Governing Parties and Southern Internationalism: a neoclassical realist approach to the foreign policies of South Africa and Brazil, 1999-2010

The international relations literature on internationalism in foreign policy has not taken account of the internationalist methods and motives of countries of the developing world. This thesis aims to correct this absence through an analysis of Southern internationalism, as evidenced by the foreign policy approaches of South Africa and Brazil in the first decade of the 21st century. By utilising a neoclassical realist approach to the study of the emergence of new powers, the use of internationalism as a foreign policy tool is interrogated as a response both to domestic imperatives, such as perception and identity, and systemic constraints and opportunities. Central to the analysis is an examination of the role of governing parties in foreign policymaking, both as key actors in determining policy, and as the sources of ideational constructs, in this case ‘internationalism’, that have a bearing on foreign policy. Foreign policymakers are limited in their perceptions and responses to external threats and opportunities by the domestic institutional structure, as well as by external threats and opportunities. In South Africa, responses are often limited to rhetoric, owing to limited resource extraction capacity, in spite of the highly centralised foreign policymaking structure under Mbeki. In Brazil, constitutional checks and balances also limited the state’s responses to external stimuli under Lula; yet, these responses, when they are implemented, can be more forceful owing to greater resource capacity. The ‘new Southern internationalism’, propounded by both South Africa and Brazil, is a function of domestic politics and external pressures, as evidenced by the Haiti case. These findings make a contribution to advancing the analysis of emerging powers, their trajectory and intentions in international relations, as well as the extent to which governing parties can influence foreign policy outcomes, and under which condition

Factors impacting sea trout (Salmo trutta) populations in changing marine environments

The brown trout (Salmo trutta L. 1758) is a widespread salmonid species that is well known for its multiple life history strategies. Some individuals remain in freshwater for the duration of their lives, and the life stages of these freshwater-resident fish have been well researched. But others implement an anadromous life history strategy where they migrate from their natal river into the marine environment before returning to their natal river to spawn. This life history strategy is beneficial to those individuals by providing them with access to additional food resources in the marine environment which ultimately leads to increased growth rates and fecundity. But with this shift in habitat comes additional risks such as increased predations and exposure to pathogens which can result in an increased level of mortality. Due to the geographic range of these anadromous fish in the marine environment, there are still several large gaps in our understanding of the movements of trout at sea, as well as the associated threats and subsequent impacts they might have on trout populations. In recent decades, it has been suggested that populations of anadromous trout (or sea trout) are experiencing a decline, however, little research has been done to quantify or explain this observed loss. This same decline was thought to have been observed in Scottish sea trout based on catch numbers, but no national trends have been reported beyond raw catch data reported by the Scottish Government on an annual basis. Using an Information Theoretic modelling approach, three measures of sea trout abundance and a variety of river, geographic and climatic variables were used to explain patterns of change in sea trout populations in Scotland. This study demonstrated overall sea trout numbers have declined 48% in the last 67 years, but that there were significant differences in the trends observed across coastal and regional spatial ranges, with some populations even showing increases in their numbers. Several river specific (river length, river gradient, geology and freshwater loch availability) and climatic variables (mean winter rainfall) were shown to act as consistent driving factors affecting population size change across this time period. One of the most consistently important drivers of sea trout populations was an interaction between river length and geographic region with longer rivers usually producing larger populations. However this relationship varied spatially and temporally and ultimately showed a significant decrease in the resilience of many sea trout populations across Scotland. The strength of the effect of some climatic variables, which vary spatially and temporally, changed with time and are predicted to continue changing given expected shifts in climate change pressures. One of the most well documented threats in the marine environment to sea trout populations is the presence of open-net pen Atlantic salmon aquaculture. This industry has been tied to numerous environmentally damaging impacts, including increased parasite levels and increased mortality in wild sea trout populations, in multiple countries in Europe and Scandinavia. The west coast of Scotland hosts one of the largest Atlantic salmon aquaculture industries that has expanded rapidly since the 1970’s. There has been little attempt to quantify the impacts of this industry on long term populations trends of sea trout on the west coast. Using an Information Theoretic modelling approach, environmental, climatic and aquaculture focused variables and three measures of abundance were used to identify drivers of change in sea trout populations on the west coast of Scotland over the last two decades. The results demonstrated that sea trout populations are reacting differently in areas with and without Atlantic salmon aquaculture but that these effects are relatively complex. Thus there is a negative effect of production biomass on sea trout populations that can be enhanced or lessened given changes in climatic variables. When sea temperatures rose above 11.0°C, sea trout populations declined with increasing net-pen biomass. During years of low winter rainfall, sea trout populations declined with increasing net-pen biomass. Given the high likelihood that these variables will change in the future due to climate change shifts, it is likely that they will impact sea trout more strongly in future years. Increased densities of Lepeophtheirus salmonis, the salmon louse, are frequently associated with areas of intensive Atlantic salmon aquaculture. At high levels, this ectoparasite can cause extensive physical damage to sea trout that can result in reduced osmoregulatory function and body condition and increased predation and mortality. To examine the range of increased lice densities on wild sea trout, sea trout populations were sampled in five sheltered coastal fjords on the Isle of Skye, Scotland at varying distances from active aquaculture sites (3 km – 48 km). While the likelihood of a sea trout having salmon lice present increased with distance from aquaculture facilities, the total lice burdens were found to be higher on individuals sampled within close proximity (within 13 km) to facility locations. The proportion of different life cycle stages of salmon lice on a sea trout was correlated with the proximity of the fish to aquaculture facilities. For example, the total lice count of a sea trout sampled near an aquaculture facility was primarily comprised of juvenile lice life stages, while sea trout sampled further away from a facility had a larger proportion of mobile adults and gravid female lice present. There is still a lack of understanding about the space use by sea trout in the marine environment in Scotland, however, it is suspected that trout populations spend part of their marine life stage in the same sheltered coastal areas that are increasingly occupied by Atlantic salmon aquaculture sites. Given the clear connection to increased salmon lice densities in the water column surrounding the aquaculture facilities in sheltered coastal areas, any overlap between habitat usage by wild sea trout and Atlantic salmon farming could have significant negative impacts on wild fish, particularly vulnerable post-smolts that have entered the marine environment for the first time. Acoustic telemetry techniques were used to gather data on the marine migration and spatial use of two different populations of sea trout post-smolts originating from two adjacent fjord systems located on the Isle of Skye, Scotland. One fjord system contained an active aquaculture facility and one did not. A total of 60 sea trout smolts were tagged and 46 of those individuals were detected on the receiver array. The study demonstrated that sea trout post-smolts maintain a strong fidelity to the coastal fjord system connected to their natal river during the first summer of their marine migration. A small percentage of the detected individuals (13 individuals, 28%) did migrate out of their natal fjord system but most (8 individuals, 17%) returned to that same fjord after a period of time foraging elsewhere. Survival and migration range were not significantly correlated to fish size. A small number of individuals (21% of detected individuals) were detected near the aquaculture facility but there was no significant difference between the amount of time spent near the facility and the amount of time spent elsewhere in the loch. The four studies presented in this thesis have combined modelling and empirical field study approaches to quantify the historical trends of sea trout populations in Scotland and identify current drivers of those trends. The results presented here can provide future insight to the predicted changes that sea trout populations will experience as their marine habitats undergo continued transformations brought on by both anthropogenic and climatic shifts

Ruins and Wrinkles: Revaluing Age through Architecture

In this thesis I argue that an architecture that selectively intervenes in the aging landscape to provide opportunities for regeneration and mentorship can weaken our societal divisions. I tested this hypothesis in the context of an adaptive reuse, multi-generational, mixed use design for the Bailey Power Plant, Factory 60, and their surroundings: the former R.J. Reynolds tobacco district in my hometown of Winston-Salem, North Carolina. After a close study of the site's history and its urban morphology, I propose a design based on the concept of urban regeneration in the form of reclamation, adaptation, and mentorship established through a system of green infrastructure that weaves existing neighborhoods into new diverse, multi-generational communities, housed within existing but altered architecture

On a Generalization of the Frobenius Number

We consider a generalization of the Frobenius Problem where the object of interest is the greatest integer which has exactly $j$ representations by a collection of positive relatively prime integers. We prove an analogue of a theorem of Brauer and Shockley and show how it can be used for computation.Comment: 5 page

Community detection, link prediction, and layer interdependence in multilayer networks

Complex systems are often characterized by distinct types of interactions between the same entities. These can be described as a multilayer network where each layer represents one type of interaction. These layers may be interdependent in complicated ways, revealing different kinds of structure in the network. In this work we present a generative model, and an efficient expectation-maximization algorithm, which allows us to perform inference tasks such as community detection and link prediction in this setting. Our model assumes overlapping communities that are common between the layers, while allowing these communities to affect each layer in a different way, including arbitrary mixtures of assortative, disassortative, or directed structure. It also gives us a mathematically principled way to define the interdependence between layers, by measuring how much information about one layer helps us predict links in another layer. In particular, this allows us to bundle layers together to compress redundant information and identify small groups of layers which suffice to predict the remaining layers accurately. We illustrate these findings by analyzing synthetic data and two real multilayer networks, one representing social support relationships among villagers in South India and the other representing shared genetic substring material between genes of the malaria parasite

Age-related dynamics of circulating innate lymphoid cells in an African population

Innate lymphoid cell (ILC) lineages mirror those of CD4+ T helper cell subsets, producing type 1, 2 and 3 cytokines respectively. Studies in adult human populations have shown contributions of non-cytotoxic ILC to immune regulation or pathogenesis in a wide range of diseases and have prompted investigations of potential functional redundancy between ILC and T helper cell compartments in neonates and children. To investigate the potential for ILC to contribute to immune responses across the human lifespan, we examined the numbers and frequencies of peripheral blood ILC subsets in a cohort of Gambians aged between 5 and 73 years of age. ILC2 were the most abundant peripheral blood ILC subset in this Gambian cohort, while ILC1 were the rarest at all ages. Moreover, the frequency of ILC1s (as a proportion of all lymphocytes) was remarkably stable over the life course whereas ILC3 cell frequencies and absolute numbers declined steadily across the life course and ILC2 frequencies and absolute numbers declined from childhood until the age of approx. 30 years of age. Age-related reductions in ILC2 cell numbers appeared to be partially offset by increasing numbers of total and GATA3+ central memory (CD45RA-CCR7+) CD4+ T cells, although there was also a gradual decline in numbers of total and GATA3+ effector memory (CD45RA-CCR7-) CD4+ T cells. Despite reduced overall abundance of ILC2 cells, we observed a coincident increase in the proportion of CD117+ ILC2, indicating potential for age-related adaptation of these cells in childhood and early adulthood. While both CD117+ and CD117- ILC2 cells produced IL-13, these responses occurred predominantly within CD117- cells. Furthermore, comparison of ILC frequencies between aged-matched Gambian and UK young adults (25-29 years) revealed an overall higher proportion of ILC1 and ILC2, but not ILC3 in Gambians. Thus, these data indicate ongoing age-related changes in ILC2 cells throughout life, which retain the capacity to differentiate into potent type 2 cytokine producing cells, consistent with an ongoing role in immune modulation

Multi-model projections of future evaporation in a sub-tropical lake

Lake evaporation plays an important role in the water budget of lakes. Predicting lake evaporation responses to climate change is thus of paramount importance for the planning of mitigation and adaption strategies. However, most studies that have simulated climate change impacts on lake evaporation have typically utilised a single mechanistic model. Whilst such studies have merit, projected changes in lake evaporation from any single lake model can be considered uncertain. To better understand evaporation responses to climate change, a multi-model approach (i.e., where a range of projections are considered), is desirable. In this study, we present such multi-model analysis, where five lake models forced by four different climate model projections are used to simulate historic and future change (1901–2099) in lake evaporation. Our investigation, which focuses on sub-tropical Lake Kinneret (Israel), suggested considerable differences in simulated evaporation rates among the models, with the annual average evaporation rates varying between 1232 mm year−1 and 2608 mm year−1 during the historic period (1901–2005). We explored these differences by comparing the models with reference evaporation rates estimated using in-situ data (2000–2005) and a bulk aerodynamic algorithm. We found that the model ensemble generally captured the intra-annual variability in reference evaporation rates, and compared well at seasonal timescales (RMSEc = 0.19, R = 0.92). Using the model ensemble, we then projected future change in evaporation rates under three different Representative Concentration Pathway (RCP) scenarios: RCP 2.6, 6.0 and 8.5. Our projections indicated that, by the end of the 21st century (2070–2099), annual average evaporation rates would increase in Lake Kinneret by 9–22 % under RCPs 2.6–8.5. When compared with projected regional declines in precipitation, our projections suggested that the water balance of Lake Kinneret could experience a deficit of 14–40 % this century. We anticipate this substantial projected deficit combined with a considerable growth in population expected for this region could have considerable negative impacts on water availability and would consequently increase regional water stress

Schottky barriers in carbon nanotube-metal contacts

Semiconducting carbon nanotubes (CNTs) have several properties that are advantageous for field effect transistors such as high mobility, good electrostatics due to their small diameter allowing for aggressive gate length scaling and capability to withstand high current densities. However, in spite of the exceptional performance of single transistors only a few simple circuits and logic gates using CNTs have been demonstrated so far. One of the major obstacles for large scale integration of CNTs is to reliably fabricate p-type and n-type ohmic contacts. To achieve this, the nature of Schottky barriers that often form between metals and small diameter CNTs has to be fully understood. However, since experimental techniques commonly used to study contacts to bulk materials cannot be exploited and studies often have been performed on only single or a few devices there is a large discrepancy in the Schottky barrier heights reported and also several contradicting conclusions. This paper presents a comprehensive review of both theoretical and experimental results on CNT-metal contacts. The main focus is on comparisons between theoretical predictions and experimental results and identifying what needs to be done to gain further understanding of Schottky barriers in CNT-metal contacts. (C) 2011 American Institute of Physics. [doi: 10.1063/1.3664139

Publisher Correction: Image Data Resource: a bioimage data integration and publication platform

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Structural, 57 Fe Mössbauer and XPS studies of mechanosynthesized nanocrystalline Nd0.33Eu0.67Fe1-xCrxO3 particles

We report on the structure and surface composition of Nd0.33Eu0.67Fe1-xCrxO3 (x = 0.0, 0.3, 0.5, 0.7, 0.9 and 1.0) nanoparticles (∼30 nm) mechanosynthesized at temperatures that are ∼ 470– 700 °C lower than those at which the pure and doped pristine materials conventionally form. XRD Rietveld and FT-IR analyses show that with increasing x the lattice parameters decrease and the bond lengths and angles vary in a way that reduces crystalline distortion. Whilst the majority of the Eu3+/Nd3+ and Fe3+/Cr3+ cations occupy the normal perovskite-related A- and B-sites, respectively, ∼ 5% of them exchange sites. 57Fe Mössbauer spectroscopy confirms the presence of these antisites and reveals a superparamagnetic behaviour at 298 K that enhances with increasing x. XPS measurement reveals a complex surface composition of the nanoparticles with traces of Eu2O3, Nd2O3, Cr2O3 and Fe2O3 as well as partial O2--deficiency