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The importance of bridging diverse worldviews and knowledge systems to enhance conservation outcomes is increasingly recognized. Yet, the cultural, social and political dimensions of ecosystems are still largely overlooked in conservation sciences, following the premisses of prevalent nature:culture dichotomies within managerialist approaches. Building from an interrogation of the ontological and epistemological limitations of ecosystem assessment frameworks, namely Ecosystem Services (ES) and Nature's Contributions to People (NCP), this thesis elaborates the potential role of Cultural Ecosystem Assessments to foster culturally adequate, socially equitable and ecologically sustainable conservation responses. As ecosystem assessments are influential frameworks to diagnose environmental issues and inform conservation strategies, recognizing the shortcomings of monetary valuations and biodiversity offsetting strategies requires discarding their economic frameworks and develop relational and place-based approaches to human-environment relationships which support struggles for environmental justice. Thus, enquiring which overlooked dimensions of human-environment relationships need to be considered and how can these be systematically integrated in ecosystem assessments, this thesis seeks to develop a framework for Cultural Ecosystem Assessments which conveys the context-specific dimensions of human-environment relationships, unveils their influence on complex social-ecological dynamics and assists developing effective, equitable and representative community-based strategies for the conservation of biocultural diversity. Following an inductive approach, based on ethnographic and interpretive mixed methods research, the thesis explores the cultural, political and storied landscapes of local human-environment relationships in two contrasting case-studies: first, with local and indigenous communities in the Peruvian Amazon; and, second, with the provisional multi-ethnic communities of Ascension Island, in the South Atlantic. The results provide supporting evidence that (1) cultural practices (e.g. land management), benefits (e.g. identities) and values (e.g. ethical principles) are interdependent and mediate the co-production of all 'ecosystem services'; (2) relational values convey distinct articulations of reciprocity in human-environment relationships that regulate feedback processes between the social and ecological systems; (3) local and indigenous knowledge systems influence all dimensions of human-environment relationships, including cultural modes of production, consumption, representation and regulation of ecological processes; and (4) considering the sociocultural and spatio-temporal variability of human-environment relationships, including underlying social structures and power relationships, reveals the unequal social and geographical distribution of 'ecosystem services' supply and demand. The analysis demonstrates that Cultural Ecosystem Assessments may contribute to disclose complex socio-ecological dynamics from local to global scale, including ecosystem services flows, drivers of social and ecological change, feedback processes and emergent regulation mechanisms. Then, through developing a biocultural and relational approach to socio-ecological systems, the thesis advances a conceptual, analytical and methodological framework for Cultural Ecosystem Assessments which contributes to address key knowledge gaps in sustainability sciences, by revealing: (1) the role of diverse worldviews, knowledge systems and relational values influencing the co-production of ES/NCP and shaping wider socio-ecological dynamics; (2) the influence of social structures, governance systems and power relationships in the distribution of ES/NCP and their role driving socio-ecological changes; (3) the unequal social and geographical distribution of ES/NCP supply and demand which underlies ES/NCP flows both within and across regions and society; and (4) the spatial and temporal dynamics of socio-ecological change, including trade-offs between distinct ES/NCP, feedback process and direct or indirect drivers of socio-ecological change. Ultimately, the framework recasts ecosystem assessments around context-specific perspectives, fostering assessments' ability to bridge diverse worldviews and knowledge systems, support struggles for environmental justice and inform community-based strategies for the conservation of biocultural diversity.

The purpose of this qualitative case study was to investigate the effectiveness of remote teacher preparation during the COVID-19 pandemic, specifically special education teachers participating at an Intern Credentialing Program in Northern California. In addition to remote teacher preparation, the study explored how intern teachers experienced delivering special services remotely, how they perceived the Intern Program prepared them compared to traditional programs, and how they experienced their preparation to become agents of change in public education. Data for this study was collected through field journals, surveys and interviews. The findings of this study revealed that Intern Teachers experienced remote Teacher Education as having more benefits than challenges, however the delivery of services to students with disabilities had more challenges than benefits. The interviews indicated that the Intern Teachers believe they are not well prepared to be agents of change. Implications of the study include recommendations to continue teacher education remotely, to develop a tool to determine student benefit from delivery of special services remotely, and to add to teacher education programs curriculum and activities that support diversity, inclusion, and belonging in the classroom through the frameworks of Emancipatory Pedagogies, Critical Race Theory, Culturally Relevant Pedagogy, Culturally Sustaining Pedagogy and Discrit. [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.]

Uninsured risk leaves poor households in developing countries vulnerable to serious negative shocks hard to cope with, and forces them to engage in costly risk management strategies to hedge against their occurrence. Although mutual support networks have long existed, they are ill-suited to protect against covariate or catastrophic risks. Grounded in a strong rationale, insurance has however failed to fulfil its potential, plagued by serious informational and enforcement problems. Nevertheless, in recent years a new form of index-based insurance has arisen as a promising instrument to deliver formal coverage, overcoming the mentioned issues through its particular design. Yet index insurance is not without problems, its key limitation is the imperfect correlation between index and losses (i.e. basis risk), a problem that partially explains the low demand it has been met with. Some recent papers argue that informal risk sharing can complement the coverage of index insurance, by partially absorbing basis risk. However, the possibility that pre-existing risk-sharing arrangements hamper formal insurance uptake cannot be dismissed. To shed light on this relationship and the future of index insurance, the paper investigates how the provision of formal insurance interacts with pre-existing risk-sharing arrangements, employing experimental evidence from a rural area in eastern Uganda. We contribute by varying exogenously actual risk sharing-to study its effect on insurance demand-and insurance characteristics-to test whether this effect varies depending on the type of insurance. In addition, we investigate the influence that the provision of formal insurance exerts on risk sharing behaviour. We find that anticipated informal risk sharing crowds out demand for index insurance, but does not affect indemnity insurance uptake. This result is partly explained by the risk sharing behaviour observed.

The research carried out in this thesis concerns two important class of stationary surfaces in Differential Geometry, namely isoperimetric surfaces and index one minimal surfaces. The former are solutions of the so called isoperimetric problem, which is to determine the regions of least perimeter among regions of same volume in a given manifold. The latter are critical points of the area functional with Morse index one, i.e., minimal surfaces which admits only one direction where the surface can be deformed so to decrease its area. These are usually constructed via mountain pass arguments. This work focus on the study of these objects when the ambient space is a 3-dimensional spherical space forms, i.e., space form with positive curvature. Our main results classify, at the level of topology, such stationary surfaces in the spherical space forms with large fundamental group. Our first result proves that the solutions of the isoperimetric problem in spherical space forms with large fundamental group are either spheres or tori. It was previously known that solutions with genus zero and one are respectively totally umbilical and flat. Combining our result and this geometric description, we derive that the solutions of the isoperimetric problem are either geodesic spheres or quotients of Clifford tori. Our second result proves that orientable minimal surfaces with index one in the aforementioned spherical space forms have genus at most two. This is a sharp estimate as one can use the continuous one-parameter min-max theory to construct in every 3-dimensional spherical space form an index one minimal surface with genus equal the Heegaard genus of such space which is known to be at most two. Our result confirms a conjecture of R. Schoen for an infinite class of 3-manifolds.

The development of clinical treatment protocols for particle therapy depends on the availability and quality of radiobiological data. Studying available commercial and in-house phantoms, showed that the current solutions either lack dosimetry or this dosimetry introduces uncertainties to the biological results. Therefore new radiobiological tools with improved dosimetry response were required. The chosen material, the effect of detectors uncertainties and the impact of detectors? positions were studied so the effect of the introduced uncertainties in the measurements could be evaluated. The phantom was subsequently tested at different experiments with both protons and carbon ion beams where a number of dose fields were simulated and delivered. Simulated and measured doses were compared to establish accuracy of simulation. Finally, a clonogenic survival assay was performed to assess the viability and capabilities of the phantom. No disturbance was introduced in the cell region by the detectors where 95.3% of the cases were within the 95% confidence level. Additionally, the detector measurements were free from any disturbance arising from the adjacent detectors (sigma 0.76). When evaluating the simulation accuracy, a good agreement was obtained between measurements and dose modelling where the average dose deviation was between 1.05% and 2.39%. Superior effectiveness was obtained for protons and carbon ions in respect to X-rays (1.2 and 2 times for protons and carbon ions respectively) and the phantom was able to correlate the cell survival and dose deposition. Concluding, these results showed that the phantom limitations were accounted for which enabled the measured physical dose and the dosimetry in the cell compartment to be correctly correlated. The results demonstrate the superior dosimetry obtained in respect to other set-ups either by correctly describing the dose profile (additional 1.5% mean deviation due to dose delivery uncertainties) or by not introducing uncertainties in the beam path (up to ± 2%).

The thesis presents a perceptual approach to audio-visual instrument design, composition and performance. The approach informs practical work as well as a parametric visualisation model, which can be used to analyse sensory dominance, sonic expression and spatial presence in any audio-visual performance language. The practical work intends for the image to function as a stage scene, which reacts to the music and allows for attention to focus on the relation between the sounds themselves. This is challenging, because usually vision dominates over audition. To clarify the problem, the thesis extrapolates from audio-visual theory, psychology, neuroscience, interaction design and musicology. The investigations lead to three creative principles, which inform the design of an instrument that combines a custom zither and audio-visual 3D software. The instrument uses disparities between the acoustic and digital outputs so as to explore those creative principles: a) to threshold the performerʼs control over the instrument and the instrumentʼs unpredictability, in ways that convey musical expression; b) to facilitate perceptual simplification of visual dynamics; c) to create an audio-visual relationship that produces a sense of causation, and simultaneously confounds the cause and effect relationships. This latter principle is demonstrated with a study on audio-visual mapping and perception, whose conclusions are equally applicable to the audio-visual relationship in space. Yet importantly, my creative decisions are not driven by demonstrative aims. Regarding the visual dynamics, the initial creative work assures perceptual simplification, but the final work exposes a gray area that respects to how the audienceʼs attention might change over time. In any case, the parametric visualisation model can reveal how any audio-visual performance work might converge or diverge from these three creative principles. It combines parameters for interaction, sonic & visual dynamics, audio-visual relationship, physical performance setup and semantics. The parameters for dynamics and semantics reflect how stimuli inform attention at a particular timescale. The thesis uses the model to analyse a set of audio-visual performance languages, to represent my solo performance work from a creative perspective, and to visualise the workʼs versatility in collaboration with other musicians.

Schizophrenia is a severe psychiatric disorder that affects more than twenty-one million people worldwide, contributing significantly to the global burden of disease. A growing body of genetic, epigenetic and epidemiological evidence suggests that schizophrenia has its origins during neurodevelopment and that dysregulation of the immune system and infection may play a role in disease etiology. Twin and family studies have highlighted a considerable heritable component to schizophrenia; however the role of genetic variation in the etiology of the disorder is complex. In the majority of cases, susceptibility is attributed to the combined action of multiple common genetic risk variants of low penetrance. Improved understanding about the biology of the genome has led to increased interest in the role of non-sequence-based variation in the etiology of neurodevelopmental phenotypes, including schizophrenia. The notion that epigenetic processes and gene expression dysregulation are involved in the onset of schizophrenia is supported by recent studies of disease-discordant monozygotic twins, clinical sample cohorts, and post-mortem brain tissue. To date, however, studies characterizing schizophrenia-associated methylomic and transcriptomic variation in the brain have been limited by small sample number or the assessment of a single brain region. The main aim of this thesis was to undertake a comprehensive study of genomic variation across four brain regions in schizophrenia. The results provide further support for a neurodevelopmental origin to schizophrenia, as well as a role of the immune system on schizophrenia etiology. My analyses also suggest that epigenetic variation associated with polygenic burden for schizophrenia might play a role in the disease. In summary, the work presented in this thesis represents the first analysis of epigenetic and gene expression variation associated with schizophrenia across multiple brain regions and highlights the utility of polygenic risk scores for identifying molecular pathways associated with etiological variation in complex disease.

In the United Kingdom, it is not uncommon to find Departments or Schools of English which bring together researchers working in the fields of English Language and Literature. With a view to checking the extent to which knowledge in these two areas is conveyed in similar ways, the present research examines the genre of doctoral thesis, which is generally regarded as a graduate’s first contribution to scholarship. This investigation therefore addresses two gaps in the existing literature on academic discourse analysis by investigating a genre and two disciplines which have not been sufficiently examined so far. The empirical approach adopted here is grounded on Corpus Linguistics. Lor this reason, two specialized corpora - totaling 40 texts and 2.9 million words - were compiled, allowing for a thorough analysis of the registers of Language and Literature theses. These corpora were probed by means of statistical tests, a multidimensional approach and the key-key-word technique in order to provide a comprehensive account of the structural elements, functional dimensions and semantic groups which are characteristic of thesis writing in English Language and Literature. While the registers may seem to diverge only in respect to the disciplines, the findings of the present study show that register differences are not restricted to the expression of discipline-related concepts. The writing of Language and Literature graduates also varies in relation to how they claim to be credible researchers, and to how they structure their written texts. It is suggested that the pedagogical implications of these dissimilar register configurations should be explored in the future so that doctoral candidates may be provided with discipline-specific guidance on thesis writing.

Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is associated with a complex state of immune dysfunction characterised by immune depression, which predisposes CKD patients to infections, and by immune activation resulting in inflammation, which is associated with cardiovascular disease among these patients. It has been suggested that regular moderate exercise may enhance immune function and exert anti-inflammatory effects. However, such effects are still unclear in CKD. Therefore, we investigated the effects of acute and regular (1-month and 6-months) moderate intensity aerobic exercise (walking) on measures of immunity and inflammation in pre-dialysis CKD patients. A single bout of walking exercise induced an overall immune and inflammatory response that was comparable to that observed in healthy individuals, with no indication of harmful effects to patients underlying state of immune dysfunction. Acute exercise induced a normal pattern of mobilisation of immune cells. Concerning immune cell function, acute exercise had no effect on T lymphocyte and monocyte activation, while it actually improved neutrophil responsiveness to a bacterial challenge in the recovery period. In addition, acute exercise induced a systemic anti-inflammatory environment, evidenced by the marked elevation in plasma IL-10 levels after exercise, which was most likely mediated by the observed increase in plasma IL-6 levels. Regular walking exercise exerted anti-inflammatory effects, with no apparent detrimental effects to patients immune and inflammatory status. Regular exercise led to improvements in the systemic inflammatory status (ratio of pro-inflammatory IL-6 to anti-inflammatory IL-10 cytokine levels) that were accompanied, and most likely mediated, by the observed down-regulation of T lymphocyte (only evident at 6-months) and monocyte activation. In addition, a reduction in IL-6 production in PBMC and whole blood cultures was also observed (only assessed at 1-month). Regular exercise had no effect on circulating immune cell numbers and neutrophil degranulation responses. These findings provide compelling evidence that walking exercise is safe from an immune and inflammatory perspective and has the potential to be an effective anti- inflammatory therapy in pre-dialysis CKD patients.

Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs) are a priority of many health services. Chlamydia Trachomatis (Chlamydia) is one of the most common STIs in the world. Chlamydia can have serious consequences for men and women in the form of infertility and particularly in women has been associated with Pelvic Inflammatory Disease (PID). A System Dynamics (SD) model of Chlamydia prevalence has been constructed to evaluate different screening strategies. The SD model incorporates risk groups, ageing, gender, heterosexual and homosexual relationships and migration in and out of the area of interest. A Discrete Event Simulation (DES) model has been constructed of the Genito-urinary Medicine (GUM) department at St Mary’s Hospital, Portsmouth, the department that treats patients presenting with STIs to enable healthcare professionals evaluate different GUM configurations. A composite model has been developed in which the SD model provides the demand (number of patients) to be treated in the GUM DES model each month. The DES model transforms the demand generated by the SD model into patient arrival patterns based on historically recorded data. The DES model processes the demand based on its current configuration and provides the number of treated patients back to the SD model. The DES model and the SD model can be run independently as stand-alone models or in the composite state through a simple Excel user interface. Results from each model are presented and model development discussed. The simulation models were developed in close collaboration with healthcare professionals. The models were informed by other methodologies including: regression analysis of socioeconomic data, geographical referencing of infection data and a behavioural survey to identify behaviours associated with STI infection

The natural inactivation of enteric pathogens in soil is a critical component of the multi-barrier approach to prevent infectious disease in humans by enteric microorganisms when biosolids are used as a fertiliser and soil conditioner on agricultural land. The addition of biosolids to agricultural soil modifies the soil microbial community and ecological interactions. Ecological processes, especially the activities of predatory protozoa, may have a critical role in reducing the survival of enteric pathogenic bacteria when biosolids are applied to agricultural soil. To test this hypothesis a series of field experiments were established on two soils of contrasting organic matter content and fertility status, amended with different sludge types, to examine the interactions between the soil microbial biomass, total protozoa numbers, environmental and soil factors and their effects on the decay of the enteric indicator bacteria, Escherichia coli, in biosolids-amended soil. Soil microbial biomass carbon (SMBC) concentrations were influenced by soil physico-chemical properties and, in particular, larger background biomass concentrations were measured in unamended control soil containing the largest amount of organic matter. The microbiological content and substrate availability of the supplied materials also influenced the extent of the increases in SMBC. Soil protozoa numbers consistently increased in both experimental field soils from background values of 3-3.5 log10 g-1 ds to 4-4.5 log10 g-1 ds after sludge application. The extent of the increase was consistent with the effect of the organic amendments on SMBC. Laboratory investigations indicated the direct involvement of bacteriophagous protozoa activity in the soil ecological processes responsible for E. coli inactivation in biosolidsamended agricultural soil. This was linked to the addition of an active protozoa population to the soil in sludge, as well as to the stimulation of protozoa indigenous to the soil due to inputs of substrates and microbial biomass in sludge. Consequently, the survival of enteric organisms is a self-limiting process, due to the stimulation of microbial predatory activity in amended soil. Overall, the results provide assurance that assumptions relating to soil decay during waiting periods stipulated for agricultural use of sludge are highly conservative. They also confirm that the cropping/harvesting restrictions prescribed in legislation and guidance controlling the application of biosolids on farmland allow the natural attenuation of pathogens to protect human health with a significant margin of safety.

Skin cancer is the most frequent malignant neoplasm for Caucasian individuals. According to the Skin Cancer Foundation, the incidence of melanoma, the most malignant of skin tumours, and resultant mortality, have increased exponentially during the past 30 years, and continues to grow. [1]. Although often intractable in advanced stages, skin cancer in general and melanoma in particular, if detected in an early stage, can achieve cure ratios of over 95% [1,55]. Early screening of the lesions is, therefore, crucial, if a cure is to be achieved. Most skin lesions classification systems rely on a human expert supported dermatoscopy, which is an enhanced and zoomed photograph of the lesion zone. Nevertheless and although contrary claims exist, as far as is known by the author, classification results are currently rather inaccurate and need to be verified through a laboratory analysis of a piece of the lesion’s tissue. The aim of this research was to design and implement a system that was able to automatically classify skin spots as inoffensive or dangerous, with a small margin of error; if possible, with higher accuracy than the results achieved normally by a human expert and certainly better than any existing automatic system. The system described in this thesis meets these criteria. It is able to capture an unconstrained image of the affected skin area and extract a set of relevant features that may lead to, and be representative of, the four main classification characteristics of skin lesions: Asymmetry; Border; Colour; and Diameter. These relevant features are then evaluated either through a Bayesian statistical process - both a simple k-Nearest Neighbour as well as a Fuzzy k-Nearest Neighbour classifier - a Support Vector Machine and an Artificial Neural Network in order to classify the skin spot as either being a Melanoma or not. The characteristics selected and used through all this work are, to the author’s knowledge, combined in an innovative manner. Rather than simply selecting absolute values from the images characteristics, those numbers were combined into ratios, providing a much greater independence from environment conditions during the process of image capture. Along this work, image gathering became one of the most challenging activities. In fact several of the initially potential sources failed and so, the author had to use all the pictures he could find, namely on the Internet. This limited the test set to 136 images, only. Nevertheless, the process results were excellent. The algorithms developed were implemented into a fully working system which was extensively tested. It gives a correct classification of between 76% and 92% – depending on the percentage of pictures used to train the system. In particular, the system gave no false negatives. This is crucial, since a system which gave false negatives may deter a patient from seeking further treatment with a disastrous outcome. These results are achieved by detecting precise edges for every lesion image, extracting features considered relevant according to the giving different weights to the various extracted features and submitting these values to six classification algorithms – k-Nearest Neighbour, Fuzzy k-Nearest Neighbour, Naïve Bayes, Tree Augmented Naïve Bayes, Support Vector Machine and Multilayer Perceptron - in order to determine the most reliable combined process. Training was carried out in a supervised way – all the lesions were previously classified by an expert on the field before being subject to the scrutiny of the system. The author is convinced that the work presented on this PhD thesis is a valid contribution to the field of skin cancer diagnostics. Albeit its scope is limited – one lesion per image – the results achieved by this arrangement of segmentation, feature extraction and classification algorithms showed this is the right path to achieving a reliable early screening system. If and when, to all these data, values for age, gender and evolution might be used as classification features, the results will, no doubt, become even more accurate, allowing for an improvement in the survival rates of skin cancer patients.

This study concerned the preparation, characterisation and evaluation of different proton conductors for the Reverse Water Gas Shift Reaction (RWGS) and their evaluation as electrolytes for Solid Oxide Fuel Cells (SOFC) under H₂ and O₂. Materials with both catalytic and conductive properties are of a great interest, as their use in electrocatalytical systems may be very important. Sr₃CaZr₀.₅Ta₁.₅O₈.₇₅ (SCZT), BaCe₀.₉Y₀.₁O₂.₉₅ (BCY10) and Ba₃Ca₁.₁₈Nb₁.₈₂O₈.₇₃ (BCN18), were the initial materials in this study. Thermogravimetric analysis under different atmospheres (5%H₂/Ar, Ar, 5%CO₂, etc), were performed on SCZT and BCN18; with both materials being shown to be stable under reducing and oxidising conditions. Conductivity measurements by two terminal a.c. impedance were also conducted on SCZT and BCN18 under oxidising and reducing atmospheres. As found in literature, BCN18 showed mixed conductivity; with electronic conductivity at high temperatures and pure ionic conductivity below 550ºC, This behaviour was shown in chapter 3, where the change on conduction process was observed upon different gas feeds. Its maximum conductivity values for the different atmospheres were: 8.50x10⁻⁵ S/cm (Dry 5%H₂/Ar at 200ºC), 4.24x10⁻⁴ S/cm (Wet 5%H₂/Ar at 500ºC) and 4.48x10⁻³ S/cm (Air at 900ºC). SCZT proton conducting behaviour was also measured (wet and dry 5%H₂/Ar). Exhibiting an order of magnitude higher in total conductivity upon hydration of the gas feed (σdry=1.01x10⁻⁶ and σwet=1.07x10⁻⁵ at 450ºC). The doping of barium cerate with Zr and Zn by Tao and Irvine, lead to a more stable and easily sinterable BaCe₀.₅Zr₀.₃Y₀.₁₆Zn₀.₀₄O₃ (BCZYZ). Following this work, the introduction of ZnO as a sintering aid to SCZT and BCN18 resulted in Sr₃CaZr₀.₄Ta₁.₅Zn₀.₁O₈.₇₅ (SCZTZ), and Ba₃(Ca₁.₁₈Nb₁.₇₀Zn₀.₁₂)O₈.₅₅ (BCNZ); with higher final densities (above 90% dense). As with BCN18, BCNZ also exhibited mixed conductivity; with higher total conductivity values than BCN18. A maximum of total conductivity of 1.85x10⁻³ S/cm at 900ºC for BCNZ was measured against 6.99x10⁻⁴ S/cm at 900ºC for BCN18. A change in conductivity process was observed when using air or wet 5%H₂/Ar, achieving a maximum of 3.85x10⁻⁴ S/cm at 400ºC when under wet hydrogen. All materials (as powders) have shown catalytic activity for the reverse water gas shift (RWGS) reaction, with the lowest conversion temperature onset at 400ºC for SCZT and a maximum conversion of CO₂ to CO of 42%, with circa 0.52 and 0.59 mmol/s.m² of CO produced at 900ºC by BCN18 and BCZYZ, respectively. No relation between mechanisms for the RWGS and σ for these materials were expected below 10% conversion, as no correlation was found between their activation energies. BCY10 as shown a partial decomposition when exposed to the RWGS reaction, for what BCZYZ After fuel cell testing under H₂ and O₂ both SCZTZ and BCNZ showed mixed conductivity. SCZTZ under different hydrogen partial pressures, exhibited a behaviour close to a pure proton conductor, however, when exposed to both reducing and oxidising conditions, its behaviour did not follow the theoretical values. On the other hand, BCNZ behaves as a pure ionic conductor below 500ºC; with increasing influence of the electronic conductivity on temperature increase. However, as seen for BCNZ conductivity data from 2 terminal a.c. impedance, below 650ºC wet 5%H₂ exhibited the highest conductivity values. This, in additions to the pure ionic conductive behaviour below 400ºC (from the effective ionic transport number), suggests that BCNZ becomes closer to a pure proton conductor with temperature decrease.

Aims: i) To determine the contribution of host factors such as drug use (DU) and apolipoprotein E (ApoE) genotype in the development of HIVE and HAD. ii) To investigate some histological changes relevant to HAD in drug users with different ApoE genotypes. Methods: Genotyping for ApoE was carried out in 312 individuals who were divided into five groups. Group I consisted of 64 normal controls, Group II consisted of 82 HIV negative drug users, Group III consisted of 38 presymptomatic HIV positive drug users (pre AIDS), Group IV consisted of 84 drug users with AIDS, Group V consisted of non drug users with AIDS (6 haemophiliacs and 38 men who have sex with men (MSM). Results: Analyses showed that the frequency of ApoE e2 allele in the HIV positive drug users (Groups III and IV taken together, n=122) was 14.3%. In contrast, the frequency for the ApoE e2 in groups I (n=64) and II (n=82) was 5.4% in each group and 8.2% in normal Scottish population (group VI, n=400). These differences were significant (X2=7.017, p<0.008, and X2=7.580, p<0.006, respectively). At the same time, the ApoE e3 allele for groups III and IV was found to be under represented when compared to the Scottish population (X2=9.695, p<0.0002). More detailed comparisons between different genotype subsets within the groups all gave results supportive of the main finding of ApoE e2 over representation. Group V showed no difference in ApoE genotype from the general population. CD4 and CD8 counts were found to be significantly higher in group IV compared with Group V. 53.9% Group IV individuals had CD4 counts above 50th percentile, in contrast to only 21.5% in individuals in group V (X2= 11.242, p<0.001). For CD8, 48.8% of the group IV cases had counts above the 50th percentile, while only 23.1% of group V were above (X2=8.740, p<0.003). The ApoE e3 allele was found negatively associated with CD8 counts (X2=5.063, p<0.02), but the positive association of ApoE e2 allele with CD8 counts did not reach significance (X2=3.593, p<0.058). The histological change which was most strongly associated with dementia was HIVE (X2=14.977, p<0.0005). The association of ApoE alleles with HIVE showed that ApoE e2 and e3 alleles were significantly with HIVE (X2= 4.007, p<0.05 and X2=5.090, p<0.02 respectively), although the direction of the association with the ApoE e3 allele was negative.

The thesis aims to bring together the combined knowledge and research currently available relating to Manuel Lopes and his literary production, and seeks to provide further insight into the testimony of the author Manuel Lopes and his role and purpose within the Claridade movement. The study analyses the everyday reality of the Cape Verde Islands, its people and lands, and this is compared with the author's fictional representation, the characters, the principal themes, the author's main preoccupation with his fellow islanders, his style, and his purpose of supplanting the traditional literary theme of emigration with a radically new but simple one: the option of staying on the islands. The seven chapters of this study start with a theoretical discussion introducing the history of Cape Verde, the phenomenon of emigration as a constant of everyday existence on the islands, the four major waves of this constant exodus and their causes and consequences. This is followed by a brief biographical portrait of the author and then a discussion of how his own experiences brought him to explore the facts of life on the islands and insert them into his central literary themes. The literary portrayal of these realities, setting man's great love for the land against the ambiguous call of emigration, would thus lead him to lay down the bases for a new definition of Cabo-verdianidade. This leads into a general discussion of the new Claridade generation of writers, of which Lopes was a major exponent. Chapter six presents an analysis of the work Chuva Braba focusing on the characters who influence the protagonist Mané Quim either for or against leaving, thus revealing a clear pattern whereby the main theme of emigration becomes a debate between Partir and Ficar, between an abandonment of the islands and a new sense of loyalty towards the land of their birth.

The study of the relationship between texture and the anisotropy of mechanical properties can lead to a better understanding of materials behaviour and, from this, to the development of conveniently textured materials so that their anisotropy can be utilized in an advantageous manner. In the present work mechanical properties, yield loci,formability parameters, earing and the stretching behaviour of a range of differently textured FCC and BCC materials were investigated both theoretically and expereimentally. The Crystallite Orientation Distribution. Function (CODF), expressed in terms of a series of spherical harmonics, waa used to provide a quantitative description of the textures. The crystallographic yield strength anisotropy was assessed via predicted lower bound and upper bound yield loci using both restricted and pencil glide deformation modes. Predicted formability parameters were obtained from the crystallographic upper bound loci. The contribution of individual orientation to the final yield behaviour was also analysed using single crystal yield loci. An experimental assessment of the anisotropy of plastic flow was made by means of both Knoop hardness measurements and tensile and plane-strain compression tests. From the latter, formability and hardening parameters were obtained and compared with the predicted behaviour. The earing behaviour of some FCC and BCC sheet materials was predicted using a crystallogaphic model based on yield locus data. Theoretical and experimental cup profiles of copper, aluminium and steel in different textural conditions were compared and analysed with respect to the influence of specific texture components. The strains reached by a metal sheet undar biaxial stretching before failure by localised necking may depend on the anisotropy of plastic flow. This is in turn a function of the sheet's texture. A quatitative model for the prediction of such limit.strains, based on the crystallographic upper bound yield loci, was developed. This was then used for the calculation of forming limit diagram (FLD) of copper and steels in different textural conditions. These results were compared with experimental limit strains obtained from a testing technique designed to reproduce closely the theoretical conditions. The work also contains a review of the relevant contributions in the areas of texture, yield loci, deep drawing, earing and stretching behaviour of sheet metals.

Analyses information flow deriving from technological agreements, in Brazil. TT is presented as a commercial, political, cultural and communication relationship between owners and receivers of new technologies. It focuses knowledge and information as important elements towards national tecnhnological development. Technical, legal and statistical documentation from INPI have been studied through 1979/1988 and 1989/1995 periods moreover plans and programs from Brazil’s cientific and tecnhological policies. Literature review has allowed raising up factors and variables related to TT within both periods. A conceptual framework, based on contractual categories INPI’s definition and, specificaly, on each one’s function regarding knowledge/information provision has posed two types of supply: one, called “accidental” flow and another called “compulsory” flow. The sample, stratified in the same proportion for each category considered, has comprised 392 elements representing an 19,130 contracts entire universe. Results have showed that the major part of contracts: do not transfer propriety neither of technology, nor of its inherent knowledge; do not usually contain restricting clauses related to information supply; may define the means by which information could be provided; do not propose training programs for receiver firms' technical staff; and do not include estimate of the degree of technological knowledge absorption. Arithmetical average calculation has permitted comparative analysis within both periods results. It has showed, for the second period, significant reduction on LEP’s type occurrance, little reduction on STE’s type occurrance, reduction also on CTI’s type occurrance and an almost double growth on FTI’s occurrance. It has also demonstrated an increase in TT agreements both originated from the native country and from foreign nations. An increase in the difference calculation of contracts numbers on the second period has lead to suppose a greater demand on out-of-the-way originated technology. Difference between average number of contracts providing both kinds of information flow has been reduced, on the second period, showing a greater demand on supposed “compulsory” flow kind of contracts. Based on the whole evidence it was inferred that TT’s information flow present situation is mainly “accidental” type and does not contribute to application and absorption of negotiated technologies and, consequently, to Brazil’s technological development. Some suggestions of areas related to TT information flow studies are presented in order to encourage deeper research. Some guidelines are proposed as subsidies to receiver countries technological policy focusing information events within TT context, aiming at impulsioning national technological development.

Der Artikel ist ein erster Kommentar zu der neuen Apostolischen Konstitution über die Reform der Römischen Kurie ¿Praedicate Evangelium¿. Ausgehend von den Vorarbeiten zu dem Dokument gibt der Autor erste rekonstruierende Einblicke in dessen Inhalt.