SURGICAL THERAPY FOR ABNORMALITIES OF THE URINARY SPHINCTER IN THE FEMALE 1

In the female the urinary sphincter is synonymous with the proximal three-fourths of urethra and is a tubular structure with a wall composed of smooth muscle and elastic tissue. The efficiency of the tube as a sphincter varies directly with the length of intact urethra. Most cases of non-neurogenic urinary incontinence are due to a decrease in length of intact urinary sphincter. The shortened sphincter may be caused by a drooping of the urethra in the erect position, a defect in the wall of the urethra or by a defective urethra which droops. Treatment incorporates restoration of normal length to the involved urethra by anterior urethropexy, excision of the urethral defect or by a combination of the two procedures. Posterior buttressing of the urethra and urethrocystopexies which do not lengthen the urethra are inadequate, unphysiological procedures for restoring urinary continence.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/73297/1/j.1464-410X.1965.tb09651.x.pd

PHYSIOLOGY OF THE URINARY SPHINCTER AND ITS RELATION TO OPERATIONS FOR INCONTINENCE 1

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/75612/1/j.1464-410X.1961.tb11617.x.pd

The Feeding Habits and Selectivity of Siphonophores in Monterey Bay

Gelatinous zooplankton are historically understudied, and we have much to learn about how they fit into the larger food web. Siphonophores are known to have widely varied diets and to select for a wide variety of prey. In this study I investigated siphonophore feeding habits in Monterey Bay, CA using a long-term remotely operated vehicle video dataset. In addition, I quantified the degree of specialization for each siphonophore-prey pair, and investigated the relationship between genetic distance and specialization differences. I found siphonophores tended to feed upon one prey group and in some cases fed exclusively on one species. Siphonophores also tended to select strongly for one type of prey. I found that more closely related siphonophores tended to show similar selectivity values, but the relationship was weak. Overall, this study upholds that siphonophores are specialists and very selective, and that phylogenetic distance has some positive relationship with selectivity. These findings uphold and expand our knowledge of the midwater food web, allowing us greater model specificity, the enhanced ability to track energy flow and carbon cycling, and greater capacity to manage the midwater ecosystem

ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE AND POLICY MASTER’S PORTFOLIO

The following Environmental Science and Policy Master’s Portfolio is a compilation of works completed individually and with peers in order to fulfill requirements for the Master of Science degree. These works demonstrate breadth, depth, and the interdisciplinary nature of the course of study. As an undergraduate student at Clark University I studied Environmental Science with a concentration in Earth Systems Science. I was interested in learning about the natural world and wanted to develop a deeper connection to it. Inevitably, I was exposed to courses that examined the causes and effects of global climate change and this topic became my passion. The Environmental Science and Policy program has provided an opportunity to shift my focus from deepening my understanding of the questions about how, and why the climate is changing, to advancing my knowledge of what should come next. As a whole, I have focused my efforts on environmental policy and how businesses can respond to environmental issues such as global climate change. The following describes the interdisciplinary works contained in this portfolio, the skills and learning outcomes achieved, and how the individual projects, papers, and reports connect coherently

The ureteral lumen during peristalsis

This study concerns the size and shape of the ureteral lumen and an assessment of its enlargement during peristalsis. To stop the action of the living dog ureter, it was flooded with isopentane close to its freezing point (− 160° C). The ureter remained frozen until completion of all technical procedures. Photographs of the cut end of active ureters also provided evidence of its luminal characteristics and a movie was achieved of its continuous action. The totally collapsed lumen is stellate in form, epithelial surfaces being in virtual contact. As the lumen opens the points of the stars are last to go, but a square shape and finally a circle result. In a typical experiment, the collapsed lumen had a cross sectional area of 0.12 mm 2 , enlarging to 2 mm 2 in diuresis. This × 17 enlargement occurred over a 3 cm length of the peristaltic wave. Enlargement of the lumen is largely accommodated by thinning of the muscle coats and attenuation of the mucous membrane, there being relatively little gross enlargement of the total segment. Direct photography of the cut end of the proximal segment of the ureter completely confirms the section studies.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/49658/1/1001330302_ftp.pd

Mechanochemical reactions of clay minerals with CsCl

Solid state mechanochemical reactions between clay minerals and CsCl during grinding in non-destructive techniques, investigated in our laboratory, are reviewed. Clays were talc, pyrophyllite, sepiolite, palygorskite and minerals from the serpentine-kaolin and smectite groups. No reaction occurred with serpentines, talc, pyrophyllite and palygorskite. Cation-exchange occurred with montmorillonite and saponite. Kaolin-type minerals were delaminated forming disordered aggregates of TO layers with water, Cs cations and Cl anions. XRD did not show any peak but IR spectra proved the presence of H-bonds between water molecules, and inner-surface oxygens or inner-surface hydroxyls. After water thermal evolution CsCl intercalation complexes with a spacing of 1050 pm were identified. Wet-grinding of sepiolite with CsCl resulted in the disappearance of sepiolite XRD peaks indicating a disintegration of the crystal into micro-crystallites with no order in their packing in the particle. Air-grinding of sepiolite with CsCl almost did not change the X-ray pattern of sepiolite

Automated earthwork detection using topological persistence

For thousands of years, humans have altered the movement of water through construction of earthworks. These earthworks remain in landscapes, where they continue to alter hydrology, even where structures have long since been abandoned. Management of lands containing earthworks requires an understanding of how the earthworks impact hydrology and knowledge of where the structures are located in the landscape. Various methods for detecting topographic features exist in the literature, including a set of rule and threshold-based techniques and machine learning methods. These tools are either labor-intensive or require special pre-processing or a priori assumptions about structures that limit generalizability. Here, we test a topological analysis tool called “persistence” to determine if it is useful for earthwork detection in rangelands. We found that persistence can be used to detect earthworks with 83% precision and 64% accuracy. Breached berms and berms with significant upslope sedimentation are most likely not to be detected using persistence. These results indicate that persistence can be useful for terrain analysis, and it has the potential to substantially reduce manual effort in feature detection by identifying regions where berms may be found

Molecular Complexes at Electrode Interfaces for Sustainable Energy Applications

The development of sustainable, carbon-neutral energy sources is necessary to offset the environmental harm caused by the consumption of CO2-releasing fossil fuels. Although solar irradiation is sufficient to satisfy worldwide energy demand, storage of this energy remains problematic. One storage method is the photolysis of water into oxygen and hydrogen. Burning hydrogen in the presence of oxygen unleashes the energy stored in its chemical bonds, forming only water as a byproduct. Long-term applications require the stable integration of molecules with semiconductor materials to facilitate photolysis. One method for attaching molecules to surfaces is reductive electropolymerization, in which vinyl-functionalized monomers are electrochemically reduced, inducing C–C bond formation. These polymers precipitate on the electrode surface – attached by physical adsorption. Substitutive coordination chemistry, influenced by electrochemical potential and the electrolytic solution, is possible in these polymer environments. Electropolymerization is applicable in the formation of multi-component films as well. Electrochemical reduction of a semiconductor-bound, vinyl-derivatized chromophore in a solution containing a distinct vinyl-functionalized molecule results in spatially-separated, covalently-linked assemblies on the semiconductor surface. Transient absorption spectroscopy demonstrated that the chromophore undergoes electron injection to the semiconductor and hole transfer to the second molecule. The polymer overlayer improves the photochemical interfacial stability of the underlying chromophore by ~30-fold. Multi-component film formation via electropolymerization allows for the incorporation of a molecular water oxidation catalyst as the outer layer. Chromophore-catalyst assemblies thusly formed demonstrate impressive electrochemical- and photo-stability with high electrocatalytic activity for oxygen formation. Atomic layer deposition (ALD) of a metal oxide is known to stabilize covalent binding of molecules to semiconductor surfaces by “burying” the bonds; here it is demonstrated that embedding a chromophore in a metal oxide, attaching a catalyst, and additional metal oxide deposition is a method of forming stable chromophore-catalyst “mummies” that produce oxygen photoelectrochemically over multiple hours. Core/shell semiconductors with mismatched conduction band potentials are constructed using ALD. Sub-nanosecond injection and recombination processes are investigated, as are the effects of annealing on the core/shell interface. These findings are compared to device measurements.Doctor of Philosoph