New Zealand's Green Party and Foreign Troop Deployments: Views, Values and Impacts

this thesis reviews and analyses the Green Party of New Zealand‘s views on the use of force in international relations, particularly when that involves the deployment of NZ troops. It addresses three key questions: 1) When does the Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand believe it is legitimate to use military force overseas? 2) How have the Greens attempted to influenced the public debate and the parliamentary decision making process regarding to foreign troop deployments? 3) What impact (if any) did their actions have in the three cases of Afghanistan, East Timor and the Solomon Islands? In order to answer these questions adequately, the thesis begins with an introductory review of New Zealand‘s foreign relations, highlighting key relevant events in the country‘s diplomacy. This chapter will be followed in chapter three by a brief introduction of the Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand, its origins, evolution and influences. The main part of the thesis, however, will focus on the country‘s recent foreign troop deployments in East Timor (chapter four), the Solomon Islands (chapter five) and Afghanistan (chapter six) and the actions the Greens undertook to support or oppose those deployments. How the particular political circumstances shaped the nature of these conflicts and the responses to them will be examined in the individual chapters. Finally, in the conclusion I sum up what I believe is the Green Party‘s position and influence on the use of military force. I argue that the Greens have developed a coherent approach to the issue, giving greatest importance to the international legitimacy of the intervention. They have, however, been pragmatic in some respects when it has come to the source of that legitimacy, preferring United Nations support but accepting regional endorsement in the case of the Solomon Islands. Second, I argue that in practice, the Greens had a limited influence on New Zealand‘s military deployments. This has been the case even when the party has been involved in supportive relationships with the government

Different responses of the MIO‑M1 Mueller cell line to angiotensin II under hyperglycemic or hypoxic conditions.

Members of the renin-angiotensin aldosterone system (RAAS) are expressed by various retinal tissues including Mueller glial cells. As the RAAS is hypothesized to play an important role in the pathogenesis of diseases that threaten vision, such as diabetic macular edema or retinal vein occlusion, the possible changes induced by exposure of the human cell line MIO-M1, an established model of Mueller cells, to angiotensin II or aldosterone for 6 h under hypoxic and/or hyperglycemic conditions were investigated. The mRNA expression levels of the members of the RAAS were assessed by reverse transcription-quantitative PCR, and the secretion of cytokines was assessed by ELISA. Under hyperglycemic conditions, the mRNA expression levels of the angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2), angiotensin II receptors, AT1 and AT2, and the receptor of angiotensin (1-7) MAS1 were significantly higher after exposure to angiotensin II, and the expression of ACE2, AT2, and IL-6 (a marker of inflammation) was significantly increased after treatment with aldosterone; the expression of the other targets investigated remained unchanged. Significantly more IL-6 was secreted by MIO-M1 cells exposed to hyperglycemia and angiotensin. When cells were cultured in a hypoxic environment, additional treatment with aldosterone significantly increased the mRNA expression levels of ACE, but significantly more ACE2 mRNA was expressed in the presence of angiotensin II. Under hypoxic plus hyperglycemic conditions, significantly less ACE but more AT2 was expressed after treatment with angiotensin II, which also led to strongly elevated expression of IL-6. The mRNA expression levels of the angiogenic growth factor VEGF-A and secretion of the encoded protein were notably increased under hypoxic and hypoxic plus hyperglycemic conditions, irrespective of additional treatment with angiotensin II or aldosterone. These findings suggest that angiotensin II induces a pro-inflammatory response in MIO-M1 cells under hyperglycemic conditions despite activation of the counteracting ACE2/MAS1 signaling cascade. However, hypoxia results in an increased expression of angiogenic VEGF-A by these cells, which is not altered by angiotensin II or aldosterone

Comprehensive Insights into the Porosity of Lithium-Ion Battery Electrodes: A Comparative Study on Positive Electrodes Based on LiNi0.6Mn0.2Co0.2O2 (NMC622)

Porosity is frequently specified as only a value to describe the microstructure of a battery electrode. However, porosity is a key parameter for the battery electrode performance and mechanical properties such as adhesion and structural electrode integrity during charge/discharge cycling. This study illustrates the importance of using more than one method to describe the electrode microstructure of LiNi0.6Mn0.2Co0.2O2 (NMC622)-based positive electrodes. A correlative approach, from simple thickness measurements to tomography and segmentation, allowed deciphering the true porous electrode structure and to comprehend the advantages and inaccuracies of each of the analytical techniques. Herein, positive electrodes were calendered from a porosity of 44–18% to cover a wide range of electrode microstructures in state-of-the-art lithium-ion batteries. Especially highly densified electrodes cannot simply be described by a close packing of active and inactive material components, since a considerable amount of active material particles crack due to the intense calendering process. Therefore, a digital 3D model was created based on tomography data and simulation of the inactive material, which allowed the investigation of the complete pore network. For lithium-ion batteries, the results of the mercury intrusion experiments in combination with gas physisorption/pycnometry experiments provide comprehensive insight into the microstructure of positive electrodes

New Zealand's Green Party and Foreign Troop Deployments: Views, Values and Impacts

this thesis reviews and analyses the Green Party of New Zealand‘s views on the use of force in international relations, particularly when that involves the deployment of NZ troops. It addresses three key questions: 1) When does the Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand believe it is legitimate to use military force overseas? 2) How have the Greens attempted to influenced the public debate and the parliamentary decision making process regarding to foreign troop deployments? 3) What impact (if any) did their actions have in the three cases of Afghanistan, East Timor and the Solomon Islands? In order to answer these questions adequately, the thesis begins with an introductory review of New Zealand‘s foreign relations, highlighting key relevant events in the country‘s diplomacy. This chapter will be followed in chapter three by a brief introduction of the Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand, its origins, evolution and influences. The main part of the thesis, however, will focus on the country‘s recent foreign troop deployments in East Timor (chapter four), the Solomon Islands (chapter five) and Afghanistan (chapter six) and the actions the Greens undertook to support or oppose those deployments. How the particular political circumstances shaped the nature of these conflicts and the responses to them will be examined in the individual chapters. Finally, in the conclusion I sum up what I believe is the Green Party‘s position and influence on the use of military force. I argue that the Greens have developed a coherent approach to the issue, giving greatest importance to the international legitimacy of the intervention. They have, however, been pragmatic in some respects when it has come to the source of that legitimacy, preferring United Nations support but accepting regional endorsement in the case of the Solomon Islands. Second, I argue that in practice, the Greens had a limited influence on New Zealand‘s military deployments. This has been the case even when the party has been involved in supportive relationships with the government

External Pressure Testing of High Density Polyethylene Pipe

In this paper, a new procedure and a new three coefficient equation is proposed. The new experimental procedure will enable one to perform external pressure tests, while the new equation will enable one to determine the collapse pressure of four inch diameter high density polyethylene pipe. This thesis is part of a three phase program and is a preliminary type of study