responses, which are temporally separated, have different properties, and can be modulated using chemicals. Then, I generated zebrafish F0 knockouts of ngfb, ntrk1 and prdm12b, the zebrafish orthologs of three genes known to play a critical role in human pain, both physiologically and pathologically. I observed anatomical defects in a subset of ntrk1 and prdm12b mutants. ntrk1 mutants that lacked anatomical defects showed no changes in their response to noxious heat. However, I found that the fast component of the response to the laser was nearly completely abolished in ngfb mutants which were otherwise normal. A genetic approach to the study of zebrafish nociception can be used to gain a mechanistic understanding of the genes, cells and pathways involved in sensing noxious stimuli and generating protective behaviours, which may help the development of better drugs and treatments for pain.

In Britain today, as well as in all the developed Western countries, more than ever immigration discourse occupies priority space in society, politics, and media. The concern with immigration, the Diaspora of the Other, has reached such a point of shrill and racist political discourse, the public political fora have managed to gain substantial support for this cause from their voting citizens. In this game of socio-political power the entire discourse is mainly focused around economic migrants. All migrants, here, are lumped under the exclusionary and racist discourse ignoring completely the myriad complexities of migrants’ background, the structural reasons for their migration, and the substantial economic contribution they make to the countries where they settle down. Lacking political and media power to counter or influence these hostile discourses, immigrants, as minorities, are victims of racist, xenophobic, and exclusionary political practices and, in their own turn, have desperate recourse to their past in order to construct a global minority identity. Against such a discursive background, my research among the South Asian immigrants in South Wales in UK has provided an alternative and delicately nuanced way of understanding migration in general and migration to UK in particular. The narratives based on the individual and collective memories of British India Partition in 1947 and its aftermath, the many routes which their migration took, and the experiences of their settling down in South Wales offer a very unique glimpse into their migratory experience and eventual identity evolution. Given the historical role Great Britain as the colonial power played in their migration I argue that Britain owes its immigrant citizens the respect they deserve, value their forebears’ contribution in its colonial and global wars and post-war economic rebuilding, and their continued, creative contribution to British economy, society, culture and its own multicultural identity.

Background: The United Kingdom's lung cancer patients have lower survival than patients in comparable countries. Delays in diagnosis may contribute to this. There are significant socio-demographic variations in the interval between cancer patients first presenting to their general practitioner (GP) and referral, but it is unclear why these exist. Aim: To examine patient and GP characteristics associated with GPs' referral decisions, focusing on patients with symptoms indicative of lung cancer. Methods: Study 1: Systematic literature review considering non-clinical patient, GP and practice characteristics associated with variations in GPs' referral of patients for investigations or to secondary care. Study 2: GP decision making study: a factorial experiment using interactive multimedia vignettes to examine GPs' decisions to refer patients with symptoms indicative of lung cancer, and a survey to examine factors influencing decision making. Results: Study 1: 11,791 titles were screened; 47 were of sufficient quality and relevance for inclusion. There was strong evidence that patients over 75 were less likely to be investigated or referred, and of variations by patient gender. However few higher quality studies examined associations with patient ethnicity and GP or practice characteristics, or considered why socio-demographic variations occurred. Study 2: 227 GPs completed the study. GPs were less likely to investigate older than younger patients, and black patients than white. The survey identified several factors that GPs believe affect their referral decisions (such as patients' lifestyles), some of which may explain the observed differences in GPs' referral decisions. Conclusions: My thesis identified socio-demographic variations in GP decision making that are independent of clinical characteristics (for lung cancer and more widely) and factors that may underlie these. Further research addressing the extent to which these factors contribute to socio-demographic variations, and the development of primary care interventions which address these findings, could reduce delays in lung cancer diagnosis.

Coal-bed methane (CBM), also referred to as Coal seam gas (CSG), relates to the production of methane from coal beds by drilling wells, hence lowering formation pressure, and triggering methane release. While the potential of this resource is significant, the assessment of the quantity and the producibility of methane from coal seams is highly variable. For this reason the objective of this work is to investigate the assessment of gas content, gas-in-place and coal permeability through petrophysical of analysis and by gaining a better understanding of coal bulk properties,. In this study 17 cored production wells were analysed from the Walloon Sub-group coal seams fairway in the Surat Basin in Queensland Australia, which is today the most ambitious investment in CSG worldwide. A total of 2374 coal beds were investigated to understand how the nature of the different coal lithotypes are reflected in core analysis, wireline logs measurements and DST test results, and how they affect coal quality, and control gas content, fracture development and reservoir permeability. High-resolution studies involving fine scale are required to estimate volumes and CSG formation evaluation turns to the interpretation of standard wireline tools readings in hundreds of coal seam wells. Nevertheless, the heterogeneous thin-bedded nature of coal seams, together with the fact that methane within coal is mainly stored by adsorption, create several difficulties in wireline log petrophysical analysis. Consequently core description is used to validate the combination of the density log with the shallow focused electric and induction resistivity measurements, benefitting the recognition and thickness estimation of thin coal beds and coal laminae rich mudstones. This observation, and a refined coal quality and gas content estimation methodology, are presented and tested against previously published workflows and provide an improved and tested strategy for petrophysical analysis of CSG.

This thesis describes advancements in the modelling, optimisation, process control and mechanical performance of novel high deposition rate gas metal arc welding processes for large scale additive manufacturing applications. One of the main objectives of this study was to develop fundamental understanding of the mechanisms involved during processing with particular focus on single layer welds made of carbon steel using both pulsed-current gas metal arc welding and cold metal transfer processes. The effects of interactions between critical welding process variables and weld bead and plate fusion characteristics are studied for single and multi-layers. It was shown that several bead and plate fusion characteristics are strongly affected by the contact tip to work distance, TRIM, wire feed speed, wire feed speed to travel speed ratio, and wire diameter in pulsed-current gas metal arc welding. The arc-length control, dynamic correction and the contact tip to work distance are shown to strongly influence the weld bead geometry in the cold metal transfer process. This fundamental knowledge was essential to ensure the successful development of predictive interaction models capable of determining the weld bead geometry from the welding process parameters. The models were developed using the least-squares analysis and multiple linear regression method. The gas tungsten constricted arc welding process was utilised for the first time for out-of-chamber fabrication of a large scale and high-quality Ti-6Al-4V component. The main focus was, however, in the use of the cold metal transfer process for improving out-of-chamber deposition of Ti-6Al-4V at much higher deposition rates. The effect of the cold metal transfer process on the grain refinement features in the fusion zone of single layer welds under different torch gas shielding conditions was investigated. It was shown that significant grain refinement occurs with increasing helium content. The morphological features and static mechanical performance of the resulting multi-layered Ti-6Al-4V walls were also examined and compared with those in gas tungsten constricted arc welding. The results show that a considerable improvement in static tensile properties is obtained in both testing directions with cold metal transfer over gas tungsten constricted arc welding. It was suggested that this improvement in the mechanical behaviour could be due to the formation of more fine-grained structures,which are therefore more isotropic. The average ultimate tensile strength and yield strength of the as-deposited Ti-6Al-4V material processed via cold metal transfer meet the minima specification values recommended for most Ti-6Al-4V products. Neutron diffraction technique was used to establish the effect of repeated thermo-mechanical cycling on the generation, evolution and distribution of residual stresses during wire and arc additive manufacturing. The results show a significant redistribution of longitudinal residual stresses along both the substrate and multi-bead with repeated deposition. However, a nearly complete relaxation occurs along the built, once the base plate constraint is removed.

The paramyxovirus, parainfluenza virus 5 (simian virus 5 [SV5]), is the prototype species of the genus Rubulavirus within the family Paramyxoviridae. It naturally infects humans and dogs and was used as a model paramyxovirus in this research project. Like many other paramyxoviruses, SV5 has evolved molecular mechanisms to circumvent the interferon (IFN)-induced antiviral response by blocking IFN signalling and by reducing the amount of IFN released by infected cells. However, its ability to circumvent the IFN response is not absolute. Therefore, the aim of this thesis was to examine the effects of IFN on SV5 infection. A model system was developed in which Vero cells, which do not produce but can respond to IFN, were infected with CPI-, a strain of SV5 that does not block IFN signalling, to analyse the effects of the addition of IFN on infection in the absence of virus countermeasures. Evidence from the results presented in this thesis highlighted that IFN induces a rapid (within 6 hours) alteration in the pattern of SV5 transcription and protein synthesis, as well as a redistribution of virus proteins within infected cells that result in an enhanced formation of virus cytoplasmic inclusion bodies. IFN caused a change in the virus transcription gradient that led to augmented levels of mRNA from genes at the 3' end of the genome and decreased levels of mRNA from genes at the 5' end of the genome. It also induced the production of M gene mRNAs with longer poly (A) tails, suggesting that the processivity of the virus polymerase was altered in cells in an IFN-induced antiviral state. Although not in complete concordance with mRNA levels, IFN also changed the pattern of protein synthesis, causing a specific down-regulation in the expression levels of genes downstream of the V/P gene. A similar delay of virus replication and formation of virus cytoplasmic inclusion bodies was also observed when cells in an IFN-induced antiviral state were subsequently infected with strains of SV5, parainfluenza virus type 2, and mumps virus that block IFN signalling. However, STAT1/STAT2 are eventually degraded with such viruses, and these viruses ultimately re-establish a more normal pattern of virus replication. Additional evidence is presented which suggests that CPI- can give rise to persistent infections in Vero cells in the presence of IFN, by remaining in a quiescent state, possibly in large inclusion bodies that could be observed in the cytoplasm. The nature of the inclusion bodies, as well as the molecular events that underlie their formation was investigated, as was the relevance of viral inclusion bodies to SV5 persistence.

The publication of the S. coelicolor genome sequence has stimulated interest in the possibility of rationally engineering strains by predicting the effect(s) of altering specific genes on secondary metabolite production. The work described here aims to design a general approach that could be applied to enhance the production of commercially important antibiotics that have similar biosynthetic routes as actinorhodin (ACT). It has been observed that a negative correlation between ACT production and the carbon flux through the pentose phosphate pathway (PPP) exists. As a result, strains with deletions for either one of the two zwf isogenes (encoding the enzyme that catalyses the initial PPP reaction) and for the devB gene (whose product catalyses the subsequent reaction in the pathway) were constructed and assessed. All strains, with the exception of the devB mutant, were found to generate increased levels of ACT compared to the parental strain. In addition to these strains, the above genotypes were accompanied by the pIJ8714 insert, containing an additional copy of the pathway-specific activator gene, actII-0RF4. These strains displayed precocious and significantly increased ACT levels compared to their corresponding controls. In order to compare the carbon flux distribution profiles of the various strains and conditions tested, metabolic flux analysis (MFA) was performed. Correlation analysis was applied to such data to identify reactions that either positively or negatively correlated with ACT synthesis. Both MFA results and in vitro enzyme analysis showed that both zwf stiains had elevated carbon fluxes through the initial reaction of the PPP. This was unexpected but may reflect some co-regulation between the two zwf isogenes. When either one of the two genes was deleted, the presumed repression it exerted was removed, resulting in more activity. Such elevated fluxes allowed more NADPH to fuel the high yielding elementary mode that was identified for ACT synthesis and, presumably amplified to saturation by the pIJ8714 insert. MFA from batch and chemostat cultures showed that greater flexibility at the glucose-6-phosphate principal node was found at the lower growth rates (and in the pIJ8714 strains) which coincided with greater ACT production. Biomass and ACT synthesis compete for the same cofactors, hence at lower growth rates, more e.g. NADPH, was available for ACT production. Furthermore it was shown that microarray analysis could not be used to predict carbon fluxes in S. coelicolor strains, as little correlation between the two techniques was observed. However, it was found to be a useful method for highlighting genes that were more than two-fold up/down-regulated in the strain(s) that generated the most ACT. These findings could be exploited in future metabolic engineering studies to enhance ACT production, as well as for other bioactive compounds that undergo similar biosynthetic pathways.

This thesis investigates the role played by the black-backed jackal (Canis mesomelas) in the transmission and maintenance of canine distemper and other canid pathogens within a Namibian coastal carnivore guild, comprising black-backed jackals, brown hyenas (Hyaena brunnea), Cape fur seals (Arctocephalus pusillus pusillus), and domestic dogs (Canis familiaris) from urban settlements. The first of the chapters containing original data, chapter 3 describes a canine distemper outbreak in the jackals and dogs of the guild, providing the first evidence for, and a description of, natural canine distemper infection in jackals and demonstrates that this species was responsible for the rapid spread of the epidemic along the Namibian coast and for the spill-back of the virus into the dog population. Chapter 4 investigates the exposure of the sympatric Cape fur seal population to morbilliviruses using virus neutralisation tests for canine distemper, phocine distemper and dolphin morbillivirus and demonstrates that it is unlikely that a morbillivirus is endemic in this population and that the seals did not suffer a large increase in seroprevalence or mortality as a result of the canine distemper outbreak in the jackals and dogs. In Chapter 5, serological data indicates that jackals and dogs both have high levels of exposure to canine adenovirus, canine herpes virus and sarcoptic mange but that exposure to canine parvovirus, although high in the dogs is very low in the jackal population. Canine adenovirus and sarcoptic mange are likely to be endemic in the jackal and dog populations, hence jackals may act as a source of infection to sympatric wildlife and as a source of re-infection for dogs. In Chapter 6, behavioural observations of jackal-jackal and jackal-seal interactions at Cape Cross are used to determine contact rates for the transmission of canine distemper virus. Contact rates of different subsets of the jackal population are compared to determine if there is any heterogeneity which would support the existence of a core group of individuals primarily responsible for the spread of canine distemper virus within the jackal population. Contact rates and overlap of jackal home ranges at the colony, as determined from radio-telemetry studies are used to help understand the observed prevalence of exposure to canine distemper virus in the jackal and seal populations.

In this thesis we study some of the problems which occur when type inference is used in a type system with subtyping. An underlying poset of atomic types is used as a basis for our subtyping systems. We argue that the class of Helly posets is of significant interest, as it includes lattices and trees, and is closed under type formation not only with structural constructors such as function space and list, but also records, tagged variants, Abadi-Cardelli object constructors, top and bottom. We develop a general theory relating consistency, solvability, and solution of sets of constraints between regular types built over Helly posets with these constructors, and introduce semantic notions of simplification and entailment for sets of constraints over Helly posets of base types. We extend Helly posets with inequalities of the form a <= tau, where tau is not necessarily atomic, and show how this enables us to deal with bounded quantification. Using bounded quantification we define a subtyping system which combines structural subtype polymorphism and predicative parametric polymorphism, and use this to extend with subtyping the type system of Laufer and Odersky for ML with type annotations. We define a complete algorithm which infers minimal types for our extension, using factorisations, solutions of subtyping problems analogous to principal unifiers for unification problems. We give some examples of typings computed by a prototype implementation.

The studies described herein relate to the co-ordination chemistry of l,3,5-tris(trifluoromethyl)benzene, Ar(^F)H. The unique combination of steric bulk and a highly electron-withdrawing nature found in the a- bound Ar(^F) ligand has already been exploited to stabilise a variety of unusual main group compounds including the surprisingly air- and moisture-stable diphosphene Ar(^F)P=Par(^F). Other examples are discussed in the introductory chapter, as is the increasingly active area of diphosphene research. Chapter 2 describes the synthesis and structural characterisation of six early σ-Ar(^F) transition metal complexes, Mo(N(^t)Bu)(_2)(Ar(^F))2, Cr(NAd)(_2)(Ar(^F))(_2), [Mo(NAr)(_2)(Ar(^F))Cl-LiCl(dme)](_2), V(Ar(^F))(_2)Cl(thf), V(Ar(^F))(_3)-O -Li(thf)(_3) and Cr(Ar(^F))(_2)(PMe(_3))(_2). The first five of these compounds exhibit the rare phenomenon of weak metal-fluorine interactions, which is discussed in terms of several structural factors such as tilting of the aryl ring towards the direction of the M-F interaction The co-ordination chemistry of the diphosphenes Ar(^F)p=PArF, Ar*P=PAr* and Ar*P=PArF (Ar* = 2,4,6-(^t)BuC6H3) is reported in chapter 3. Ar(^F)p=Par(^F) is shown to displace olefins from a bis(imido)molybdenum centre to generate complexes such as Mo(NR)(_2)(PMe)(_3)(Ti2-ArFp=PArF) (R = tBu, 2,6-iPr2C6H3). The crystal structure of Mo(NtBu)2(PMe)3(Ti2- ArFp=PArF) has been elucidated. Related investigations have focused on the co-ordination mode of the diphosphenes Ar*P=PAr* and Ar*P=PArFwith [Pt(PEt3)Cl2]2/ and a variety of Til-complexes has been spectroscopically observed. The development of phosphorus based analogue of the industrially important olefin metathesis reaction is detailed in chapter 4. The reaction of ArPCl2, [Ar = Ar(^F), Ar* and 2,6-(CF3)2-C6H3 (Ar(^f1)] with the halide abstractor W(PMe3)6 leads to the generation of ArP=PAr via a postulated [W]=PAr phosphinidene intermediate. The unsymmetrical diphosphene ArFp=PAr* has been synthesised analogously from a mixture of ArFPCl2 and Ar*PCl2 with W(PMe3)6- When Ar is small (2,4,6-iPr3C6H2, 2,4,6- Me3C6H2), ArPCl2 reacts with W(PMe3)6 to give three-membered tricyclophosphanes, [ArP](_3) π-bound complexes of the Ar(^F)H ligand have been synthesised via metal vapour synthesis experiments, carried out in collaboration with Prof. F.G.N. Cloke at Sussex University. Chapter 5 describes the preparation of the bis-arene complexes M(T|6-ArFH)2 (M=Cr, V, Nb) and Ru(Ti6-ArFH)(Ti4-ArFH).Full experimental details and characterising data for chapters 2-5 are collected in chapter 6.

Social anxiety disorder (SAD) is one of the most common and impairing disorders in adolescence, particularly for girls, and remains one of the most challenging disorders to treat. A better understanding of the mechanisms supporting the development of SAD in adolescence is important for identifying new targets for intervention. Emerging research and theory rooted in a neurobiological susceptibility to social context framework suggest that interactions between neural reward function and adverse social environments are key for understanding the etiology of SAD. Backed by this research and theory, this project employed ecologically-valid methods at multiple levels of analysis to examine how perceptions of socially threatening interactions with peers in daily life (assessed using ecological momentary assessment) interact with neural reward function to confer risk for social anxiety symptoms in 129 girls (ages 11-13) at temperamental risk for SAD. In support of the primary hypothesis, activation in the basolateral amygdala (BLA) to the anticipation of socially rewarding (vs. neutral) feedback interacted with daily social threat at baseline to predict social anxiety symptom severity two years later. A positive association between social threat and social anxiety symptoms was only seen for girls with high BLA activity. Findings were specific to the BLA (vs. a more distributed social reward network) and to neural activation to social reward (vs. threat) anticipation. Unexpectedly, interactions between daily social threat and BLA activation to social reward anticipation at baseline also predicted symptoms of generalized anxiety and depression two years later, suggesting that these processes may serve as transdiagnostic risk factors for internalizing disorders. Findings suggest that socially threatening experiences are particularly detrimental during adolescence for youth highly sensitive to reward contingencies, potentially due to effects on reward learning processes. More generally, results add to a growing literature highlighting the importance of neural reward function in the development of social anxiety and other internalizing disorders during adolescence.

Adolescence is associated with increases in sensitivity to social evaluation, which may be supported by normative developmental changes in brain function. However, heightened neural reactivity to negative social evaluation, such as peer rejection, may place adolescents at increased risk for social anxiety. The present study used novel, ecologically valid methods to test the hypothesis that heightened neural reactivity to peer rejection is associated with symptoms of social anxiety in early adolescent girls. Further, we examined whether this association might be explained by heightened emotional reactivity to social threat in daily life. Ninety-nine adolescent girls (ages 11-13 years) oversampled for shy/fearful temperament, a risk factor for future social anxiety, completed a 16-day ecological momentary assessment protocol in which they reported on their emotional responses to daily negative experiences with peers (i.e., daily experiences of social threat). Following this assessment, girls completed a social interactive task, in which they were accepted or rejected by their peers and completed control trials, in a magnetic resonance imaging scanner. Girls also reported on their social anxiety symptoms. Brain regions that activated significantly to peer rejection relative to either peer acceptance or a control were tested as predictors of social anxiety symptoms and daily experiences of social threat. Associations between neural activation to peer rejection (relative to acceptance or a control) and social anxiety symptoms were not supported. However, activation in the left caudate nucleus to peer rejection (relative to a control) was significantly associated with daily experiences of social threat, and a significant indirect effect of daily experiences of social threat on the association between left caudate activation to peer rejection and social anxiety symptoms was found. These associations were not significantly moderated by perceived friendship quality or pubertal status. Findings may suggest that adolescent girls with higher caudate activity to rejection are more likely to attend to and recall social threatening interactions, and that greater recall of social threat is associated with social anxiety. However, the cross-sectional design limits any causal interpretations that can be drawn from the indirect effect model. Future research is needed to test these questions using a longitudinal design.

Introduction: Implants placed at variable depths may vary the amount of visible scannable surface of a scan body. Intraoral scanner technology uses advanced optical principles to record the surface of the scan body to accurately capture the implant position. Purpose: To investigate the effect implant placement depth has on the accuracy of digital implant impressions using an intraoral scanner. Materials & Methods: A partially edentulous gypsum master model was fabricated to allow the positioning of a single implant analog at different depths. Four groups based on the planned implant depths of 0, 3, 6 and 7mm and corresponding visibility of the scan body at 9, 6, 3 and 2mm were created. The model was digitized with a laboratory scanner for the reference scan and with an intraoral scanner to generate 15 test scans per group. The test scans were superimposed onto the reference scan using the best fit algorithm to analyze and measure the positional (dXYZ) and angular deviation (d⍬) of the scan body using 3D metrology software. Statistical analysis was performed using a One way ANOVA and pairwise comparison was done with a Tukey-Kramer HSD test. (α= .05) Results:The one-way analysis of variance of the groups for the dXYZ and d⍬ parameters was statistically significant (P Conclusions: The accuracy of digital impressions is influenced by the implant depth and the amount of visibility of the scan body. The trueness and precision of the digital impressions are highest when the implant is placed at 0mm depth with complete visibility of the scan body and decreases with subgingival implant placement.

Ischemic stroke is a leading cause of adult disability, which presents a pressing need for a pharmacological therapy. Emerging literature suggests that after a stroke, the peri-infarct region exhibits dynamic changes in excitability. The acute ischemic phase triggers glutamate-mediated excitotoxic neuronal death. On the contrary, during the chronic phase, when the brain begins to repair itself, it displays heightened neuroplasticity that also resembles the neuronal developmental stages. However, this recovery is incomplete. Thus, promoting cortical excitability during the repair and recovery phase could potentially be therapeutic. Brevetoxin-2 (PbTx-2), a voltage-gated sodium channel (VGSC) modifier, increases intracellular sodium ([Na+]i), upregulates N-methyl-d-aspartate receptors (NMDAR) channel activity, and engages activity-dependent downstream calcium (Ca2+) signaling pathways. In immature cerebrocortical neurons, PbTx-2 promoted neuronal structural plasticity by increasing neurite outgrowth, dendritogenesis and synaptogenesis. This led us to hypothesize that PbTx-2 could promote structural remodeling of neural networks in the peri-infarct site and subsequently promote functional outcomes after stroke. In the current study, we have investigated this phenomenon using adult male transgenic yellow fluorescent protein expressing (YFP) mice by providing an epicortical application of PbTx-2 five days after inducing a photothrombotic stroke. We show that PbTx-2 enhanced dendritic arbor complexity and excitatory synapse density of the cortical layer V pyramidal neurons in the peri-infarct cortex. Consistent with increased neuronal plasticity, PbTx-2 also produced a robust gain of motor recovery. Collectively, our results identify an activity-dependent pharmacologic strategy to promote recovery from stroke and possibly other brain injuries.

Natural gas price has plummeted due to shale gas production booming which causes excessive capacity. Therefore, countries such as the U.S., Australia, Indonesia, Malaysia, and others with high natural gas production are searching for practical and profitable ways of transporting and utilizing natural gas. There are five major technologies used in the transportation of natural gas namely: pipelines, Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG), Gas-to-Liquid (GTL), Compressed Natural Gas (CNG), and Gas-to-Wire (GTW) or power generation. In this thesis, the economic metrics evaluations are performed in comparing LNG to GTL. These economic metrics are Net Present Value (NPV), Internal Rate of Return (IRR), Profitability Index (PI), and Payback Period. A Monte Carlo simulation approach is used to evaluate economic metrics on various parameters such as feed gas price, plant capacity, carbon, and thermal efficiency, capital expenditure (CAPEX), operational expenditure (OPEX), products prices, transportations, tax rate, and discount rate. Sensitivity analysis shows NPV, IRR, PI and payback period for LNG are most affected by CAPEX, products selling price, Feed gas price, and efficiency of the plant, in respective order. For GTL project, the most affected parameters are product price, thermal efficiency, and CAPEX. A low, base and high case scenario for each parameter is used in evaluating the economic metrics. Based on these case scenarios and parameters show that the LNG project is profitable and attractive when a plant capacity is 4.25 MTPA. In contrast, the GTL project is more profitable and attractive for a small-scale plant. In other words, depending on the natural gas reserves volume LNG plant option might be more attractive than GTL or vice versa. A small-scale GTL project appears to be a good option for an excessive natural gas production like Bakken Field where the average flaring gas is 527 MMcfd. A large-scale LNG plant would be a better option for Timor-Leste where the volume of natural gas reserves in Greater-Sunrise field is approximately 9.5 Tcf. These comparisons are done for best-case-scenario where the CAPEX and feed gas price are low and product price is medium to high. The best and profitable case-scenario for LNG project is when the CAPEX is US$1,500/TPA, the product price should be higher than US$13/MMBtu, and feed gas price should be lower than US$2.80/Mcf. This best-case-scenario yields profitable economic metrics, but the optimal option is to have LNG plant with a capacity of 4.25 MTPA. Above 4.25 MTPA, the IRR is low and below that capacity, the IRR is remained flat as 4.25 MTPA. Additionally, best-case-scenario for GTL is when CAPEX is lower than US$45,000/bpd and product price is higher than US$156/bbl. Even though this is the best-case-scenario but a large capacity of GTL project such as 50,000 bpd for Bakken Field yields an unprofitable economic metrics. However, this best-case-scenario does generate a profitable and attractive result for smaller-scale GTL plant capacity of 500 to 1,000 bpd. In conclusion, the best option for Bakken field is to build several 1,000 bpd GTL plants in parallel to minimize the natural gas flaring in North Dakota. On the other hand, the best option to develop Greater Sunrise field is to build 4.25 MTPA LNG plant and additional numbers of GTL plants with a capacity of 1,000 bpd. This option yields NPV of US$9.3 Million, 9.4 percent IRR, 1.2 PI, and 6.7 years of the payback period. In addition, the 1,000 bpd GTL plant yields US$238 Million of NPV, 14 percent IRR, 1.7 PI, and 5.5 years of the payback period for each GTL plant.

My dissertation argues that, during the second decade of the twentieth century, adolescent girls helped shape America's film fan culture. Though many film histories address the contributions of female audiences during the silent era, seldom are girls recognized as an independent and vital target demographic. In my dissertation, I propose that seminal conceptions of affective movie fandom and film consumption are interlaced with the emergence of a new life- stage: that of female adolescence. In 1904, American psychologist G. Stanley Hall defined adolescent girls as highly susceptible, romantic, and rabid consumers. A decade later, popular newspapers and fan magazines represented the typical "movie-mad" fan as a white female consumer in her teens. Surveying early-twentieth-century psychology and educational literature in tandem with press depictions of screen-struck girlhood, I propose that the birth of a commercial film fan culture is intrinsically linked with the rise of female adolescence.However, I also suggest that the relationship established between the first generation of adolescent girls and a burgeoning film industry was rather complex and symbiotic. Exploring the letters girls sent to the press in tandem with their unpublished fan archives--private movie scrapbooks, journals, collages, and correspondence--my work sets out to document the voices of the first movie girl fans. To reclaim a marginalized history of girl agency and authorship, I privilege previously unexamined autobiographical materials--such as personal diaries, published collages, and suicide notes--authored both by individual girl fans and girls-only film collectives during the 1910s. By examining girls' first-person fan testimonies side by side press representations of movie-loving girlhood, my research seeks to challenge a long-standing, albeit constructed notion, that early Hollywood was built fundamentally on male agency and mature labor. Marked by material loss, much of our contemporary understanding of American silent cinema has been biased by surviving accounts relayed by renowned filmmakers and film critics, most of them adult males. However, as my archival research evinces, during this transitional decade adolescent girls' fan practices, their affect, and their craft labor importantly impacted the ways American film was produced, promoted, and consumed.

IMPORTANCE: With greater access to health care through health care reform it is important to know if quality of care for similar complaints differs across clinical settings. OBJECTIVE: Develop and pilot a chart review instrument to measure quality of care for patients presenting with urethritis and vaginitis. METHODS: List of sexually transmitted infection (STI) quality of care measures was reviewed by a panel of five STI experts representing Emergency Department (ED), Obstetrics/Gynecology (Ob/Gyn), Family Medicine (FM), Primary Care (PC) and Infectious Disease. Panel members grouped each measure into “standard” or “exceeds standard of care” in evaluation and management of male patients with penile discharge/dysuria or female patients with vaginal discharge. The chart review instrument was piloted on 50 charts per gender from the STI Clinic and matched charts, by patient presenting complaint, age, gender, and visit date, from PC, FM, ED, and Ob/Gyn (for vaginal discharge) in the same large safety-net hospital in Massachusetts. RESULTS: Twenty-four and 34 final measures in male and female patients, respectively, were selected on plurality of expert panel member’s categorization into “standard of care”. Measures were grouped into 7 clinical domains: history, examination, laboratory testing, additional screening, assessment, treatment, and counseling. Performance on the 7 domains ranged from 3.16-4.36 on male patients and 3.17-4.40 on female patients, with the highest scores in the STI Clinic. However, each clinical setting had particular documentation strengths and weaknesses: STI Clinic scored higher on laboratory testing, additional screening, and counseling, but scored lower on examination and assessment; ED scored higher on examination and treatment; PC and FM scored higher on laboratory testing for male patients and on examination and treatment for female patients; Ob/Gyn scored higher on treatment. All sites other than the STI Clinic scored poorly on additional screening and counseling. CONCLUSIONS: An instrument to discern standard of care and identify strengths and weaknesses in specific domains of clinical documentation for patients presenting with STI complaints can be rapidly developed and implemented to evaluate quality of care across care settings. Further research is needed on whether these findings can be integrated into site-specific quality improvement processes and linked to cost analyses.