California librarians and the Vietnam War, 1967--1972.

Just like other segments of society, librarianship was affected by the Vietnam War and the parallel antiwar movement, though in varying degrees. The war precipitated a debate among librarians about whether, in a profession that prides itself on neutrality, it is appropriate to speak out on political matters. In California, a state that was both heavily dependent on military spending and the home of a strong antiwar movement, some individual librarians did take a stand against the war, as did the California Library Association. Primarily, though, librarians concentrated on providing information to citizens to help them make informed decisions, coming up with innovative ways to serve patrons when material on the war was needed most. This research shows that despite their personal sentiments, California librarians endeavored to offer collections that showed both sides of the issue. The Vietnam War did not significantly change library philosophy in itself; however, as one of the issues that caused societal changes in the late sixties and early seventies, the war had an impact, perhaps even a lasting one, on library service

Investigating emerging market economies Reverse REIT-Bond Yield Gap anomalies: a case for tactical asset allocation under the multivariate Markov regime switching model

Submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Masters of Management in Finance and Investments In the Faculty of Commerce, Law and Management University of the Witwatersrand, Wits Business School, 2016This paper presents a first time application of a variant of the concepts underpinning the Fed Model, amalgamated with the Bond-Stock Earnings Yield Differential, by applying it to the dividend yields of REIT indices. This modification is termed the yield gap, quantitatively constructed and adapted in this paper as the Reverse REIT-Bond Yield Gap. This metric is then used as the variable of interest in a multivariate Markov regime switching model framework, along with a set of three regressors. The REIT indices trailing dividend yield and associated metrics are the FTSE/EPRA NAREIT series. All data are from Bloomberg Terminals. This paper examines 11 markets, of which the EMEs are classified as Brazil, Mexico, Turkey and South Africa, whereas the advanced market counterparts are Australia, France, Japan, the Netherlands, Singapore, the United Kingdom, and the United States. The time-frame spans the period June 2013 until November 2015 for the EMEs, whilst their advanced market counterparts time-span covers the period November 2009 until November 2015. This paper encompasses a tri-fold research objective, and aims to accomplish them in a scientifically-based, objective and coherent fashion. Specifically, the purpose is in an attempt to gauge the reasons underlying EMEs observed anomalies entailing reverse REIT-Bond yield gaps, whereby their tenyear nominal government bonds out-yield their trailing dividend yields on their associated REIT indices; what drives fluctuations in this metric; and whether or not profitable tactical asset allocation strategies can be formulated to exploit any arbitrage mispricing opportunities. The Markov models were unable to generate clear-cut, definitive reasons regarding why EMEs experience this anomaly. Objectives two and three were achieved, except for France and Mexico. The third objective was also met. The REIT-Bond Yield Gaps static conditions have high probabilities of continuing in the same direction and magnitude into the future. In retrospection, the results suggest that by positioning an investment strategy, taking cognisance of the chain of economic events that are likely to occur following static REIT-Bond Yield Gaps, then investors, portfolio rebalancing and risk management techniques, hedging, targeted, tactical and strategic asset allocation strategies could be formulated to exploit any potential arbitrage profits. The REIT-Bond Yield Gaps are considered highly contentious, yet encompasses the potential for significant reward. The Fed Model insinuates that EME REIT markets are overvalued relative to their respective government bonds, whereas their advanced market counterparts exhibit the opposite phenomenon.XL201

The Hunt in Huntington: What Causes Toxicity?

Huntington’s disease (HD) is an autosomal dominant neurodegenerative disease caused by a CAG repeat mutation in exon 1 of the HD gene. This repeat expansion leads to an extended polyglutamine tract in the huntingtin (htt) protein. Symptoms of HD are associated with hyperkinectivity and include chorea as well as other motor abnormalities. Degeneration is most apparent in a region of the striatum called the caudate putamen. Loss of GABAergic spiny projection neurons in this area leads to motor problems. My lab has made significant contributions to the understanding of HD by developing the commonly used R6/2 transgenic mouse model. The development of this model has led to our discovery of htt protein aggregates in mice and humans, which are presumably associated with neurodegeneration and compromise of the degradation pathway. Evidence suggests that mutant htt alters gene transcription factors (CREB binding protein, and SP1), p53 dependent apoptosis, transport of BDNF, interactions with caspases and proteasomes, as well as mitochondrial function. Treatment strategies include environmental enrichment, anti-apoptosis drugs, and gene therapy. While a cure for HD remains to be uncovered, newly proposed mechanisms of toxicity should lead to promising clinical trials

ECONOMIC IMPACTS OF THE CONDITIONAL AG WAIVER

This study was done to evaluate the costs associated with the Ag Waiver of Discharges from Irrigated Agricultural Lands. In order to determine the feasibility of this policy for the agricultural community across the Central Coast region, a thorough analysis of Appendix F: Cost Considerations was conducted. The ultimate goal of this water policy is to ensure drinking water quality across the Central Coast of California and therefore examining the benefits to public health was critical to determine the importance of this policy. This report examines the scope of implementing this policy and the extensive economic impacts upon the agricultural community. An evaluation of the benefits to public health accredited to improved water quality or the lack thereof is essential to comprehend the inevitability of a regulatory policy of agricultural discharges. Extensive interviews with and comments from farmers and ranchers as well as organizations that represent agricultural industry in the region provided information regarding the feasibility of this policy for growers across the region. It was determined that the regulations associated with the Ag Waiver are stringent and numerous and have the potential to force many growers out of business. Based on this conclusion it is important that a policy be implemented with guidelines that are feasible for growers and still manage to ensure a continued effort to improve water quality across the Central Coast

Engineering Hydrogels for Delivery of Therapeutic Proteins

In this project, we investigate how innate hydrogel properties can be leveraged for controlled protein drug release platforms. Therapeutic proteins have many valuable applications within the medical field, however, professionals often face many obstacles with obtaining controlled drug release. This paper analyzes how the manipulation of hydrogel properties can improve protein drug release rates. We started these investigations by varying hydrogel concentrations since we saw that this affects the release of small molecules. Additionally, we wanted to see what the addition of a second hydrogel network would do to protein release rates. These experiments concluded that raising polymer concentrations and adding secondary polymers to hydrogel drug delivery systems resulted in more linear and controlled protein release profiles

Shaping Time in Music: Explorations in Localised Temporalities: A Portfolio of Compositions with Accompanying Commentaries

This commentary stands as the companion to my portfolio of compositions. To provide clarity to the reader, I have sectioned this commentary into two distinct parts. The first part stands as a theoretical framework and the underlying foundation for my music. This framework covers issues pertaining to the fields of philosophy, psychology and composition. The second part consists of commentaries for the individual pieces, responding to the issues discussed in the framework. Chapters 1-3 will cover the philosophical underpinnings of my portfolio including an investigation of temporal ontologies and the perception of music. This includes exploration of the definitions of objective and subjective time and how Bergsonian principles of space and duration can influence the structure of musical composition. I will also pose some fundamental questions as to our experience of time, and whether time as we know it, actually exists at all, in order to introduce the temporal framework underpinning my own ideas on music. Additionally, I will present the way we comprehend musical structure, in a global context. In Chapters 4 and 5, I will explore the structures for experiential time and local listening, and how this relates to the forms for which my music will adhere/take inspiration from. This will involve looking at compositional discourse, techniques and insights into experiential form. I conclude my theoretical framework by summarising the underlying structures that underpin my compositional aesthetic. Moreover, I give a brief insight into my own stylistic approaches to music that fall outside of the temporal ideology as part of the portfolio. The second part of my commentary brings together the concepts and techniques outlined in the theoretical framework and applies them against my own work. Any accompanying documentation needed has been provided in the appendices of this portfolio and has been clearly labelled in both the document and the contents

Environment and interspecific interactions at the margin of species ranges: a spatial analysis of forest communities

Problem: Species’ geographic ranges are determined, in part, by suitable environmental conditions, the ability to reach sites possessing those environmental conditions, and the capability to survive interactions with other species until reproductive age. Species’ geographic ranges and community composition have been related to environmental conditions frequently, to dispersal limitation infrequently, and rarely to biotic interactions. This dissertation utilizes spatially explicit analysis to further elucidate the effect of geography on community composition, beta diversity, interspecific interactions, and the intersections of them on species’ geographic ranges. Contradictory evidence suggests that interspecific interactions become either more facilitative or competitive with increasing stress, however results appear to be affected by the scale of study. Therefore, I performed a regional scale study to analyze interspecific interactions across a regional stress gradient, the proximity to a species’ range margin. Methods: Bottomland and upland forests consisting of 91 species across 307 sites were analyzed across spatial and environmental gradients. Sites were separated on the basis of species presence using a Nonmetric Multidimensional Scaling ordination and grouped using an agglomerative hierarchical clustering algorithm. To explain variance in community composition, climate, spatial, and edaphic variables were related to species presence across sites with a Redundancy Analysis ordination which uses multiple Canonical Correspondence Analyses. Species’ range margins were delineated using species occurrence data from the Forest Inventory and Analysis with MaxEnt modeling software. In order to test how interspecific interactions change across species’ ranges, a spatially explicit model assessing co-occurrence in groups of nearest neighbor sites was created using Python programming language. Interspecific interactions were subsequently compared to randomly generating communities. Results: Species within site groups respond primarily to average annual precipitation and secondarily to the standard deviation in monthly precipitation. Sites are more aggregated in environmental space than physical space. Variation in community composition is best explained by climatic variables (22%) followed by spatial (9.9%) and edaphic (9.8%) variables. Beta diversity is significantly positively correlated with climate distance, mammal and bird beta diversity, the variance in distances to species’ range margins, and soil texture distance between sites. Net interspecific interactions monotonically shift from competitive to facilitative with proximity to species’ range margins. Species exhibit monotonic, unimodal, and multimodal relationships between net interaction intensity and proximity to their respective range margins in approximately equal proportions. As conditions become more favorable, species within a genus interact more competitively than species of different genera. Both locally rare and locally dominant species experience net competitive interactions, while locally common species experience net facilitative interactions. Regionally dominant species experience a greater intensity of net competitive interactions and do not experience net facilitative interactions across the stress gradient. Regionally rare species experience relatively net neutral interactions; however, they experience net facilitative interactions beyond their range margins. Net interactions in null communities are of higher competitive intensity regardless of proximity to range margins. Significance: By discerning the effects of environment, space, and interspecific interactions on community composition, this dissertation serves to improve our understanding about the structure of species’ ranges. Projected climate change may force species to adapt to novel conditions or migrate to suitable habitat. Additionally, species will likely exist in communities consisting of different species assemblages. Modeling community composition is difficult since research on the change of biotic interactions through space and through species’ ranges is deficient. Analyzing the proximity to range margins as a surrogate for stress provides a spatial framework for utilizing biotic interactions in the modeling of species’ geographic ranges. For sessile organisms such as trees, dispersal of propagules is the primary method of shifting or expanding the species’ range. Facilitative interactions at shifting range margins may provide refuge for propagules facing stressful environmental conditions. Finally, results on how interactions affect species performance across their geographic range inform broader discussion of the species niche. I have provided spatial evidence that the realized niche of a species is expanded through net facilitative interactions beyond species’ range margins. Understanding the role of facilitative interactions at range margins may improve upon and direct conservation efforts for species at risk under projected climate change

Computational modelling of full aperture easy open ends for improved can end design.

Easy-Open-End`s (EOE) in can design are increasing within the can making industry, drink can EOE's known as pouring aperture's are now widely used because of their consumer friendliness. Following this trend manufacturers are developing EOE's with near full aperture opening, for use in the food can market, known as Full- Aperture-Easy-Open-Ends (FAEOE) they eliminate the need for can opening devices. FAEOE's are manufactured from metals such as aluminium and increasingly steel, all incorporate a shared design feature whereby the can end incorporates a circumferential score with integral pull-tab that enables the consumer to easily gain access by lifting the tab to initiate a fracture that then pro])agates around the circumferential score. For competitiveness, the steel end manufacturer needs to use a thinner gauge whilst at the same time refining the design to improve opening performance. Traditionally, end optimisation is a long-drawn- out process, but now, modern computational methods may have the potential to allow end optimisation to be modelled accurately. The damage and fracture mechanisms that lead to crack initiation and propagation in the opening process are not fully understood, therefore optimisation of easy open end scores is largely based on trial and error. This thesis presents an experimental analysis that concentrates on the combined shear and bending forces as applied to the particular industrial method concerning full aperture easy open ends, together with a computational analysis that concentrates on the simulation of score forming and the damage that accumulates as a punch is pressed into thin steel sheet. The use of damage models within simulation is steadily increasing along with having greater accuracy in tension, however, descriptions of performance in compression and shear are relatively hard to find. Damage simulation of score forming should help provide better knowledge of the mechanisms present when opening easy open ends and give additional understanding of the novel experiments that have been undertaken for dissimilar loading modes; this understanding will eventually lead to the development of a complete multi-mode model for can end optimisation. The influence of a gradually increasing gap on traditional groove geometries and depths are examined for modern packaging steels. Earlier studies have shown that the complete opening cycle depends on fracture modes I, II and III as well as their combination. Experimental results for modes I II and III will be presented, however, attention will focus on the behaviour of the initial fracture point whereby prior investigations have shown it to be influenced primarily by mode II shearing. After initial specimen manufacture, where the score is formed by pressing a punch into a thin steel sheet, the predeformed scored specimens are loaded in shear to simulate the local stress held found during the initial opening phase. Experiments have been completed using a novel mode II experimental technique that has been designed for use in the majority of commercially available tensile test machines. Experimental results indicate that opening forces can change radically with different gap sizes and that there is considerable potential for the industrialised process of can end manufacture to be optimised through the efficient management and control of the can ends dimensional parameters