Water circulation within Tomales Bay, California, U.S.A. : a Mediterranean climate estuary

Bibliography: leaves 228-237.Tomales Bay, California, situated along the west coast of the United States of America, in the mid-latitudes at 38° 13' 50" N, 122° 58' 30" W, was chosen as the study site for the "Biogeochemical Reactions In Estuaries" (BRIE) project of the "land Margins Ecosystems Research" (LMER) program of the National Science Foundation in the U.S.A. Research on terrigenous inputs, air-sea exchange, sediment-water exchange, ocena-bay exchange and internal cycling in estuaries was conducted. This thesis addresses the ocean-bay exchange section in identifying and describing the estuarine water circulation and its variability, both temporally and spatially, that drives the observed water column structure in Tomales Bay and the effect of wind driven coastal upwelling on the estuary

Petrogenesis of Basalt-hosted sapphires from the Siebengebirge Volcanic Field (SVF) in western Germany

Megacysts of blue sapphires are hosted by alkaline mafic rocks from the Cenozoic Siebengebirge Volcanic Field (SVF) in western Germany. Similar occurrences of sapphires related to intra-continental alkaline mafic volcanism have been reported from many other localities around the world, predominantly from Asia and Australia (e.g. Graham et al., 2008). Markedly, the sapphires are rimmed by a several micrometer thick spinel rim, indicating them to be in disequilibrium with the basaltic melt. Consequently, the sapphires are regarded to be xenocrysts rather than phenocrysts. Yet, in-situ U-Pb dating of a columbite inclusion within one Siebengebirge sapphire using Laser Ablation – Inductively Coupled Plasma – Mass Spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS) revealed that the time of sapphire crystallization (24.73 ± 0.35 Ma) is within the errors the same as the age of alkaline mafic volcanism in the SVF (Przybyla, 2013), indicating a close genetical relationship between sapphire crystallization and alkaline mafic volcanism in the SVF. The sapphires mineral inclusion suite that is comprised amongst others of carbonates, pyrochlore, betafite and columbite, as well as the strong enrichment in the HFSE compared to the primitive mantle and the abundant occurrence of gaseous low-density CO2 inclusions, indicates that a carbonatitic melt played a major role in the sapphire formation. Glass inclusions of nephelinitic and of carbonated silicate composition probably represent the quenched products of two immiscible liquids in the silicate – carbonatite melt system, indicating that the crystallization of the sapphires was the result of complex magmatic processes in highly evolved SiO2 undersaturated, CO2-rich magmatic system, including extensive magma differentiation, the exsolution of two immiscible melts and the assimilation of the sapphire bearing host rocks by ascending fresh pulses of basaltic magma. Experiments that were conducted in the carbonatite – silicate melt system revealed that carbonatites are indeed eligible to precipitate corundum, given that the carbonatitic melts are saturated in Al2O3 and low in FeO and MgO. Yet, another set of experiments demonstrated that due to much better wetting propertied in a silicate melt, corundum that precipitated from a carbonatitic melt will always migrate into silicate melt if given the chance. Results from this study infer that the Siebengebirge sapphires probably crystallized from a highly evolved FeO- and MgO-deficient carbonatite that exsolved from a highly evolved phonolite as a consequence of increasing CO2 partial pressure accompanying melt fractionation. CO2-rich fluid inclusions have densities up to 0.9 g/cm3, infering that the sapphires must have formed at a minimum pressure of 0.6 GPa, corresponding to middle crustal levels. The sapphires were later trapped by fresh pulses of ascending alkaline mafic melts and subsequently transported to the surface. The process of sapphire trapping and transportation to the surface was very rapid on geological time-scales and lasted no longer than a few weeks to months, as indicated by the thickness of the spinel-rims. This petrogenetic scenario implies CO2 to be the confining variable connecting the genesis of the sapphire megacrysts and the alkaline mafic volcanism in intra-continental volcanic areas

Beta Secondary Deuterium Kinetic Isotope Effects on the Thermal Stereomutations of 1,2-Diphenylcyclopropanes

(+)-(1S,2S)-trans-1,2-Diphenylcyclopropane and (-)-(1R,2R)-trans- l,2-diphenyl-3,3-t2-cyclopropane at 234 °C interconvert reversibly with the corresponding enantiomers and css-1,2-diphenyl cyclopropanes. For the unlabeled trans isomer, the ratio of rate constants for one-center epimerization (k) and two-center turnover (&12) was found to be 1.1. A small normal k^Jk-Q effect, 3% per deuterium, was observed for the rate constant for one-center epimerization (k1); a substantial normal k-^lk-Q effect, 17% per deuterium, was observed for the rate constant for two-center turnover (k^). Thus different transition structures, presumably EF and EE 1,3-diphenyltrimethylene diradicals, dominate the two sorts of stereomutations

Jack, Alive and Well on Beech Mountain in Western North Carolina: The Cultural Traditions of Ted Hicks

This thesis is the result of fieldwork, research, and time spent with Ted Hicks and other members of the Hicks family who reside on Beech Mountain in Watauga County in western North Carolina. Ted, who was born in 1954 in Avery County, has spent his entire life living with his mother, Rosa Harmon Hicks, and his father, Ray. He learned the Appalachian mountain traditions from his parents. Modernity has not substantially influenced the Hicks family. They have continued to live, work, and play in the “old ways.” Ted has been a subsistence farmer, woodsman, craftsman, carpenter, and herb gatherer. Only recently has he become an active bearer of the oral tradition of the Jack and Grandfather Tales. Ted grew up in the house on Beech Mountain where his father was born and where Ray heard his grandfather, Benjamin Hicks, telling the tales that his relatives had passed down to him. In 1995, Ray received the National Storytelling Association’s first Lifetime Achievement Award, and he received numerous storytelling awards. He was also the only teller who was featured every year at the National Storytelling Festival that is held in Jonesborough, Tennessee. Ted has been a passive participant in the oral traditions of the family. He was shy and spent more time alone in the woods and farming the family land than in public gatherings. It wasn’t until after his father’s death in 2003 that Ted became an active bearer of the tradition of the Jack and Grandfather Tales. Due to health challenges, he could no longer farm and gather herbs, and therefore he turned to the oral traditions he grew up hearing in his home. Ted continues private performances in the context of his and his mother’s home, and he has transitioned to public performances in the past few years. His performance in October 2009 was his first delivery of a tale on the main stage in Jonesborough. He sat in the same center spot where his father had performed the tales year after year. The delivery of “Jack and the Doctor’s Girl” transcribed in Appendix B was Ted’s fourth public performance. My research includes Ted Hicks’s private performances and one public performance of the Jack Tales, a genre that has been recorded as a two hundred-year old tradition brought to western North Carolina by the Hicks, Harmon, and Ward families, who came from England and Germany and settled near Valle Crucis, North Carolina in the 1700s. Because of the Hicks family’s long history of involvement with the Jack Tale tradition, there is a need for further documentation of this family, which has taken responsibility for keeping the cultural traditions alive in the Appalachian region. My thesis documents Ted Hicks’s role in maintaining family traditions and his transition to being an active bearer of the Jack Tale tradition as he struggles with health issues and a changing community. A video recording and transcriptions of Ted’s private and public performances accompany my thesis and are central to this project

Consumer Preferences for Fresh Citrus: Impacts of Demographic and Behavioral Characteristics

Fresh citrus, consumer preference, attitude, cluster analysis, market segmentation, Consumer/Household Economics, Crop Production/Industries, Demand and Price Analysis, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Marketing, Q13,

Effects of Equine Interaction on Mutual Autonomic Nervous System Responses and Interoception in a Learning Program for Older Adults

Equine-assisted learning (EAL) may improve the health of older adults, but scientific data are sparse. This study investigated whether people aged 55 and older show increased heart rate variability (HRV) during EAL and awareness of bodily sensations that are overall pleasant. Subjects (n = 24) participated in mindful grooming during which they slowed their breathing and brushed a horse while noticing sensations in their body and watching the horse’s reactions. The subject’s and horse’s HRV were recorded simultaneously before, during, and after mindful grooming. For control, the same subjects performed mindful grooming with a plush simulation horse. During exit interviews, participants described their sensations. Words and gestures were categorized as positive, neutral, or negative. During mindful grooming, human heart rate and HRV (standard deviation of interbeat interval, SDRR) increased compared to baseline (paired t-test, t = –4.228, p \u3c 0.001; t = –3.814, p = 0.001), as did the percent very low frequency (%VLF) component of HRV (t = –4.274, p \u3c 0.001). Equine HRV values remained in the normal range, mostly VLF. In 10 cases, during mindful grooming, horse and human HRVs showed matching VLF frequencies. Grooming the simulation horse significantly elevated SDRR but did not alter %VLF. Exit interviews revealed significantly more positive gestures (t = –3.814, p = 0.031) and fewer negative gestures (Wilcoxon signed-rank test, Z-statistic = –2.12, p = 0.036, p \u3c 0.05) when participants spoke about the real horse compared to the simulation. These findings demonstrate that during mindful grooming people aged 55 and older benefit by experiencing increased HRV, heightened awareness of pleasant bodily sensations, and often some synchronization of their HRV frequency spectrum with that of their horse, possibly reflecting emotional bonding

Preliminary Evidence That CD38 Moderates the Association of Neuroticism on Amygdala-Subgenual Cingulate Connectivity.

CD38 genetic variation has been associated with autism spectrum disorders and social anxiety disorder, which may result from CD38's regulation of oxytocin secretion. Converging evidence has found that the rs3796863 A-allele contributes to increased social sensitivity compared to the CC genotype. The current study examined the moderating role of CD38 genetic variants (rs3796863 and rs6449182) that have been associated with enhanced (or reduced) social sensitivity on neural activation related to neuroticism, which is commonly elevated in individuals with social anxiety and depression. Adults (n = 72) with varying levels of social anxiety and depression provided biological samples for DNA extraction, completed a measure of neuroticism, and participated in a standardized emotion processing task (affect matching) while undergoing fMRI. A significant interaction effect was found for rs3796863 x neuroticism that predicted right amygdala-subgenual anterior cingulate cortex (sgACC) functional connectivity. Simple slopes analyses showed a positive association between neuroticism and right amygdala-sgACC connectivity among rs3796863 A-allele carriers. Findings suggest that the more socially sensitive rs3796863 A-allele may partially explain the relationship between a known risk factor (i.e. neuroticism) and promising biomarker (i.e. amygdala-sgACC connectivity) in the development and maintenance of social anxiety and depression

Preventing Human Papilloma Virus through Community Education and Vaccination

Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) affects many members of the community. To better educate the community in a participatory manner, engaging those outside of the health care arena is necessary. To prevent the spread of the disease in the United States, reaching the parents of children at the vulnerable age of 9–11 years of age is critical. The barriers to education of parents and children around the spread of a sexually transmitted disease are vast and difficult to overcome. However, the use of proven vaccinations give healthcare providers and community advocates the main tool for prevention of the spread of the disease. It is often taboo to discuss anything related to sexual promiscuity or sexual activity in the United States in the public schools. The biggest myth includes the fear parents and grandparents have is that if HPV is talked about, then the child may become sexually active sooner. This myth needs to be challenged with science and reality including taking on the those vehemently opposed to vaccines, known as “Anti-Vaxers” that obstruct vaccine education. The strategies utilized in public health outreach to the community should be reviewed and uniquely developed for each diverse community to overcome the challenges in the prevention of HPV

The problems of offenders with mental disorders: A plurality of perspectives within a single mental health care organisation

Managers, doctors, nurses, occupational therapists, social workers, psychologists, unqualified staff and service users were interviewed for a qualitative study of risk management and rehabilitation in an inner city medium secure forensic mental health care unit. Different professional orientations to service user problems were identified. Doctors focused primarily on the diagnosis of mental disorder, which they managed mainly through pharmaceutical interventions. Psychologists were principally concerned with personal factors, for example service user insight into their biographical history. Occupational therapists concentrated mainly on daily living skills, and social workers on post-discharge living arrangements. Some front line nurses, held accountable for security lapses, adopted a criminogenic approach. Service users were more likely than professionals to understand their needs in terms of their wider life circumstances. These differences are explored qualitatively in relation to four models of crossdisciplinary relationships: monoprofessional self-organisation combined with restricted communication; hermeneutic reaching out to other perspectives; the establishment of interdisciplinary sub-systems; and transdisciplinary merger. Relationships between professions working in this unit, as portrayed in qualitative interviews, corresponded mainly to the first model of monoprofessional self-organisation. Reasons for restricted crossdisciplinary understanding, particularly the wide power/status differences between the medical and other professions, and between staff and patients, are discussed