Digital Commons Network^™

Cytokine Expression In Patients With B-Cell Chronic Lymphocytic Leukaemia, Anna Kaminski

Other Faculty of Health Theses

B-cell chronic lymphocytic leukaemia (B-CLL) results from a clonal accumulation of CD5+ve B-lymphocytes. This expansion of B-lymphocytes is due to increased proliferation and extended survival secondary to decreased apoptosis. Both proliferation and apoptosis are regulated by a group of soluble proteins, termed cytokines, which are secreted by cells and play a key role in the regulation of immunological responses. In view of this, the role of cytokines in the pathogenesis of B-CLL was studied. Interleukin 4 (IL-4) is an anti-apoptotic cytokine which up-regulates bcl-2 in malignant B-lymphocytes. Peripheral blood samples, from untreated B-CLL patients were investigated, together with a group …

A Study Of The Role Of Cytokines In Acute Pancreatitis In Man, Alison Marie Smithies

Other Faculty of Health Theses

Introduction: Acute pancreatitis is an inflammatory disease with a diverse aetiology and variableclinical course. The IL-l gene cluster has been implicated in this disease.Aims: The aims of the study were to investigate polymorphisms of the genes encoded within the IL-lgene cluster in patients with acute pancreatitis and normal controls and to determine therelationship between the polymorphisms and protein levels.Methods: Genotype and allele frequencies were determined in controls (n=217) and patients withacute pancreatitis (n=137) using the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) followed by digestion withrestriction endonucleases where applicable. Protein levels were determined using in vitrostimulation of PBMCs followed by Enzyme Linked Immunosorbent …

Study Of The Effect Of Turbulence On The Properties Of Flocculated Mud, Andrew Manning

Other Faculty of Science and Engineering Theses

For the successful management of an estuary, an accurate simulation model predicting sediment transport patterns is a necessity. This requires a knowledge of the vertical mass settling flux (MSF), which is the product of the suspended particulate matter (SPM) concentration and the settling velocity (Ws). However the presence of cohesive sediments (i.e. mud) complicates this description due to the ability of mud particles to flocculate into larger aggregates (floes) which demonstrate faster settling velocities and lower effective densities (pe) than the component cohesive particles. The generation of turbulent shear stress (TSS) within the water column is regarded as having a …

The Synthesis Of Estuarine Bathymetry From Sparse Sounding Data, Janet Eirlys Burroughes

Other Faculty of Science and Engineering Theses

The two aims of the project involved: 1. Devising a system for prediction o f areas of bathymetric change within the Fal estuary 2. Formulating and evaluating a method for interpolating single beam acoustic bathymetry to avoid artefacts o f interpolation. In order to address these aims, sources of bathymetric data for the Fal estuary were identified as Truro Harbour Office, Cornwall County Council and the Environment Agency. The data collected from these sources included red wavelength Lidar, aerial photography and single beam acoustic bathymetry from a number of different years. These data were input into a Geographic Information System …

The Relationship Between Livestock Distribution Channels And Animal Welfare, Karen Christina Murray

Other Faculty of Science and Engineering Theses

Major changes are taking place in all sectors of the livestock and meat producing industries from farm to consumer which impinge on the processes and patterns of livestock distribution from farm to slaughter. These changes are identified and described. A survey of the complete journeys from farm to abattoir of 18,393 slaughterweight lambs sold direct from farm to abattoir, via livestock auction markets and via electronic auctions was conducted. Lambs sold direct from farm to abattoir experienced shorter journeys (in terms of both median duration and distance) than lambs sold through either of the other two channels. Lambs sold through …

Implementing Marine Pollution Policy : Proposals For Change, Jonathan Peter Richards

Other Faculty of Science and Engineering Theses

This study aims to determine the factors that affect the implementation of marine pollution policy, especially with regard to regulation of the hazardous substances which contaminate the marine environment- The purpose is to identify weaknesses in the current regulatory regime and to propose improvements. The study also aims to develop a new strategic framework for the implementation of the recent international policy commitments, which call for the complete cessation of discharges of hazardous substances into the marine environment by the year 2020. Furthermore, the study seeks to provide evidence to support or challenge current theories relating to regulation and policy …

Developments And Benefits Of Liquid Feeding Through Fermentation For The Post-Weaned Pig, Colm Anthony Moran

Other Faculty of Science and Engineering Theses

A programme of study was undertaken to assess the safety and palatability of fermented liquid feed. A series of laboratory experiments was conducted to select an inoculant capable of fermenting liquid feed at 20°C. Whilst combinations of cultures dropped the pH the most rapidly, the Lb. plantarum (PC) strain decreased the pH the lowest. A series of trials were conducted using a rifampicin mutant of Lb. plantarum (PC) to examine the fate of the starter culture. In an experiment using liquid milled wheat the addition of the starter culture resulted in an improvement in the inhibition of coliforms over the …

Music In Reality The Relation Of Music, Emotion And Pre-Socratic Myth, Brian Capleton

Other Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Business Theses

This thesis is in two sections. The first critically examines the tradition of harmonia mundi. The earliest complete and developed account of musica mundana appears in Plato, but numerous fragmented references appear in the pre-Socratic sources. The notion that harmonia mundi originated as an idea of quantitative speeds and distances of the celestial bodies, is discredited. Rather, it is shown that it more probably originates as an expression of an 'esoteric spiritual' teaching in which self-knowledge, death, the concept of harmonia, and consequently music, are related. The idea that the greatest importance of music rests on the relationship of music …

The Importance Of Being : The Autobiographical Subject In The Drama And Memoirs Of Ronald Duncan, Anna Claire Trussler

Other Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Business Theses

This study developed after considerable time spent collating and cataloguing data contained in Ronald Duncan's archive. Familiarisation with the material led to my identifying a need to explore the elusive nature of the personality that biographical material should hope to uncover. Duncan was prone to mainly confessional writing, a kind of writing that demands a causal inference between life and work. Furthermore, the archive supplies multiple data sources that serve to aid chronology, trace reliability, provide external corroboration and investigate truth-value. My study follows a loosely chronological structure after discerning shifts in his thematic concerns. The years up until the …

Designing A Visual Component Of Communication Within 3d Avatar Virtual Worlds, Nicholas John Earle

Other Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Business Theses

Over the last few years 3D avatar virtual worlds (AVW) have emerged on the Internet. These are computer generated, multi-user, graphical spaces within which people meet, form social groups and interact with each other in real time, typically through the exchange of text or audio messages. Each user is represented within the space by a digital image known as an avatar, which is usually humanoid in form, and is predominantly under the control of the person it represents. This thesisd escribesa creativep roject that is concernedw ith aspectso f social communication between users of "Ws. In particular, an avatar is …

Poetic Anatomy Of The Numinous Creative Passages Into The Self As Beloved, Partou Zia

Other Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Business Theses

This research is shaped by the actual experience of practice: as painter and writer. My preoccupation is with the nodal moment when conscious awareness is suspended, and both the corporal and psychic involvement in realising the work almost transport one to another zone of effectiveness. This zone, which I name as the poetic zone, is where the numinous enters the ordinary. The investigation for a space/place/moment that lies beyond the logic of acceptable discourse can help initiate and give shape to a new vocabulary - visual or literary. By orchestrating a methodology, which functions on several layers, I have endeavoured …

From Rio To Romola: Morality And Didacticism In The English Appreciation Of Early Italian Art 1836-1863, Matthew T.W. Plampin

Other Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Business Theses

This thesis takes as its starting point the marked rise in interest in the earlier schools of Italian painting in the English art world during the 1840s. Over the course of this decade the study and collection of so-called 'primitive' painting was transformed from a marginal pursuit to an aspect of mainstream taste. The thesis defines the critical discourse formulated in order to rationalise the taste for art works which failed to conform to the principles which had governed the appreciation of old master painting in previous decades. It also studies the ramifications of this discourse with regards to broader …

An Investigation Into The Factors Determining Ruminant Livestock Distribution In The Far South West, Dafydd Huw Davies

Other Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Business Theses

Major changes are taking place in all sectors of the livestock and meat producing industries from farm to consumer which impinge on the processes and pattems of livestock distribution from farm to slaughter. These changes are identified and described. A farm business survey of lowland beef and sheep finishers was undertaken, prior to the 2001 Foot and Mouth outbreak, to gain a better understanding of farm business behaviour in order to model the farm business strategies in relation to aggregate livestock channel utilisation. Statistically robust and predictive models using a number of derived latent strategic variables, distilling marketing and business …

Methodological Embodiments:: Psychical Corporeal Performances Of Subjective Specific Auto[Erotic)-Representations, Ryya Aviva Sanders

Other Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Business Theses

A great deal of critical attention has been paid over the last twenty years at least to the relation of 'self and 'Other'. But what happens when the external 'other' is displaced to the periphery of the concerns of textual production? In order to explore this question Methodological Embodiments employs an interdisciplinary praxis that is not limited to the classic model of written theory. At the same time, it does not negate this form that has historical and ideological precedence within an academic context. The aim of this thesis is to juxtapose written theory with artistic practices in order to …

Public Perceptions Of The Midwest's Pavements: Explaining The Relationship Between Pavement Quality And Driver Satisfaction, James K. Giese, Robert J. Griffin, David Kuemmel

College of Communication Faculty Research and Publications

A three-phase study involving focus groups and sample surveys was conducted in three Midwestern states to assess the amount of satisfaction that motorists who drive on rural, two-lane state highways have with the pavement characteristics of those highways and to explain the relationship between the actual physical condition of the pavements and motorists' satisfaction. Consistently in each state, the direct relationship between pavement quality and driver satisfaction was mediated by cognitive structure—a set of five specific beliefs motorists have about the pavement. The part of the study that (a) applies a powerful psychological model to the task of …

Fatigue Of A Spring Steel With Varying Levels Of Non-Metallic Inclusions, Alan Edwin Lee Holman

Other Faculty of Science and Engineering Theses

Plain specimens of two batches of the commercial spring steel BS 251A58 of nominally identical processing but significantly differing levels of non-metallic inclusion levels, have been tested in rotating bending. The data produced has been analysed against some recent methods for the prediction of fatigue properties in high strength materials containing defects. The materials tested were specifically selected for their disparate cleanliness levels, yielding specimens with differing inclusion distribution and maxima. The morphology of critical inclusions is identical between the two material batches. Material microstructure is tempered martensite with ultimate tensile strength of approximately 2000 MPa, which renders it well …

Studies In Agricultural Technology In Nineteenth- And Twentieth-Century England, Paul William Brassley

Other Faculty of Science and Engineering Theses

Four published papers and several parts of a book are presented herein, together with a previously unpublished short paper explaining the intellectual background against which they were written and summarising their findings on the development of agricultural teQmology in England in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. This outlines the contribution of economic and sociological the^pries to the study of technical change, but makes the point that historical studies, although clearly influenced by these theories, tend to use a multifactorial approach which avoids privileging any single explanation. Nevertheless, several themes arising in all of this material are identified, especially the gap …

Disclosure In Annual Reports: An Agency Theoretic Perspective In An International Setting, Mohd Ismail Bin Ramli

Plymouth Business School Theses

Over the recent years 'transparency' or better information disclosure has been the buzzword of various corporate governance bodies due to the failures of the system of corporate governance, which arise from an agency relationship. However, there are arguments by 'free market' advocates suggesting that information is voluntarily disclosed. This study discusses and compares the disclosure of information relating to directors' behaviour in the United Kingdom, Canada, the Netherlands, France, Germany and Sweden. These countries were selected because they represent the developed countries with different accounting systems. Furthermore, they are also the board member countries of IASC and OECD. 'Transparency' relating …

The Prevalence Of Human Granulocytic Ehrlichiae In Ixodes Scapularis Ticks In Southeastern Georgia, Heather Anne Merten

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations (1964–2006)

Human granulocytic ehrlichiosis (HGE) is a newly emerging, tick-borne zoonosis in North America. The agent that causes HGE is very similar to Ehrlichia phagocytophilia and Ehrlichia equi, but has yet to be classified as a separate species.

This study was carried out in order to determine the prevalence rate of HGE infection in blacklegged ticks (Ixodes scapularis) in insular and mainland sites in southeastern Georgia using nested PCR techniques. Four locations were studied representing 2 barrier islands and 2 mainland sites. We hypothesized that areas that have low levels of human disturbance and are somewhat isolated will …

Determining The Termination Percentage Of Heart Rate Maximum For Submaximal Testing, Julia A. Valentour

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations (1964–2006)

BACKGROUND: In the Fourth Edition of the American College of Sports Medicine's Guidelines for Exercise Testing and Prescription (1991). the protocol for the ACSM's submaximal bike test was to terminate the test at 65-70% of the age predicted maximal heart rate. In the Fifth Edition, this was changed to 85% of the age-predicted maximal heart rate.

OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study was to find out, by using the ACSM submaximal cycle ergometer test (see Appendix A) if the 85% heart rate maximum termination provides a more accurate estimate of maximal aerobic capacity than the 70% heart rate maximum termination. …

The Path To Equilibrium: Melville, Emerson, And Goethe's Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship, Ingrid D. Lelos

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations (1964–2006)

No abstract provided.

The Decision To Undertake Vocational Higher Education In Shipping And Logistics In The Uk, John Dinwoodie

Other Faculty of Science and Engineering Theses

This work investigates the decision to study shipping and logistics at advanced levels in the UK. Documented evidence reports and analyses the perceptions of students on vocational courses in shipping, transport and logistics and investigates why they chose their particular fields of study. A range of instruments are presented to analyse how students perceived that they had arrived at their study decisions, including national surveys of undergraduates in maritime business, postgraduates in shipping and logistics and professionals contemplating updating short courses. Qualitative, quantitative and mapping methods are presented along with perceptions of relevant professional outcome roles and other factors. Exploratory …

The Resistance To Salt Of Brassica Sps. And Improved Resistance By Direct Selection And Mutagenesis, Manal Hassan Eed

Other Faculty of Science and Engineering Theses

Salinity is one of the most serious environmental stresses influencing agriculture drastically decreasing the production of crop plants throughout the world. Due to salinity thousands of hectares of agricultural land are going out of production annually. To cope with the salinity problem, there is keen interest in the development of crop plants displaying resistance to the effects of salinity. A series of experiments was carried out under controlled environmental conditions to determine salt resistance in Rapid Cycling Brassica species (RCB's) at germination early seedling and late growth stage. The effect of increasing salinity concentration was determined in vivo using a …

Phonographies: Practical And Theoretical Explorations Into Composing With Disembodied Sound, John Levack Drever

Other Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Business Theses

This is PhD submission is both practical and theoretical. The practical element consists of nine electroacoustic compositions. The dissertation acts as a discursive accompaniment to the compositions, addressing many of the contextual and philosophical issues that have arisen during the compositional process and the perfannance of the works. It charts out discourse surrounding the different genres of electroacoustic music that the works relate to as well as examining models of work in the respective genres (i. e. sonic art, text.. sound, acousmatic composition, inusique concrite and soundscape composition), and places them into a broader cultural and historical context. Chapter 2 …

The Personal And Professional Backgrounds Of Georgia's Female High School Principals, Marjorie H. Hamilton

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations (1964–2006)

The purpose of this study was to describe the personal and professional backgrounds of the female public high school principals in Georgia. Both quantitative and qualitative methods were employed to conduct the research. A demographic questionnaire, which included items addressing personal, educational, and professional background information, was mailed to all of the identified female public high school principals for the 2000--2001 school year. The quantitative data analysis resulting from the demographic questionnaire is presented in the narrative form with corresponding tables. The final item on the questionnaire asked whether or not the respondent would participate in a long, in-depth interview …

The Reliability And Validity Of The Pacer For 3rd And 4th Grade Males, Jennifer A. Hinely

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations (1964–2006)

BACKGROUND: FITNESSGRAM recommends the use of the PACER, a 20-meter shuttle run, to assess the aerobic ability of children in physical education classes.

OBJECTIVES: To examine the reliability and validity of the PACER for 3rd and 4th grade males. In addition, the reliability and validity of the criterion-referenced standards will be examined.

METHODS: 22 students ran 3 trials of the FITNESSGRAM PACER while wearing the Cosmed K4b2 system.

RESULTS: From the 22 students, the intraclass correlation for the number of laps for trial 2 to trial 3 was 0.81. The reliability of the estimated VO2 from trial 2 to trial …

Natural Forces, Natural Forms, Robert Benjamin Randolph

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations (1964–2006)

No abstract provided.

What Principals Do To Minimize The Negative Effects Of The Incompetent Teacher, Georgia S. Collins

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations (1964–2006)

Principals and teachers are being held increasingly accountable for student achievement. Every effort should be made to increase the chances of student success in school and in the global community. In this study, the researcher examined the perceptions of principals in the state of Georgia with regard to incompetent teachers, which according to the professional literature are a deterrent to student achievement. As previous research and literature have shown, incompetent teachers remain in school systems despite efforts of building-level administrators to dismiss them. The main focus of this study was to determine the means of minimizing the negative effect of …

The Role Of Mentoring In Developing Professional And Personal Competencies For School Administrators, Marguerite Verble Shook

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations (1964–2006)

In the state of Georgia and across the nation there was a shortage of principals. A new supply of administrators was needed to guide education through the 21st century. These leaders needed updated knowledge and skills to address the needs of an educational system affected by educational reform. Effective leadership allowed administrators to view situations in both the eyes of management and leadership. A mentoring program for beginning administrators provided guidance in developing these skills and in recruiting and retaining individuals for these critical positions.

The purpose of this study was to examine the perceptions of a mentoring program for …

The Relationship Of Financial Resources With Academic Achievement In Georgia Public Schools, Charles Richard Webb

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations (1964–2006)

This study was intended to determine if certain financial resources were related to academic achievement in Georgia public schools. Four predictor variables representing different financial resources were compared with a criterion variable representing different financial resources were compared with a criterion variable representing differences were statistically held constant to reduce their possible effects. The four financial variables were Per-Pupil Expenditure, Average Teacher Salary, Per-Pupil Local Revenue, and Per-Pupil District Wealth, all measured by dollar amounts. The criterion variable was the Georgia High School Graduation Test Pass Rate, measured by percent for each school district. The three covariates were socioeconomic status, …