Visual Impact Assessment: New Guidance from FHWA

In 2015, in response to a study conducted by the National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP), the FHWA adopted new guidance on how to conduct an assessment of the visual impacts caused by highway projects. The new guidance replaced the agency’s original VIA process published in 1981. The older guidance was premised on the concept that scenic beauty was an attribute inherent in the landscape. It assumed that the less a landscape had been modified by human intervention—that is, the more natural it was—the greater its scenic quality. Although the 1981 FHWA VIA process recognized that people reacted to changes in the landscape, it strictly defined impacts to visual quality only as changes to existing visual resources. The revised 2015 FHWA VIA process was premised on a very different assumption of the nature of the perception of visual quality and, subsequently, visual impacts. The new process was based on the concept of transactional perception, a concept that our perception of the environment, and consequently our assessment of visual impacts, is a result of our interaction with the environment. Visual quality was an experience that could not be isolated in the nature of the environment nor strictly “in the eye of the beholder.” It isn’t made up but it isn’t concrete, either. It is the nebulous interaction between viewers and visual resources. The 2015 FHWA VIA process has four phases—Establishment, Inventory, Analysis, and Design. The Establishment Phase identifies the visual attributes of the proposed project, the legal and customary visual preferences of viewers, and the geographic Area of Visual Effect (AVE). The Inventory Phase identifies the visual resources as being from the natural, cultural, or project environments. It also identifies viewers as either neighbors or travelers. It concludes by defining the experience of visual quality as a composite of three components: 1) the viewer’s perception of the harmony of the AVE’s natural resources, 2) the perceived order of its cultural resources, and 3) the coherence of the resources that were used to build the highway. The Analysis Phase begins by identifying the compatibility of the visual character of the proposed project with the visual character of the surrounding landscape. It continues by identifying the sensitivity viewers will have to the changes to visual resources the project will cause. It concludes by assessing if the project will adversely or beneficially affect the experience of perceiving natural harmony, cultural order, and project coherence of neighbors and travelers. The Design Phase completes the VIA by determining methods for mitigating adverse impacts and advancing beneficial impacts to visual quality

Toughened uni-piece fibrous insulation

A porous body of fibrous, low density silica-based insulation material is at least in part impregnated with a reactive boron oxide containing borosilicate glass frit, a silicon tetraboride fluxing agent and a molybdenum silicide emittance agent. The glass frit, fluxing agent and emittance agent are separately milled to reduce their particle size, then mixed together to produce a slurry in ethanol. The slurry is then applied to the insulation material and sintered to produce the porous body

Representing shakespearean Discourse: hamlet , cymbeline , timon Of Athens And lucrece

In my dissertation, I am concerned with the manner in which verbal and visual categories might be articulated in specific Shakespearean texts: Hamlet, Cymbeline, Timon of Athens and Lucrece. The textual narrative undertakes a new set of relations, and potentially undergoes a phenomenological transformation in stage space. For in the texts of the plays there are numerous references to signifying images which remain open and indeterminate. The nature of such openness becomes problematic in a verbal/visual venue. The manner in which textual editors intervene in order to clarify such openness functions to stabilize the unstable.;The Lucrece documents might be understood to indicate the potential of narratives based in non-dramatic texts. I suggest that the ekphrasis in Lucrece draws attention to itself as a verbally based visual conceit, and compels the reader to recognize the extent to which visuality is textually dependent upon narrative. The Dedication to Lucrece complicates such a relation by drawing attention to the manner in which absence might be discursively constructed.;The Shakespearean playtext is mediated by editors who construct the text and its reception, even if such editions are themselves subject to the influence of production phenomena. In Gertrude\u27s closet, the canonical Hamlet text codifies stage action which is entirely constructed by editorial intervention. Edition-making situates interpretation as well, and the influence of this relation has, I suggest, significant interpretive ramifications.;The verbal/visual nexus is at issue in different playtexts; phenomenological issues arise in Imogen\u27s chamber (in Cymbeline), and in descriptions of the Painter\u27s painting in Timon. And in Timon, the paragone underlines the contestation between verbal and visual categories, for in this playtext the Poet describes visual art. Furthermore, Cymbeline weaves intertextual references inside the web of its own dense yet indeterminate visual imagery, thereby introducing variation into the relation between verbal and visual categories.;While ekphrasis denotes a genre usually associated with poetry and prose, Shakespearean texts, both dramatic and non-dramatic, appear to employ ekphrastic potential to illustrate the indeterminate status and openness of words and images which occasionally appear to stabilize within fictivity. The dissertation explores the extent to which phenomenological questions are raised by the text as script, and draws attention to the problematics of Shakespearean narrative in dramatic and non-dramatic texts

EFFECTS OF NH4CI INGESTION ON PHOSPHOCREATINE METABOLISM DURING MODERATE- AND HEAVY-INTENSITY PLANTAR-FLEXION EXERCISE

Eight male subjects performed moderate- and heavy-intensity plantar-flexion exercise in both a control (CON) and NH4CI ingestion (ACID) trial. Intracellular 11 metabolism was examined using P-magnetic resonance spectroscopy. During the middle and late stages of heavy-intensity exercise, ACID resulted in a lower (P\u3c0.05) intracellular pH (middle: ACID 6.63 vs. CON 6.70; late: ACID 6.64 vs. CON 6.70). Phosphocreatine [PCr] (P\u3c0.05) was lower in ACID during the early [ACID 18.14 vs. CON 20.40 mmol/1] and middle [ACID 14.12 vs. CON 16.73 mmol/1] stages of heavy- intensity exercise. ACID did not affect the magnitude of the PCr slow component [ACID 2.7 vs. CON 4.0 mmol/1] (P\u3e0.05). Fundamental phase PCr breakdown kinetics demonstrated greater amplitude (P\u3c0.05) during heavy-intensity exercise in ACID [ACID: 14.54 vs. CON: 11.31 mmol/1] with no difference in the time constant. In summary, NH4CI ingestion increased PCr breakdown during heavy-intensity exercise with no affect on the PCr slow component

Non-native contrasts in Tongan loans

We present three case studies of marginal contrasts in Tongan loans from English, working with data from three speakers. Although Tongan lacks contrasts in stress or in CC vs. CVC sequences, secondary stress in loans is contrastive, and is sensitive to whether a vowel has a correspondent in the English source word; vowel deletion is also sensitive to whether a vowel is epenthetic as compared to the English source; and final vowel length is sensitive to whether the penultimate vowel is epenthetic, and if not, whether it corresponds to a stressed or unstressed vowel in the English source. We provide an analysis in the multilevel model of Boersma (1998) and Boersma & Hamann (2009), and show that the loan patterns can be captured using only constraints that plausibly are needed for native-word phonology, including constraints that reflect perceptual strategies

Sophisticated Mediators: New Zealand-Born Samoan First-Time Mothers and Strategies for Their Health and Wellbeing

This thesis explores the experiences of four New Zealand-born Samoan first time mothers during pregnancy, childbirth and early motherhood living in Wellington. The impetus for this research arose from findings that showed a considerable variation in the prevalence of postnatal depression between Samoan women (7.6%), Tongan women (30.9%) and others (20% for all New Zealand mothers). Qualitative, face-to-face individual interviews were conducted within a qualitative feminist framework. The two interviews with each woman were conducted during the last trimester of their pregnancy (28+weeks gestation); and 12 months post-birth. The thesis drew upon the four-element model – Epistemology, Theoretical Perspective, Methodology and Methods to provide a framework to conceptualise and clarify the foundation for this research project. Thus the thesis is best described as a feminist phenomenological social constructionist approach. The findings revealed the women of this study were „Sophisticated Mediators‟ who, although faced with many challenges throughout their pregnancy, childbirth and early motherhood experiences, mediated successfully between, and within, existing cultural and belief systems i.e. Samoan traditional values and New Zealand cultural system; to acquire or maintain resilience toward depressive symptoms during early motherhood. Support structures such as family, in particular mothers, proved to be a vital source of support for the women. Recommendations arising from the research are targeted at support providers and family members and this is discussed in detail. Antenatal care was important although antenatal classes not so; conversely, the women were high adopters of technology in the form of the internet to access information. It is vital for support providers to recognise the high regard the women had for the internet as a source of valuable and easily accessible information, and utilise those avenues more to provide information that will complement or improve the existing support structures. During the antenatal period, women should be encouraged to develop or strengthen relationships with a significant female who will be with them throughout the childbirth and early motherhood process

Fatty acids and monoglycerides as novel prophylaxis against gonococcal ophthalmia neonatorum

Neonates born to mothers with an active gonorrhoea infection can develop serious sight threatening eye infections. The causative agent, Neisseria gonorrhoeae, is passed to the neonate during birth, and infects the eyes of the neonate. The condition, ophthalmia neonatorum, develops 0-14 days after birth and initially presents as a painful inflammation of the eye with yellowish purulent discharge from one or both eyes. One preventative action used by some countries is the use of an ophthalmic prophylaxis which is usually an ophthalmic ointment which contains an antibiotic. This its self can cause chemical conjunctivitis. This study evaluates the potential to use a fatty acid or fatty acid derivative as the active antimicrobial agent in an ophthalmic prophylaxis. A panel of thirty-seven initial candidates were screened for anti-gonococcal properties. Seven of this panel were selected and tested against for ocular irritation potential using in vitro models and anti-gonococcal properties tested further in simulated tear fluid. Finally a single candidate, monocaprin, was selected as the main drug candidate. Ophthalmic formulations of liquid and semi-solid dosage forms were made and evaluated. Liquid dosage forms performed the best in in vitro tested and were further evaluated in cell culture and explanted models. The cell culture model suggested that monocaprin could be used to prevent infection 90 minutes after the cell were inoculated with the bacteria. An explanted corneal infection model was used to assess the potential formulations. It was shown that the anti-gonococcal properties of the drug candidate were inhibited on the ocular surface but this this could be countered by increasing the amount of monocaprin in the formulation. The formulations containing 0.188 % and 0.25 % (w/w) monocaprin were in some cases able to totally clear inoculations of higher cell numbers on the surface of the eye. Passage on agar plates containing monocaprin showed that increasing resistance due to genomic mutation is not likely and that existing mechanisms of fatty acid resistance did not give cross-resistance to monocaprin. However, duplicate samples passaged on monocaprin both acquired identical mutations in the dksA gene which may confer a small decrease in susceptibility. Also, work done on the processing of natural sources of fatty acids showed that treatment of coconut oil by use of a purified lipase or a lipase secreting yeast produced powerful anti-gonococcal substances. This could has the potential to be used in developing nations treat gonococcal and other bacterial infection. Overall, the work in thesis demonstrates that there is potential in the use a fatty acid or fatty acid derivative, most likely monocaprin, to be used as the active antimicrobial agent in an ophthalmic prophylaxis but more evaluation in terms of in vivo testing is required to demonstrate that the higher levels of monocaprin do not cause irritation to the eye

Researching teacher educators’ preparedness to teach to and about diversity : Investigating epistemic reflexivity as a new conceptual framework

There is growing international concern about the extent to which teachers are prepared to work with an increasingly diverse student (and community) population. To date, research into the relationship between teacher preparation and preparedness to teach diverse learners has not focused on teacher educators’ understandings about teaching to/about diversity. Such understandings can be informed by epistemic aspects of professional work. Epistemic cognitions (cognitions about knowledge and knowing) allow professionals to generate perspectives necessary to tackle new and old challenges. The social lab reported in this paper investigated 12 Australian teacher educators’ perspectives about teaching to/about diversity using the 3R-Epistemic Cognition (EC) framework. The findings showed that the 3R-EC framework could be useful for capturing epistemic reflexive dialogues about teaching to/about diversity, although some aspects of the framework were identified by the teacher educators as challenging. On the basis of these identified challenges, refinements concerning communication and use of the 3R-EC framework were identified. The feedback also led to some refinements of the social lab methodology for use in the larger national study

Mutations in Neisseria gonorrhoeae grown in sub-lethal concentrations of monocaprin do not confer resistance

Neisseria gonorrhoeae, due to its short lipooligosaccharide structure, is generally more sensitive to the antimicrobial effects of some fatty acids than most other Gram negative bacteria. This supports recent development of a fatty acid-based potential treatment for gonococcal infections, particularly ophthalmia neonatorum. The N. gonorrhoeae genome contains genes for fatty acid resistance. In this study, the potential for genomic mutations that could lead to resistance to this potential new treatment were investigated. N. gonorrhoeae strain NCCP11945 was repeatedly passaged on growth media containing a sub-lethal concentration of fatty acid myristic acid and monoglyceride monocaprin. Cultures were re-sequenced and assessed for changes in minimum inhibitory concentration. Of note, monocaprin grown cultures developed a mutation in transcription factor gene dksA, which suppresses molecular chaperone DnaK and may be involved in the stress response. The minimum inhibitory concentration after exposure to monocaprin showed a modest two-fold change. The results of this study suggest that N. gonorrhoeae cannot readily evolve resistance that will impact treatment of ophthalmia neonatorum with monocaprin