Employing Geographical Information Systems in Fisheries Management in the Mekong River: a case study of Lao PDR

The objective of this research is to employ Geographical Information Systems to fisheries management in the Mekong River Basin. The study uses artisanal fisheries practices in Khong district, Champasack province Lao PDR as a case study. The research focuses on integrating indigenous and scientific knowledge in fisheries management; how local communities use indigenous knowledge to access and manage their fish conservation zones; and the contribution of scientific knowledge to fishery co-management practices at village level. Specific attention is paid to how GIS can aid the integration of these two knowledge systems into a sustainable management system for fisheries resources. Fieldwork was conducted in three villages in the Khong district, Champasack province and Catch per Unit of Effort / hydro-acoustic data collected by the Living Aquatic Resources Research Centre was used to analyse and look at the differences and/or similarities between indigenous and scientific knowledge which can supplement each other and be used for small scale fisheries management. The results show that GIS has the potential not only for data storage and visualisation, but also as a tool to combine scientific and indigenous knowledge in digital maps. Integrating indigenous knowledge into a GIS framework can strengthen indigenous nowledge, from un processed data to information that scientists and decision-makers can easily access and use as a supplement to scientific knowledge in aquatic resource decision-making and planning across different levels. The results show that when scientific and indigenous knowledge are both stored digitally in GIS databases, a variety of analysis can be done. Multiple layers or visualising functions in ArcGIS are an example of ways in which indigenous and scientific knowledge can be combined in GIS. Maps of deep pools and important fishing grounds gathered using GPS and indigenous knowledge provide base maps of aquatic resources in the study area. The attribute table associated with the map links characteristics of each point, including fishing gear and species found in each pool as well as spawning grounds and migration periods. This information is useful for management and planning purposes. This research illustrates that mental maps and GIS digital maps can be used for fisheries management at different levels. Where mental maps are suitable for communicating with the local community and have the potential for use in fisheries co-management in small-scale fisheries; GIS may be appropriated for data storage and analysis at provincial and national levels, it can be used as a communication tool amongst stakeholders to monitor and understand the aquatic environment

Automatic muscle elongation measurement during shoulder arthroplasty planning

Adequate deltoid and rotator cuff lengthening in total shoulder arthroplasty (TSA) is crucial to maximize the postoperative functional outcome and to avoid complications (La¨dermann et al., 2014). Hence surgeons and patients could benefit from including muscle length information in preoperative planning software. Although different methods have been introduced to automatically indicate patient-specific muscle attachment and wrapping points (Kaptein & van der Helm, 2004; Marra et al., 2015), the definition of a fast and accurate workflow is still a challenge, due to the large variability in bone shapes. Statistical shape modelling (SSM) has recently been used to automatically indicate landmark on target bones (Plessers et al., 2018). This method is less dependent on shape variability and could overcome the aforementioned limitation in accuracy. Therefore, the goal of this study is to develop and evaluate the accuracy of a novel automatic method for measuring deltoid and rotator cuff elongation during preoperative planning of shoulder arthroplasty, based on a statistical shape modelling approach

Charles Dickens and the Role of Legal Institutions in Social and Moral Reform: Oliver Twist, Bleak House, and Our Mutual Friend.

The legal system of Victorian England is integral to Charles Dickens' novels and to their moral intent. Dickens was acutely conscious of the way in which the Victorian novel operated as a form of moral art. As a novelist he is concerned about the victims of his society and the way in which their lots can be improved. He therefore chooses to construct representative victims of legal institutions such as the Poor Law Amendment Act of 1834 and the Court of Chancery in his novels to highlight flaws in his world and the changes that might be made to improve social conditions. This thesis will examine the way in which Dickens' fictional enquiry into the social world his characters stand to inherit is focused on the legal system and its institutions, most particularly, the law of succession. By discussing three novels from different periods of his writing career, Oliver Twist (1837), Bleak House (1853) and Our Mutual Friend (1862-1865), I will suggest how his engineering of moral outcomes shows his development as a writer. The law of succession and related legal institutions such as the Court of Chancery, dealing with wills and inheritance, recurs in Dickens' novels, providing the novelist with social, moral and legal identities for his characters. These identities, as unveiled during the texts, propel the characters and plot development in particular directions in response to the novels' moral intent. The role of inheritance in Victorian society largely provides Dickens with a means to explore the adequacies of existing legal institutions, such as the means by which to prove and execute wills and the operation of the Court of Chancery. The role of inheritance also allows Dickens to examine the social condition of those who are deprived of an inheritance or who are unable to enforce their legal rights. In this respect Dickens concentrates on the appalling conditions of institutions such as workhouses and poorhouses in Victorian society and on resultant criminal activity and prostitution in the community as the disinherited struggle to survive. Dickens' study of crime in particular sheds invaluable light on the prevailing moral standards of, and difficulties with, his society. Dickens acknowledges his pedagogical role as an author, providing synopses of his lessons in the prefaces to his books and forewarning his audience of the literary devices (such as grotesquerie) that are necessary to communicate them effectively. This thesis will examine the way in which Dickens' engineering of moral outcomes through the convenient use of the law of succession becomes increasingly sophisticated as he develops as a writer. The stock plot device of the impoverished orphan child, a representative victim of such a Victorian legal institution as the Poor Laws who is morally saved when elevated into gentility by a secret inheritance, sustains the plot of Oliver Twist. The simplistic and somewhat improbable fortunes of Oliver, however, give way to the more probable moral and legal outcomes of characters such as Jo and Richard Carstone in Bleak House. In Bleak House Carstone, who is certainly a more interesting central protagonist than Esther Summerson in terms of Dickens' examination of legal institutions and their effect on moral and social outcomes in the novel, makes a ruinous attempt to manipulate the legal system and gain control over his fortune by joining the suit of Jarndyce v Jarndyce. In Our Mutual Friend, however, a complex and successful manipulation of the legal system is achieved by Harmon/Handford/Rokesmith, an adult and extremely resourceful character who, in conjunction with other characters such as Bella Wilfer and Mr Boffin, is testament to the inseparability of individual and legal identities as far as moral and social outcomes are concerned. Throughout the novels it can be seen that the abilities of Oliver Twist, Richard Carstone and John Rokesmith to manipulate the law of succession correlate directly to stages of Dickens' maturity as a writer and his increasing confidence about layering texts and developing more complex and sophisticated structures in his novels. Dickens' focus on the role of inheritance, however, entails the development of perspectives on the legal system in entirety. Oliver Twist as a novel drawing upon the traditions of sensation, and turning on events such as 'legacies, birthrights, thefts and deeds of violence', focuses intensely on the criminal justice system and establishes Dickens' famous attraction to repulsion and use of grotesquerie and popular entertainment. Oliver Twist also develops analogies between law and drama, establishing the foundation from which Dickens can employ legal metaphors to great effect in his quest for reforms of the legal system and society at large in Bleak House and Our Mutual Friend. Oliver Twist further establishes the milieu of a stratified society in which finances govern social behaviour and in which the class system is reflected in the legal system through the denial of access to justice to those who are unable to afford it, or suffer gender inequality. Bleak House builds upon the problems outlined in Oliver Twist. It explores the criminal system, particularly the defeminisation of the law and access to justice issues, including the problem of delay in litigation. Specific legal institutions such as the jury system and, most notably, the civil branch of the Victorian legal system with a particular focus on the equitable procedures in the Court of Chancery are examined. Jo is a transmutation of Oliver as representative victim of the Poor Laws, and his fate as such appears more probable. Richard Carstone is, however, the central character in the novel in terms of his construction as the representative victim of the civil system and of the law of succession. In Our Mutual Friend Dickens refines his use of the law of succession and other legal institutions to propel characters into directions suited to his own agendas. The entire plot is constructed from the premise of the execution of a will arising out of the death of John Harmon whose murder is a crime that has never, in fact, been committed. The ramifications of the execution of this will and subsequent codicils are extremely interesting. The novel further examines problems of access to justice and gender inequality under the prevailing legal system, particularly through Bella Wilfer. As part of the development of Dickens' use of the legal system there is a perceptible development of his powers of characterisation. Richard Carstone is a more substantial and believable character than Oliver; John Harmon offers the opportunity for Dickens to experiment with a chameleon identity. This aspect of Dickens' development, however, has received substantial attention already, particularly by Arnold Kettle, Barbara Hardy, Monroe Engel and Grahame Smith. There has been, to the best of my knowledge, little work done on his use of the law of succession, and it is here that I wish to concentrate my argument. Much of Dickens' interest in the law appears to stem from his early career as a legal clerk in Lincoln's Inn and Doctors' Commons. His first job, as a writing clerk in the office of Ellis and Blackmore, a small set of chambers in Holborn Court, involved duties such as copying documents, administering the registration of wills and running errands to other legal offices and law courts. Public offices with which Dickens came into contact in the course of this job were the Alienation Office, the Sixpenny Receivers Office, the Prothonotaries Office, the Clerk of the Escheats, the Dispensation Office, the Affidavit Office, the Filazer's, Exigenter's and Clerk of the Outlawry's Office, the Hanaper Office and the Six-Clerk's office . This employment gave Dickens an exposure to a wide range of jurisdictions and legal precedents. Through this contact with a variety of legal practices, Dickens experienced a broad range of litigation which enabled him to develop opinions on the contemporary operation of the law and its efficacy in the administration of justice. Such experience almost certainly sowed the seeds for much of the critique of the legal system found in his novels. In 1829 when he joined Doctors Commons, Dickens was exposed to ecclesiastical and naval jurisdictions including a Consistory Court, A Court of Arches, the Prerogative Court, the Delegates Court and the Admiralty Court. In this role Dickens was employed by a firm of proctors to take notes on evidence and judgments. This job as a shorthand reporter granted Dickens the opportunity to observe at close range members of the legal profession such as clerks, proctors, secretaries and Doctors. Probably as much through a process of osmosis as anything else, Dickens gained an understanding of the mechanics of basic legal procedures through this type of employment. In order to work as a court reporter, Dickens was required to use shorthand, a method of taking notes that perhaps allowed Dickens to develop the skill to think and write quickly. It was probably at this early stage in his career that the duality of law and literature began to come together for Dickens, developing at a later stage into his volumes of legal fiction. The anonymity of the law writer's existence, as captured later in Dickens' description of Nemo the law-writer in Bleak House, who either lived or did not live by law-writing according to Krook, also may have prompted Dickens to begin writing original works with legal themes

Mechanical competence of ovariectomy-induced compromised bone after single or combined treatment with high-frequency loading and bisphosphonates

Osteoporosis leads to increased bone fragility, thus effective approaches enhancing bone strength are needed. Hence, this study investigated the effect of single or combined application of high-frequency (HF) loading through whole body vibration (WBV) and alendronate (ALN) on the mechanical competence of ovariectomy-induced osteoporotic bone. Thirty-four female Wistar rats were ovariectomized (OVX) or sham-operated (shOVX) and divided into five groups: shOVX, OVX-shWBV, OVX-WBV, ALN-shWBV and ALN-WBV. (Sham)WBV loading was applied for 10 min/day (130 to 150 Hz at 0.3g) for 14 days and ALN at 2 mg/kg/dose was administered 3x/week. Finite element analysis based on micro-CT was employed to assess bone biomechanical properties, relative to bone micro-structural parameters. HF loading application to OVX resulted in an enlarged cortex, but it was not able to improve the biomechanical properties. ALN prevented trabecular bone deterioration and increased bone stiffness and bone strength of OVX bone. Finally, the combination of ALN with HF resulted in an increased cortical thickness in OVX rats when compared to single treatments. Compared to HF loading, ALN treatment is preferred for improving the compromised mechanical competence of OVX bone. In addition, the association of ALN with HF loading results in an additive effect on the cortical thickness

Электромагнитная обстановка в компьютерных классах, ее контроль и методы нормализации

Приведены результаты экспериментального исследования электромагнитной обстановки (ЭМО), создаваемой компьютерами в учебных помещениях. Показано, что в зависимости от места расположения компьютера меняются размеры, создаваемой им зоны опасного излучения, даны рекомендации по контролю ЭМО и методам ее нормализации

Structure-function relationships in bone. Application in orthopedics and endocrinology

Item does not contain fulltextKUN, 25 oktober 2001Promotor : Huiskes, R

Stress shielding after total knee replacement may cause bone resorption in the distal femur

Contains fulltext : 24926___.PDF (publisher's version ) (Open Access

Time-curve of BMD loss after menopause can be predicted from enhanced resorption only

abstract, F30