Pasteurella haemolytica in sheep: some studies on pathogenesis

Paateurella haemolytica. a common commensal of the nasal passages and tonsils of many healthy sheep, can, under circumstances still imperfectly defined, invade other tissues and cause severe and often fatal disease. Two distinct syndromes are recognized » acute pneumonia due to biotype A serotypes and acute systemic infection of 6 - 12 month old sheep with biotype T serotypes. For neither syndrome is the pathogenesis of disease properly understood and experimental reproduction of disease has been achieved only with pneumonic pasteurellosis. The main objective of the work described in this thesis was to contribute to knowledge of the pathogenesis of ovine pasteurellosis, particularly the systemic disease caused by T serotypes.By repeated tonsillar swabbing of 37 lambs from birth to 12 weeks of age it was established that the tonsils can be colonized within hours of birth, presumably through intimate contact between lambs and their commensally infected dams. Initially isolations were exclusively of A serotypes and untypable strains while T serotypes first appeared at 3 weeks but were the main isolations (>80%) by 9 weeks of age. In lambs under 2 months old a single topical infection of the tonsils with a mixed T serotype culture provoked a definite but transient local inflammatory response.On the basis of the foregoing result further attempts were made to reproduce systemic pasteurellosis in groups of 6 sheep aged between 7 and. 9 months. Superficial abrasion of tonsillar and pharyngeal mucosa caused a moderate, local inflammatory response but did not modify the activity of the pre-existing commensal population of T serotypes. Supplementary infection of abraded tonsils with a mixed T serotype culture did not exacerbate the local inflammatory changes. Conversely, when infection preceded abrasion more severe local lesions developed but there was no dissemination of infection.Experiments in mice demonstrated that the LD₅₀ of T serotypes of P. haemolytica could be reduced significantly (p<0.0l) by giving the mice ionic iron (ferric ammonium citrate) intravenously immediately before intraperitoneal infection. Similarly, sheep injected with iron developed a severe local reaction to experi¬ mental tonsillar infection with subsequent systemic spread of T serotypes.Verification of these findings was obtained in a single comparative experiment using 7-10 week old lambs. Within the experiment a gradation in severity of response to tonsillar infection was observed between:- a) infection of intact tonsils b) infection of abraded tonsils c) infection of abraded tonsils in iron-treated lambs.Only in the latter group was there evidence of systemic spread of infection.Antisera produced by immunizing chickens with live bacteria of selected individual serotypes were rendered serotype-specific and used for indirect immunofluorescence study of tissues from normal, diseased and experimentally infected sheep. In normal animals T serotypes were distributed only over the tonsillar surface and in relatively small numbers but in diseased and experimentally infected sheep P. haemolytiea had invaded the tonsillar crypts, breached the epithelial barrier and been disseminated to other organs. These findings support the hypothesis that in systemic pasteurellosis the tonsils may act as a primary focus of infection from which bacteria are dissemin¬ ated to other organs. However, the factors which result in the conversion of commensal P. haemolytica into invasive microorganisms remain undetermined.Though producing neither the full range nor severity of lesions encountered in natural systemic pasteurellosis, infection and abrasion of the tonsils of iron-treated sheep does result in a form of disease similar in onset and general pathology to that encountered in the field. Therefore it is a useful model for further pathogenesis studies

Achieving energy justice:The role of supervisory and compliance mechanisms in global frameworks and the international community

Energy justice as a concept refers to the fair distribution of the benefits and burdens of energy production and consumption among different communities and individuals. The international community is currently attempting to achieve it through various means such as international law, the Sustainable Development Goals and the potential establishment of a human right to energy. However, the authors argue that these tools have either failed or will fail in practice to achieve this objective. This is why they suggest the use of supervisory and compliance mechanisms established within global frameworks related to energy, international human rights law and Agenda 2030, to achieve energy justice. This is of absolute importance given the inability to do so in practice despite the growing literature on the topic. These supervisory and compliance mechanisms are used to monitor and enforce compliance with energy justice principles, and include independent regulatory bodies, mechanisms for public participation and oversight, and incentives for compliance. They provide flexibility for governments to consider their own financial, technical, and human capacities when tackling a highly complicated issue such as energy justice

A Proposed Methodology for Identifying and Evaluating an E-Forms Application

In order to develop a specific methodology that can be followed by any organization or individual who needs tochoose the appropriate E-Forms application that could meet the required needs, this research proposes a methodology whichconsists of three phases: Identification phase, Evaluation phase and Testing phase. In the first phase, a general survey on EFormstypesandtechnologiesisintroducedwithfocusontherecenttrendsinorder to identify which type mostly meets theuser's general requirements. In the second phase, an evaluation to make an accurate selection is made to some of the topcompeting applications supporting the type identified in first phase by using a specific evaluation methodology, in thisresearch three of the widely used evaluation methodologies are discussed, in addition to a simple evaluation methodologywhich has been proposed and implemented using "Microsoft Excel Sheets" application. Finally in the third phase, a real test ismade using the winner application resulting from the second phase, where a four-stage testing plan is proposed in order toachieve this purpose. As an example, the E-Forms technology which is based on "Extensible Markup Language (XML)" isidentified due to its features and capabilities. Then the evaluation is made to the top applications supporting this technology,where "Adobe's XML Forms Architecture (XFA)" technology is selected as a winner. This winner application then is tested,where samples of forms were designed to show the extraordinary features this technology can offer including digital signature.The test includes the use of a proposed offline forms' data gathering technique and uses "Oracle 10g" as the back-enddatabase. It also includes a website to publish the designed forms in addition to an application developed using "OracleDeveloper 10g" to process the forms' data for one of the designed samples in order to prove these forms' accuracy

Urgenda vs. Juliana: Lessons for Future Climate Change Litigation Cases

In recent years, climate change litigation has increased but many of these cases have failed to achieve their stated objective(s) of legally coercing states to combat global warming. Nevertheless, more recent rulings have signaled a shifting momentum in favor of climate activists, gaining significant international attention. Among these rulings are two cases out of the Netherlands and the United States (U.S.)––Urgenda and Juliana. The former is considered a great success, given the Dutch state’s mandate to meet and increase its greenhouse gas emissions reduction targets. The latter is considered a case to build upon, given that the presiding U.S. judge dismissed the case. This article seeks to answer the following question: what lessons may be learned from the success of Urgenda, and the failure of Juliana, for future climate change litigation? The authors highlight two key factors that play vital roles in climate change litigation: the specificity to which the state is coerced to pursue strict environmental regulation and judicial activism affected by the types of demands made by the plaintiffs

Successful Resuscitation of an Extremely Low Birth Weight Premature Infant in Delma Island Community Hospital, United Arab Emirates

Because of their physical size and physiological immaturity, resuscitation of extremely very low birth weight premature infants is a big dilemma for neonatologists in any hospital. The resuscitation may present an additional challenge to the caregiver if it is undertaken in a remote community hospital with limited technical facilities and health personnel. We present the case of successful resuscitation of a 23-week- old premature infant, with a birth weight of 650 g, at Delma Island Community Hospital, United Arab Emirates. Despite the comparatively limited facilities for such a resuscitation, the rapid ethical decisions made when considering the resuscitation of such a borderline viable fetus, were key in avoiding long term neurological and pulmonary problems and contributed to the outcome of a healthy infant.

Fabrication of high yield horizontally aligned single wall carbon nanotubes for molecular electronics

The extraordinary properties of the single wall carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) have stimulated an enormous amount of research towards the realization of SWCNT-based products for different applications ranging form nanocomposites to nanoelectronics. Their high charge mobility, exceedingly good current-carrying capacities and ability to be either semiconducting or metallic render them ideal building blocks for nanoelectronics. For nanoelectronic applications, either individual or parallel aligned SWCNTs are advantageous. Moreover, closely packed arrays of parallel SWCNTs are required in order to sustain the relatively large currents found in high frequency devices. Two key areas still require further development before the realization of large-scale nanoelectronics. They are the reproducible control of the nanotubes spatial position/orientation and chiral management. In terms of nanotube orientation, different techniques have been demonstrated for the fabrication of horizontally aligned SWCNTs with either post synthesis routes (e.g. dielectrophoresis and Langmuir-Blodgett approach) or direct growth (e.g. chemical vapor deposition (CVD)). The low temperature of the production process, allowing the formation of aligned nanotubes on pretty much any substrate, is the main advantage of the post synthesis routes, while the poor levels of reproducibility and spatial control, and the limited quality of the aligned tubes due to the inherently required process steps are limitations. The simplicity, up-scalability, along with the reproducible growth of clean high quality SWCNTs with well-controlled spatial, orientation and length, make CVD the most promising for producing dense horizontally well-aligned SWCNTs. These CVD techniques suffer some drawbacks, namely, that because they are synthesized using catalyst particles (metals or non-metals) the catalyst material can contaminate the tubes and affect their intrinsic properties. Thus, the catalyst-free synthesis of aligned SWNT is very desirable. This thesis comprises detailed and systematic experimental investigations in to the fabrication of horizontally aligned SWCNTs using both post growth (Dielectrophoresis) and direct growth (CVD) methods. Both catalyst-assisted and catalyst-free SWCNTs are synthesized by CVD. While metallic nanoparticles nucleate and grow SWCNTs, opened and activated fullerene structures are used for all carbon catalyst-free growth of single wall and double wall carbon nanotubes. The systematic studies allow for a detailed understanding of the growth mechanisms of catalyst and catalyst-free grown SWCNTs to be elucidated. The data significantly advances our understanding of horizontally aligned carbon nanotubes by both post synthesis alignment as well as directly as-synthesized routes. Indeed, the knowledge enables such tubes to be grown in high yield and with a high degree of special control. It is shown, for the first time, how one can grow horizontally aligned carbon nanotubes in crossbar configurations in a single step and with bespoke crossing angles. In addition, the transport properties of the aligned tubes at room temperature are also investigated through the fabrication of devices based on these tubes.:Introduction ……………………………………………………………….…………… 11 1 Carbon nanotubes basics ……………………………………………………. 15 1.1 sp2 hybridization …………………………………………………….……… 16 1.2 Graphene basics ………………………………………………………...… 16 1.3 Single wall carbon nanotubes Basics …………………………… 18 1.4 Synthesis of single wall carbon nanotubes ………………… 24 1.4.1 Arc discharge ………………………………………………… 24 1.4.2 Laser ablation ……………………………………………… 24 1.4.3 Chemical vapor deposition …………………………… 25 1.4.4 The as-produced carbon nanotubes …………… 25 1.5 Potential applications of single wall carbon nanotubes 26 1.6 Challenges face single wall carbon nanotubes ………… 27 2 Horizontally aligned single wall carbon nanotubes: a review of fabrication and characterization ………………………………………………… 29 2.1 Introduction …………………………………………...………………………………………… 29 2.2 The requisites of horizontally aligned single wall carbon nanotubes 31 2.3 Characterization of Horizontally aligned single wall carbon nanotubes 32 2.3.1 Electron microscopy …………………………………………………………… 32 2.3.2 Scanning probe microscopy ……………………………………...…………… 34 2.3.3 Spectroscopy ……………………………………………………………………… 35 2.4 Fabrication of horizontally aligned single wall carbon nanotubes ……… 36 2.4.1 Dielectrophoresis (Growth-then-place) …………………….…………… 36 2.4.2 Chemical vapor deposition (Growth-in-place) ………...…………… 40 2.5 Transistor performance from horizontally aligned single wall carbon nanotubes ……… 67 2.5.1 Field effect transistor ……………….…………...………………………….…… 67 2.5.2 Thin film transistor …………………………….…...…………………….……… 68 3 Dielelectrophoretic deposition of single wall carbon nanotubes 69 3.1 Deposition of single wall carbon nanotubes in between metallic electrodes ………………… 69 3.1.1 Dispersion of single wall carbon nanotubes ………………………… 69 3.1.2 Dielectrophoretic alignment of single wall carbon nanotubes 70 3.2 CNTFET topographical characterization …………..………………………..……… 70 3.3 Dielectrophoresis advantages and drawbacks ………………………….....……… 72 4 Growth of catalyst-assisted horizontally aligned single wall carbon nanotubes …..………..... 75 4.1 Experimental procedure ….………………………………………………………...……… 76 4.1.1 ST-cut quartz substrates preparation ……………………….....……… 76 4.1.2 Catalyst solutions preparation ……………………………........……… 76 4.1.3 Growth of single wall carbon nanotubes ……………………………… 77 4.1.4 Single wall carbon nanotubes transfer into silicon substrates 78 4.2 Substrate thermal treatment ………………………………………………..........……… 79 4.3 Formed catalyst nanoparticles ………………………………………………...……… 82 4.4 As-grown single wall carbon nanotubes ………………...……………..…………… 84 4.5 Transferred single wall carbon nanotubes ………………...………….……...…… 91 4.6 Chapter summary ………………………………………………...…………………………… 92 5 Growth of catalyst-free horizontally aligned single wall carbon nanotubes … 93 5.1 Experimental procedure ………………………………………………………………….… 94 5.1.1 Different fullerene-based structure ……………………...……………… 94 5.1.2 Pre-treatment of fullerene structures …………………………...…….. 95 5.1.3 Growth of catalyst-free single wall carbon nanotubes ………… 96 5.2 Different fullerene structures nucleate the growth of single wall carbon nanotubes …… 97 5.3 C60 nucleated aligned single wall carbon nanotubes .……………...………… 98 5.3.1 Orientation of the as-grown nanotubes …………………………..… 98 5.3.2 Yield of the grown nanotubes ……………………………………………… 99 5.3.3 Activated sp2 caps ……………………………………………………...……….… 103 5.3.4 Type of the grown nanotubes …………………………………...………… 106 5.3.5 Growth mechanism of carbon nanotubes nucleated from fullerene … 109 6 Electrical characterization of the aligned single wall carbon nanotubes ……… 113 6.1 Device fabrication …………………………………………………………………..…………… 114 6.1.1 FET fabrication over the dielectrophoretic deposited carbon nanotubes … 114 6.1.2 Fabrication of the CVD grown nanotubes based device …………114 6.2 Electrical characterization of dielectrophoretic deposited single wall carbon nanotubes 115 6.2.1 I-V characteristics of the dielectrophoretic deposited nanotubes 115 6.2.2 Defect detection ………………………………………………………………..…… 117 6.3 Electrical characterization of the CVD grown nanotubes ……………………… 120 6.3.1 IV-Characteristics of the metal-assisted single wall carbon nanotubes ……… 120 6.3.2 Electrical behaviour of the catalyst-free single wall carbon nanotubes …………122 7 Conclusions and outlook ……………..……………………..………………………… 125 Appendix ……..……………………………………..………………………….……………. 129 Bibliography …...…………………………………..………………………….……………. 133 List of figures ….…………………………………..………………………….……………. 143 Glossary …………..…………………………………..………………………….……………. 147 Publications ………………………………………..………………………….……………. 149 Curriculum vitae ……………………………………..………………..…………………. 153 Acknowledgment ……..…………………………………..…..…………………………. 155 Declaration …………………………………………………..…..…………………………. 157Die außergewöhnlichen Eigenschaften von einwandigen Kohlenstoffnanoröhren (engl. single wall carbon nanotubes, SWCNTs) haben bemerkenswerte Forschungsaktivitäten zur Verwirklichung von auf SWCNTs basierenden Anwendungen für verschiedene Bereiche, die von Nanokompositen bis hin zur Nanoelektronik reichen, stimuliert. Ihre hohe Ladungsträgermobilität und die außerordentlichen hohen Ladungsdichten, die in SWCNTs erreicht werden können sowie ihre Eigenschaft, entweder halbleitend oder metallisch zu sein, machen sie zu idealen Konstituenten von nanoelektronischen Schaltkreisen. Für Anwendungen in der Nanoelektronik sind entweder einzelne oder parallel angeordnete SWCNTs vorteilhaft. Darüber hinaus sind dicht gepackte Anordnungen von SWCNTs erforderlich, um die relativ hohen Ströme in Hochfrequenzbauelementen zu transportieren. Für eine erfolgreiche Realisierung von großskaligen nanoelektronischen Bauteilen, die auf SWCNTs basieren, sind noch zwei enorm wichtige Kernprobleme zu lösen, die weitere Forschungsanstrengungen erfordern: die reproduzierbare und verlässliche Kontrolle der räumlichen Positionierung und Orientierung der Nanoröhren sowie die Kontrolle der Chiralität der einzelnen SWCNTs. Hinsichtlich der Orientierung der Nanoröhren kann die horizontal parallele Ausrichtung von SWCNTs mit verschiedenen Techniken erreicht werden. Diese setzen entweder nach dem eigentlichen Wachstum der Röhren ein (Post-Synthese-Methoden wie z.B. Dielektrophorese oder Langmuir-Blodgett-Techniken) oder erreichen direkt während des Wachstums (z.B. durch Chemical-Vapor-Deposition-Methoden (CVD)) die parallele Anordnung. Durch die niedrigen Prozesstemperaturen, die während des Herstellungsprozesses erforderlich sind, erlauben die nach der eigentlichen Synthese stattfindenden Ausrichtungsmethoden die parallele Anordnung von Nanoröhren auf nahezu jedem Substrat, jedoch stellen die geringe Reproduzierbarkeit dieser Prozesse, die schwierige Kontrollierbarkeit der räumlichen Anordnung und die limitierte Qualität der ausgerichteten Röhren aufgrund der erforderlichen Prozessschritte natürliche Beschränkungen dieser Techniken dar. Die einfache Durchführung und ihre Skalierbarkeit, zusammen mit dem reproduzierbaren Wachstum qualitativ sehr hochwertiger SWCNTs mit hoher Kontrolle von räumlicher Anordnung, Orientierung und Länge machen die CVD-Methode zur erfolgversprechendsten Technik für die Herstellung von dichtgepackten hochparallelen horizontalen Anordnungen von SWCNTs. Diese CVD-Ansätze weisen jedoch auch einige Nachteile auf, die in den bei der Synthese verwendeten Katalysatorpartikeln (metallisch oder nicht-metallisch) begründet liegen, da das Katalysatormaterial die Röhren kontaminieren und dadurch ihre intrinsischen Eigenschaften beeinflussen kann. Daher ist eine katalysatorfreie Synthesemethode für ausgerichtete SWCNTs ein höchst erstrebenswertes Ziel. Die vorliegende Arbeit beschreibt detaillierte und systematische experimentelle Untersuchungen zur Herstellung von horizontalen, parallel ausgerichteten Anordnungen von SWCNTs unter Verwendung von Methoden, die sowohl nach dem eigentlichen Wachstum der Nanoröhren (Dielektrophorese) als auch während des Wachstums ansetzen (CVD). Bei den CVD-Methoden werden sowohl solche, die auf der Verwendung von Katalysatoren basieren, als auch katalysatorfreie Techniken verwendet. Während metallische Nanopartikel den Ausgangspunkt für das Wachstum von SWCNTs darstellen, werden geöffnete und aktivierte Fullerenstrukturen verwendet, um das katalysatorfreie Wachstum von reinen ein- oder mehrwandigen Nanoröhren zu erreichen. Die systematischen Untersuchungen ermöglichen ein tiefgehendes Verständnis der Wachstumsmechanismen von SWCNTs, die unter Verwendung von Katalysatoren oder katalysatorfrei erzeugt synthetisiert wurden. Die erzielten Ergebnisse erhöhen in einem hohen Maß das Verständnis der Herstellung von horizontal parallel angeordneten Nanoröhren, die durch Post-Synthese-Methoden oder direkt während des Wachstumsprozesses ausgerichtet wurden. Die erzielten Einsichten erlauben die Herstellung solcher Strukturen mit hoher Ausbeute und mit einem hohen Maß an räumlicher Kontrolle der Anordnung. Zum ersten Male kann ein Verfahren präsentiert werden, mit dem horizontal parallel angeordnete Nanoröhren in gekreuzten Strukturen mit wohldefinierten Kreuzungswinkeln hergestellt werden können. Zusätzlich werden die Transporteigenschaften von parallel ausgerichteten Nanoröhren bei Raumtemperatur, durch die Herstellung von auf den dargestellten Strukturen basierenden Bauelementen, untersucht.:Introduction ……………………………………………………………….…………… 11 1 Carbon nanotubes basics ……………………………………………………. 15 1.1 sp2 hybridization …………………………………………………….……… 16 1.2 Graphene basics ………………………………………………………...… 16 1.3 Single wall carbon nanotubes Basics …………………………… 18 1.4 Synthesis of single wall carbon nanotubes ………………… 24 1.4.1 Arc discharge ………………………………………………… 24 1.4.2 Laser ablation ……………………………………………… 24 1.4.3 Chemical vapor deposition …………………………… 25 1.4.4 The as-produced carbon nanotubes …………… 25 1.5 Potential applications of single wall carbon nanotubes 26 1.6 Challenges face single wall carbon nanotubes ………… 27 2 Horizontally aligned single wall carbon nanotubes: a review of fabrication and characterization ………………………………………………… 29 2.1 Introduction …………………………………………...………………………………………… 29 2.2 The requisites of horizontally aligned single wall carbon nanotubes 31 2.3 Characterization of Horizontally aligned single wall carbon nanotubes 32 2.3.1 Electron microscopy …………………………………………………………… 32 2.3.2 Scanning probe microscopy ……………………………………...…………… 34 2.3.3 Spectroscopy ……………………………………………………………………… 35 2.4 Fabrication of horizontally aligned single wall carbon nanotubes ……… 36 2.4.1 Dielectrophoresis (Growth-then-place) …………………….…………… 36 2.4.2 Chemical vapor deposition (Growth-in-place) ………...…………… 40 2.5 Transistor performance from horizontally aligned single wall carbon nanotubes ……… 67 2.5.1 Field effect transistor ……………….…………...………………………….…… 67 2.5.2 Thin film transistor …………………………….…...…………………….……… 68 3 Dielelectrophoretic deposition of single wall carbon nanotubes 69 3.1 Deposition of single wall carbon nanotubes in between metallic electrodes ………………… 69 3.1.1 Dispersion of single wall carbon nanotubes ………………………… 69 3.1.2 Dielectrophoretic alignment of single wall carbon nanotubes 70 3.2 CNTFET topographical characterization …………..………………………..……… 70 3.3 Dielectrophoresis advantages and drawbacks ………………………….....……… 72 4 Growth of catalyst-assisted horizontally aligned single wall carbon nanotubes …..………..... 75 4.1 Experimental procedure ….………………………………………………………...……… 76 4.1.1 ST-cut quartz substrates preparation ……………………….....……… 76 4.1.2 Catalyst solutions preparation ……………………………........……… 76 4.1.3 Growth of single wall carbon nanotubes ……………………………… 77 4.1.4 Single wall carbon nanotubes transfer into silicon substrates 78 4.2 Substrate thermal treatment ………………………………………………..........……… 79 4.3 Formed catalyst nanoparticles ………………………………………………...……… 82 4.4 As-grown single wall carbon nanotubes ………………...……………..…………… 84 4.5 Transferred single wall carbon nanotubes ………………...………….……...…… 91 4.6 Chapter summary ………………………………………………...…………………………… 92 5 Growth of catalyst-free horizontally aligned single wall carbon nanotubes … 93 5.1 Experimental procedure ………………………………………………………………….… 94 5.1.1 Different fullerene-based structure ……………………...……………… 94 5.1.2 Pre-treatment of fullerene structures …………………………...…….. 95 5.1.3 Growth of catalyst-free single wall carbon nanotubes ………… 96 5.2 Different fullerene structures nucleate the growth of single wall carbon nanotubes …… 97 5.3 C60 nucleated aligned single wall carbon nanotubes .……………...………… 98 5.3.1 Orientation of the as-grown nanotubes …………………………..… 98 5.3.2 Yield of the grown nanotubes ……………………………………………… 99 5.3.3 Activated sp2 caps ……………………………………………………...……….… 103 5.3.4 Type of the grown nanotubes …………………………………...………… 106 5.3.5 Growth mechanism of carbon nanotubes nucleated from fullerene … 109 6 Electrical characterization of the aligned single wall carbon nanotubes ……… 113 6.1 Device fabrication …………………………………………………………………..…………… 114 6.1.1 FET fabrication over the dielectrophoretic deposited carbon nanotubes … 114 6.1.2 Fabrication of the CVD grown nanotubes based device …………114 6.2 Electrical characterization of dielectrophoretic deposited single wall carbon nanotubes 115 6.2.1 I-V characteristics of the dielectrophoretic deposited nanotubes 115 6.2.2 Defect detection ………………………………………………………………..…… 117 6.3 Electrical characterization of the CVD grown nanotubes ……………………… 120 6.3.1 IV-Characteristics of the metal-assisted single wall carbon nanotubes ……… 120 6.3.2 Electrical behaviour of the catalyst-free single wall carbon nanotubes …………122 7 Conclusions and outlook ……………..……………………..………………………… 125 Appendix ……..……………………………………..………………………….……………. 129 Bibliography …...…………………………………..………………………….……………. 133 List of figures ….…………………………………..………………………….……………. 143 Glossary …………..…………………………………..………………………….……………. 147 Publications ………………………………………..………………………….……………. 149 Curriculum vitae ……………………………………..………………..…………………. 153 Acknowledgment ……..…………………………………..…..…………………………. 155 Declaration …………………………………………………..…..…………………………. 15

The Paris Agreement Compliance Mechanism: Beyond COP 26

Without an international tribunal or tools like trade sanctions, there is little to coerce or encourage adherence with environmental treaties. The Paris Agreement, the governing global agreement to address climate change, relies on voluntary global cooperation. Countries determine their own commitments by setting nationally determined contributions of greenhouse gases emissions. The main mandatory elements of the agreement are reporting requirements. The success of the agreement turns on whether countries comply with these requirements. Article 15 of the Paris Agreement establishes a Compliance Committee and sets forth the mechanisms to ensure and facilitate compliance with the agreement. Yet, as with the rest of the Paris Agreement, Article 15 does not have teeth and relies on the good behavior of the countries of the world. This brief contribution describes the mechanics of Article 15 while also highlighting concerns and issues at stake. This background should be helpful in responding to COP 26 in Glasgow and beyond

Automated Assessment of Facial Wrinkling: a case study on the effect of smoking

Facial wrinkle is one of the most prominent biological changes that accompanying the natural aging process. However, there are some external factors contributing to premature wrinkles development, such as sun exposure and smoking. Clinical studies have shown that heavy smoking causes premature wrinkles development. However, there is no computerised system that can automatically assess the facial wrinkles on the whole face. This study investigates the effect of smoking on facial wrinkling using a social habit face dataset and an automated computerised computer vision algorithm. The wrinkles pattern represented in the intensity of 0-255 was first extracted using a modified Hybrid Hessian Filter. The face was divided into ten predefined regions, where the wrinkles in each region was extracted. Then the statistical analysis was performed to analyse which region is effected mainly by smoking. The result showed that the density of wrinkles for smokers in two regions around the mouth was significantly higher than the non-smokers, at p-value of 0.05. Other regions are inconclusive due to lack of large scale dataset. Finally, the wrinkle was visually compared between smoker and non-smoker faces by generating a generic 3D face model.Comment: 6 pages, 8 figures, Accepted in 2017 IEEE SMC International Conferenc

Adsorption studies for removal of trace copper metal ions from aqueous samples using magnetic nanoparticles

Fe3O4 magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) synthesized in-housed using co-precipitation method was assessed for the treatment of synthetic aqueous solutions contaminated by Cu(II) ions. Experimental results showed that at 25ºC, the optimum value for Cu(II) removal was pH 6.0 and an adsorbent dose of 60.0 mg. The adsorption capacity of Fe3O4 nanoparticles for Cu(II) is 16.28 mg g-1. Adsorption kinetic rates were found to be fast; total equilibrium was achieved after 180 min. Kinetic experimental data fitted very well the pseudo-second order equation and the value of adsorption rate constants was calculated to be 0.0006 and 0.0013 g mg-1 min at 5 and 40 mg L-1 initial Cu(II) concentrations, respectively. The equilibrium isotherms were evaluated in terms of maximum adsorption capacity and adsorption affinity by the application of Langmuir and Freundlich equations. Results indicate that the Langmuir model fits adsorption isotherm data better than the Freundlich model