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Despite a number of previous studies investigating the thermal benefits of green roofs and walls, results were not applicable to all types of climate as the focus was predominantly based on the reduction of cooling loads. Therefore, two separate field experimentations were conducted on green roofs and walls in Meltham and Sheffield to evaluate the thermal effects of vegetation cover on buildings within the UK climate. Temperature measurements of building surfaces and interior space were recorded throughout four seasons, and observation results demonstrated that vegetation reduced daily temperature fluctuations occurring on the building's exterior surfaces. Vegetation was particularly effective in mitigating the influence of solar radiation; both green roofs and walls reduced daily peak temperatures of the building surface by approximately 12°C during the warmest month. This study also look ed at factors that could influence the performance of vegetation. Increased substrate mass in the green roof improved insulating performance to increase indoor air temperature, meaning that intensive green roofs with a substrate thickness of over 200mm would be suitable in cooler climates, and shallower green roofs with less negative insulating impacts during summer in warmer climates. Only a marginal difference in thermal performance was observed among all tested green walls including three modular living walls and a climber screen, suggesting that choosing systems with the lowest initial costs and maintenance would be beneficial from an economic perspective. Numerical analysis conducted using recorded temperatures found that green walls were more effective in reducing daily heat gain through the wall than heat loss. Although adding a layer of insulation improved the thermal resistance of the existing green wall systems, the comparison against a conventional external insulation material revealed that it was more effective in reducing heat loss through the wall and would be a better solution in heating load dominated climates such as the UK. The study proved that the true potential of green walls lies in the variable characteristics of such materials in reducing radiation gain during the day but having minimum insulation effects at night. Thus, the greatest thermal benefits of green walls can be achieved in cooling load dominated regions.

This is a study of forty Filipina women married to Japanese men living in a rural farming district in northern Japan. The thesis is concerned with four main areas of enquiry: the initial adjustment of the Filipinas to their new environment; their performance of local gender roles; the religious practices that the women carry out; and the social activities in which they participate. It is an account of the difficulties individuals face and the adjustments they have to make when they decide to settle in a foreign country. It is also an account of the problems of 'accommodation' experienced by Filipinas encountering Japanese society. The difficulties that the women face in their marital lives and the way in which they deal with them indicate both particular characteristics of Japanese society and certain qualities of Filipino personhood. By looking at a transnational experience from this perspective, the thesis attempts to trace the contours of the dynamic interaction between the Filipinas and the Japanese, on the one hand, and between forces of social reproduction and individual choices, on the other. All the Filipinas portrayed here met their spouse (directly or indirectly) through a public intermarriage introduction service provided by Japanese municipal government. Since the intermarriage introduction service was aimed at solving an issue of significant social concern in Japan, namely the 'bride famine' being experienced in rural areas, it is not surprising that there is an extensive body of literature concerning the problem published in Japanese, whereas the lived experiences of these Filipinas have not been much explored. More generally, while marriage between people from different countries has become increasingly common, not much research has yet been conducted on the subject yet. The thesis is therefore intended as a contribution to the ethnography of female transnational migration as well as to that of Filipina intermarriage.

Picophytoplankton (≤3 µm), including cyanobacteria and photosynthetic picoeukaryotes (PPE), account for ~60% of total phytoplankton biomass and are responsible for greater than 40% of total net primary production in large regions of the world’s oceans. Eukaryotic picophytoplankton are globally significant contributors to primary productivity; however, to date, relatively little is known about the temporal dynamics underlying their production and diversity. In this dissertation, picophytoplankton contributions to 14C primary productivity and group-specific contributions by Prochlorococcus, Synechococcus, and PPE were determined along a transect spanning a large trophic gradient in the South East Pacific Ocean (SEP) and during monthly scale sampling over a one-year period at Station ALOHA in the North Pacific Subtropical Gyre (NPSG). Results revealed that cell-specific rates of PPE carbon fixation were elevated in the well-lit regions of the euphotic zone (

Two cyclonic eddies were surveyed during the E-Flux I and III cruises in order to investigate the consequences of spatial and temporal variability in macronutrients and photosynthetic pigments on particle export. Cyclone Noah, a ~2.5-month-old eddy in the . 'decay' stage that was sampled during E-Flux I, exhibited modest increases in macronutrients and photosynthetic pigments at the center of the eddy. Cyclone Opal, sampled during E-Flux III and in the 'mature' stage at ~1 month old, exhibited sharp increases in macronutrient concentrations at the center of the eddy concurrent with a dramatic 2-fold increase in total chlorophyll a (TChl a) concentration in the deep chlorophyll maximum layer (DCML), comprised mainly of large diatoms. However, euphotic zone depth-integrated TChl a concentration for both eddies were indistinguishable between the center of the eddy and surrounding waters. During an eight-day time-series in the center of Opal, TChl a concentration in the DCML decreased by ~50% with a simultaneous decrease in diatom biomass, potentially triggered by silicic acid limitation. Despite the large diatom bloom, cyclone Opal did not produce the expected increase in particulate carbon and nitrogen export but a ~4-fold increase in silica export. This study represents a direct observation of two eddies at different stages in their biological life cycle, which is controlled by various factors on multiple time scales. Results suggest that controls on the life cycle of a Hawaiian lee cyclone are likely a combination of physical (eddy dynamics), chemical (nutrient limitation), and biological (growth and grazing imbalance) processes. Further investigation of recently studied cyclones in comparison with cyclones Noah and Opal yields speculation of a relationship with the spin-up duration of a cyclone and the resulting biological response. As Hawaiian lee cyclonic eddies may influence an area 100's of km in diameter in the subtropical North Pacific Ocean, it is clear from this study that variability in Hawaiian lee cyclones still remains an enigma.

The Japanese prefix o, together with its allomorph go, has often been mentioned in linguists' discussions of the honorific system as well as in Japanese language textbooks. It has been discussed under the terms 'deferential prefix' (Miller 1967), 'honorific particle' (Martin 1964, Seward 1967, Goldstein and Tamura 1975), and 'honorific prefix' (Ide 1982, Shibatani 1990). However, the elusive and polysemic characteristics of o have also resulted in a lack of systematic discussion of its overall usage and function. It is often confusing to Japanese speakers themselves, let alone second language learners to try to determine which words should be prefixed with o by which speakers in which situations. This dissertation attempts to give a more systematic overview of the usage and function of o by investigating the semantic and sociolinguistic factors determining which words take o in which situations. Gender is central to this; women's roles, especially the traditional roles as cook, server, and caretaker, turn out to have deeply affected the set of factors which determine the words which most commonly take o, and it is shown that such a relationship between o usage and gender roles can be traced back at least to the 15 th century. I also report the results of a study which found that small and older children show apparent age grading which is, affected by gender, adolescent girls increase their usage in a transitional process from children's o to women's and mother's o, while adolescent boys drop the children's usage of o without adopting adult usages. Finally, I analyze several contexts such as newspapers, popular songs, cartoons, films, and TV shows and I argue that political changes bought about by the government we powerful enough to have affected the usage of o in the mass media. A comparative analysis of o in documents from pre-World War II, post-World War II, and the present day shows the semantic transformation of o from a deferential prefix that marks power difference to a multi-functional prefix that describes a variety of psychological situations or interpersonal relationships.