Senior Capstone Lecture: Hannah Jarvis, composer

This lecture is presented in partial fulfillment of requirements for the degree Bachelor of Arts in Music Composition. Ms. Jarvis studies composition with Laurence Sherr.https://digitalcommons.kennesaw.edu/musicprograms/1116/thumbnail.jp

Sopsortering som exempel på ekologisk modernisering

Hållbar utveckling är ett begrepp som fått omfattande spridning och som i stadsbyggnad idag är ett nyckelbegrepp som implementeras i stadsplanering. När man byggde Smaragden, ett lägenhetshus i Uppsala gjorde man detta med vision om en hållbar bostad som uppmuntrar de boende till hållbara val. Syftet med det här arbetet har varit att studera och analysera förutsättningarna för de boende i Smaragden att göra dessa hållbara val när det kommer till sopsortering. En fallstudie på Smaragden genomfördes med platsbesök och en studie av intervjuer med de boende. Detta kombinerades med en litteraturstudie om avfall och ekologisk modernisering vilket sattes i relation till fallstudien. De boendes egna insatser för sortering var av varierande grad. Deras uppfattning om sopsortering var att det är ett sätt att vara miljömedvetna och bidra till en hållbar utveckling, men de fann att systemet i Smaragden inte var fullt uppmuntrande till detta. Sopsortering analyserades som ett exempel på ekologisk modernisering där man istället för att förändra samhällsstrukturen har funnit ett tekniskt system för att lösa problemen i änden av produkters livscykel. Med ekologisk modernisering menar man att kunskapsspridning kring miljöproblemen och utvecklad teknik kan vara tillräckligt och att en förändring i samhällsstrukturen inte behöver genomföras. Studiens slutsats är att sopsortering inte nödvändigtvis är ett exempel på hur man lever hållbart men ett bra exempel på ekologisk modernisering och en lösning som inte krävt en förändrad samhällsstruktur. Att sopsortera är för de boende ett sätt att leva mer hållbart än om de inte sorterade. Därför borde man i planering av avfallsutrymmen till så stor grad som möjligt underlätta för sortering men i grunden är sopsortering bara del av lösningen på ett större resursanvändningsproblem.Sustainable development is a widely used concept and a key concept used in city planning and urban construction. When they built Smaragden, a building with apartments in Uppsala, they had a vision of a sustainable building which would encourage the residents to make sustainable choices. The aim of this study was to observe and analyze what the conditions for the residents were to make sustainable choices regarding waste management. A case study was performed on Smaragden by visiting the building and taking part of interviews with the residents. This was combined with a literature study on waste management and ecological modernization, which was put in relation to the case study. The residents’ efforts towards waste separation were of varying degrees. They saw waste separation as a way of being environmentally conscious and a way of living more sustainably. However, they found the system for waste management in Smaragden not quite fulfilling this purpose. Waste management was studied as an example of ecological modernization where, instead of changing the societal structures, a technical system has been introduced to solve the problems at the end of products life cycles. The theory of ecological modernization is that a widened knowledge and developed technology is enough and that there is no need for a change in society. The conclusion of the study is that sustainable waste management is not a great example of sustainability but a good example of ecological modernization and a solution which does not require structural changes. For the residents it is a more sustainable way of living to separate their waste than not to. Therefore the area for waste management in buildings should be planned to an extent where waste sorting is made easy and encouraged. However, waste separation is just part of the solution to the bigger problem with resource consumption

Circulation of pathogenic spirochetes in the genus Borrelia within ticks and seabirds in breeding colonies of Newfoundland and Labrador

Birds are the reservoir hosts of Borrelia garinii, the primary causative agent of neurological Lyme disease. In 1991 it was also discovered in the seabird tick, Ixodes uriae, in a seabird colony in Sweden, and subsequently has been found in seabird ticks globally. In 2005, the bacterium was found in seabird colonies in Newfoundland and Labrador (NL); representing its first documentation in the western Atlantic and North America. In this thesis, aspects of enzootic B. garinii transmission cycles were studied at five seabird colonies in NL. First, seasonality of I. uriae ticks in seabird colonies observed from 2011 to 2015 was elucidated using qualitative model-based statistics. All instars were found throughout the June-August study period, although larvae had one peak in June, and adults had two peaks (in June and August). Tick numbers varied across sites, year, and with climate. Second, Borrelia transmission cycles were explored by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) to assess Borrelia spp. infection prevalence in the ticks and by serological methods to assess evidence of infection in seabirds. Of the ticks, 7.5% were PCR-positive for B. garinii, and 78.8% of seabirds were sero-positive, indicating that B. garinii transmission cycles are occurring in the colonies studied. Five I. uriae from two seabird colonies were positive for the Asian strain of the Lyme disease-causing species, B. bavariensis, which has previously only been described from the terrestrial realm associated with rodent reservoirs. The complete microbiome of ticks from two seabird colonies was also explored, which was consistent with PCR-based estimates of Borrelia spp. prevalence and identified infections with Coxiella and Ehrlichia spp., which may also be tick-borne. Third, the phylogenetic relationships of B. garinii found in the study samples, with B. garinii from elsewhere in the world, were explored using concatenated multi-locus sequence typing (MLST) gene sequences. This revealed close relationships between B. garinii in Eurasia and seabird colonies in NL. These results add to our knowledge of all levels of this complex, under-studied system, and help to inform us on how seabirds facilitate the global dispersion of B. garinii and other Borrelia species

Chapter 5 Respiratory Syncytial Virus

Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) infection has an estimated global incidence of 33 million cases in children younger than 5 years, with 10% requiring hospital admission and up to 199,000 dying of the disease. There is growing evidence that severe infantile RSV bronchiolitis, a condition characterised by an inflammatory reaction to the virus, is associated with later childhood wheeze in some vulnerable children; however, a direct causal relationship with asthma has not yet been established. It is also increasingly recognised as a cause of morbidity and mortality in those with underlying airway disease, immunocompromise and frail elderly persons. Novel molecular based diagnostic tools are becoming established but treatment largely remains supportive, with palivizumab being the only licensed agent currently available for passive prophylaxis of selected pre-term infants. Whilst effective treatments remain elusive, there is optimism about the testing of novel antiviral drugs and the development of vaccines that may induce long-lasting immunity without the risk of disease augmentation

Beginner\u27s Guide to Common Native Bees

Utah is a superb place for beginning bee enthusiasts. Over 1,000 species of native bees exist in Utah (Cane, 2015). Southern Utah alone has approximately the same number of bee species as the entire eastern U.S. coast. There are many reasons for appreciating bees and encouraging their presence in the landscape. Specifically, bees are key to a sustainable environment as they are essential pollinators of food and fiber crops. Bees can also be appreciated for their striking diversity in color and size. This fact sheet highlights the different bee species that you may see in Utah

The importance of the rehabilitation program following an internal hemipelvectomy and reconstrucion with limb salvage - gait analysis and outcomes: a case study

Background: Chondrosarcomas account for approximately 20% of bone sarcomas, with the most common site being the lower limb. Hemipelvectomies that involve hindquarter amputation have previously been the treatment of choice for pelvic tumors. However, with advances in chemotherapy, radiotherapy, imaging and surgical techniques more patients are now being treated with limb salvage surgery. The rehabilitation outcomes following an internal hemipelvectomy have not been well identified and there is currently little, if any, gait analysis data on rehabilitation following hemipelvectomy in limb salvage patients. Case description: A 53-year-old male underwent an internal hemipelvectomy with limb salvage followed by a 2-year rehabilitation program. The aim of this case study is to describe temporal and spatial parameters, metabolic energy expenditure and joint kinematics of a patient with an internal hemipelvectomy who underwent a wide excision of a chondrosarcoma followed by intensive rehabilitation. Outcomes: Walking speed (1.6 m/s), stride length (1.7 m), stride width (0.13 m) and good symmetry in step length (right 0.85 m and left data 0.80 m) and stance time (right 62% and left 59%) indicate a walking pattern similar to the asymptomatic able bodied. Oxygen consumption was 16.6 ml/kg/min and oxygen cost 0.17 ml/kg/m. Discussion: Following the intensive 2-year rehabilitation program this patient’s gait pattern was similar to a control group with no statistically significant difference in the movement of the left and right knee and ankle joints. Some differences were identified against the control group in respect of the movement of the pelvis and hips, but this is partly to be expected. This case study highlights the functional outcomes that can be achieved following limb salvage surgery with intensive rehabilitation and a high level of motivation from the individual

Distribution of crop wild relatives of conservation priority in the UK landscape

Many crop species suffer from a lack of genetic diversity which reduces the ability of cultivars to withstand new pests or environmental stresses. The wild relatives of crop plants are an important source of genetic variation and can be used to introduce new traits into existing crops. Identification and conservation of crop wild relatives (CWR) is, therefore, an important step to safeguard future food security. Recent efforts have identified geographical hotspots of CWR diversity in several countries but, as yet, there have been no surveys to identify the habitats and landscape features within these areas that might be most suitable for conservation efforts. Here, we use a UK-wide vegetation survey covering a range of both habitats and landscape features (e.g. fields, hedgerows, waterways and roadsides) to identify the habitats and features with the highest proportion of CWR identified as priority taxa for conservation. Priority CWR were most abundant in grassland habitats, although this was most striking in CWR related to forage and fodder crops. CWR related to food crops were most common in cropped and weedy areas, fertile grassland and lowland woodland. Within habitats, CWR occurrence was significantly associated with linear features including hedgerows, roadsides, field boundaries and field margins. Our findings indicate that CWR of conservation interest are often associated with disturbed habitats and landscape features that are not considered as priorities under site-based conservation measures. We suggest that efforts to maintain linear features in hotspots of CWR diversity would be most effective at conserving the UK's CWR resource

Assessing spatiotemporal relationships between atmospheric nitrogen deposition and butterfly species records through statistical modelling

Atmospheric nitrogen deposition has been linked with an overall loss of plant species richness and homogenisation of semi-natural habitats both in GB and elsewhere. We expect that nitrogen-induced changes in plant communities will impact invertebrate species through the loss of reproductive habitat, food plants and suitable microclimatic conditions caused by the shifts in composition of plant communities. Prior to this thesis, no quantitative research had been undertaken to assess the potential effects of nitrogen on fauna in GB. Butterflies are often used as indicator species due to their sensitivity to environmental change, our comprehensive understanding of their ecology, and the existence of long-term datasets on their abundance and distribution. In this study, I analysed butterfly data from the UK Butterfly Monitoring Scheme alongside data on expected driver variables including nitrogen deposition, sulphur deposition, temperature, rainfall, land use intensity, and elevation. I performed a spatio-temporal analysis on the data for each species individually using generalised additive models to understand the complex and expected non-linear relationships between butterfly trends and their drivers. Model results were summarised to provide an overview of the total number of species exhibiting responses to nitrogen. In addition, results were summarised by trait groupings such as voltinism, host plant category, host plant specificity, and breeding habitat to summarise whether any trait groupings may be particularly strongly impacted by nitrogen pollution. In addition, I performed further detailed analysis on Lasiommata megera, the Wall Brown butterfly, which has been shown to be negatively impacted by nitrogen in studies undertaken elsewhere in Europe. I ran a similar spatio-temporal analysis to that mentioned above, but with the addition of two variables I hypothesised would be key drivers of L. megera: temperature in the previous September and elevation. The results for this additional analysis were presented separately. I demonstrated that individual butterfly species vary in their relationships with nitrogen deposition and highlighted both species-level and potential trait level responses. Nine butterfly species were negatively correlated with historic nitrogen deposition, and nine were negatively correlated with percentage change in nitrogen deposition at the site over time. Two species showed significant negative relationships with both historic nitrogen deposition and percentage change in nitrogen deposition over time: Fabriciana adippe (High Brown Fritillary) and Hipparchia semele (Grayling). These findings suggest that there is a strong correlative relationship between nitrogen deposition and the abundance of many butterfly species in GB. Other key drivers of change identified in this analysis were time, rainfall, and temperature in the current and previous year. I also demonstrated a strong relationship between abundance of L. megera and historic nitrogen deposition using the model with more detailed covariates. Initial summaries based on traits were inconclusive, not highlighting any particular trait groupings as being especially susceptible to the effects of nitrogen pollution. The results of this study present the first correlative link between nitrogen deposition and negative impacts on terrestrial fauna in GB. It reinforces the importance of continued efforts to reduce emissions to protect the natural environment. It also provides a basis for further field and lab-based work to be undertaken to better understand the causal mechanisms behind the observed relationships

Development, validation and use of a musculoskeletal model for transtibial amputation: biomechanical evidence for increased rates of osteoarthritis of the uninjured limb

High functioning military transtibial amputees (TTAs) with well‐fitted state of the art prosthetics have gait that is indistinguishable from healthy individuals, yet they are more likely to develop knee osteoarthritis (OA) of their intact limbs. This contrasts with the information at the knees of the amputated limbs that have been shown to be at a significantly reduced risk of pain and OA. The hypothesis of this study is that biomechanics can explain the difference in knee OA risk. Eleven military unilateral TTAs and eleven matched healthy controls underwent gait analysis. Muscle forces and joint contact forces at the knee were quantified using musculoskeletal modeling, validated using electromyography measurements. Peak knee contact forces for the intact limbs on both the medial and lateral compartments were significantly greater than the healthy controls (P ≤ .006). Additionally, the intact limbs had greater peak semimembranosus (P = .001) and gastrocnemius (P ≤ .001) muscle forces compared to the controls. This study has for the first time provided robust evidence of increased force on the non‐affected knees of high functioning TTAs that supports the mechanically based hypothesis to explain the documented higher risk of knee OA in this patient group. The results suggest several protentional strategies to mitigate knee OA of the intact limbs, which may include the improvements of the prosthetic foot control, socket design, and strengthening of the amputated muscles