Embodied Motion in the Modern Metropolis

The modern city – the metropolis – is a site of movement. It is a place of exchange and transfer, of people, vehicles, materials and information, which ebb and flow through its infrastructure. The increasingly mobile dynamics and the use of transient and tensile urban forms, indicate the origins of a distinctly ‘nomadic’ experience of the metropolis

The Molecular Epidemiology of Antimicrobial Resistant Staphylococci in Australian Animals

This thesis examines the epidemiology of staphylococci in the Australian veterinary setting, focussing on methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus pseudintermedius (MRSP). A nationwide surveillance study collected 1080 clinical staphylococci from veterinary diagnostic laboratories. Carriage samples were also prospectively collected from veterinary personnel, canine hospital admissions and veterinary-owned pets. Whole genome sequencing and bioinformatics were used in all studies. Inferences generated from genomic data were verified using phenotypic tests. MRSA was detected in Australian companion animals at low rates but was not detected amongst dairy cattle. MRSA carriage was found in prospectively screened veterinary personnel at a higher rate than reported for the general public, but carriage was not echoed in canine patients or veterinary-owned pets. Internationally established and novel MRSP lineages were found in Australian animals, indicating that MRSP has arisen both endogenously and from countries outside Australia. Antimicrobial resistance profiles varied significantly amongst MRSP lineages and geographic clustering of MRSP lineages was evident. Staphylococcus felis was found to possess previously unrecognised virulence factors including coagulation of feline plasma, suggesting it is a potential pathogen of cats. Qac genes, associated with increased biocide tolerance in MRSA, were detected in MRSP for the first time. The globally dominant ST71 MRSP clone was significantly more likely to carry qac genes than other MRSP clones. The presence of qac genes did not affect MRSP tolerance to veterinary biocides but protein contamination significantly increased biocide tolerance, a finding which has important infection control implications. This thesis is the first to characterise antimicrobial resistance in veterinary staphylococci nationally and paves the way for interesting future studies

Prediction of children\u27s school readiness by parent and teacher reports and individual testing

The purpose of this study was to develop a comprehensive screening instrument to assess the competencies of young children as they enter kindergarten. A broad range of intellectual, social-emotional, and physical characteristics were evaluated through parental reporting, teacher rating, and direct testing of the children. Each of the three data sources proved to be valuable assets to the screening process. Parents contributed to the screening battery by significantly predicting the success of their children in kindergarten and by rating their children on various competency areas. In addition, such demographic variables as parents\u27 education significantly predicted students\u27 school success;The results of the present study also confirmed previous research demonstrating the effectiveness of teachers\u27 ratings in predicting school success. In a very short period of time (one to four days), the teachers were able to assess a child\u27s academic competency and readiness for the school experience;Direct testing using the Worthing Early Screening Test (WEST), which was developed for the study, complemented the other data sources in predicting concurrent achievement (measured by the Kaufman Assessment Battery for Children - Achievement Scale) and kindergarten success (assessed by the kindergarten teachers\u27 ratings). As hypothesized, the ability to recognize and segment the component sounds of words was an important indicator of early academic achievement. Skills such as counting, short-term memory, and drawing a person were also significant predictors of standardized achievement measures and the teachers\u27 ratings

Henri Temianka Correspondence; (worthing)

This collection contains material pertaining to the life, career, and activities of Henri Temianka, violin virtuoso, conductor, music teacher, and author. Materials include correspondence, concert programs and flyers, music scores, photographs, and books.https://digitalcommons.chapman.edu/temianka_correspondence/3048/thumbnail.jp

Conservation management plans: An examination of obstacles to, and opportunities for, producing an effective management tool

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to identify factors that contribute to the development of an effective conservation management plan (CMP). Design/methodology/approach: The approach was based on a literature review from which key issues and concerns were identified. This was followed by in-depth interviews with a number of creators and users of CMPs. Findings: CMPs have developed as an identifiable process with the key stages having a logic and synergy with each other. The research found that undue emphasis was placed on some stages at the expense of others which lead to ineffective management tools often being produced. The reasons for this are related to the interests and background of the creators and a lack of interaction with organisational culture and processes – and importantly a failure to engage with frontline staff. In addition, there were also resource and skill constraints within the client organisation. Research limitations/implications: Interviews were conducted with six creators (consultants) and seven users. These were mostly from national heritage organisations and specialist heritage consultants. A wider range of user organisations and consultants could be identified for follow-up research. Also those who actually deliver CMPs “on the ground” and day to day could form an important part of the development of this research. Practical implications: CMPs should be practical working management tools which have to be used by the heritage organisation in order to be effective. This research will hopefully help practitioners focus on what needs to be done in order to produce an effective plan. Social implications: The conservation of built heritage is essentially concerned with the protection of a social good. CMPs have the potential to provide effective protection of that which is seen as valuable and significant to individuals, groups and society at large. Originality/value: The management of heritage is an area that is generally under-researched. This work will hopefully be engaged with by academics and practitioners in order to help establish and promote a wider interest in the field

Trajan's Forum (Hemicycle) and Via Biberatica (Trajan's Markets): An HHpXRF Study of the Provenance of Lava Paving in Ancient Rome (Italy)

This paper reports on geochemical data collected using a He-enabled Hand-Held portable XRF (HHpXRF) from lava paving stones in Trajan’s Forum Hemicycle and the Via Biberatica (Rome). Issues relating to HHpXRF field use and calibration are also addressed in detail. Using this instrument 355 analyses of the paving stones were collected and the data was processed using the standard techniques of igneous petrology and petrography. Provenancing was based on comparisons between the HHpXRF data and geological data from the abundant literature on Roman volcanic rocks. These comparisons placed the provenance of the paving stones in the Colli Albani, southeast of Rome. Further analysis using Zr/Y vs Nb/Y discriminant diagrams suggests that the paving stones were quarried from two sources both of which are represented in Trajan’s Forum and the Via Biberatica. The diagrams suggest that the sources lie within the Faete and Vallerano lava complexes. The latter were probably transported to the construction site by barge on the River Tiber and the former were easily accessible by carts along the Via Appia. The study establishes the potential of HHpXRF equipment for non-destructive analysis of paving stones both in Rome and at other sites in central Italy and challenges a number of assumptions about the supply of building materials to Rome based on intuition alone

Efficient coupling of surface plasmon polaritons to radiation using a bi-grating

Copyright © 2001 American Institute of Physics. This article may be downloaded for personal use only. Any other use requires prior permission of the author and the American Institute of Physics. The following article appeared in Applied Physics Letters 79 (2001) and may be found at http://link.aip.org/link/?APPLAB/79/3035/1A nanostructured surface in the form of a bi-grating is shown to efficiently couple surface plasmon polaritons to free-space radiation in the visible part of the spectrum. Coupling was achieved for all propagation directions of the surface mode and the efficiency found to be independent of the propagation direction, taking a mean value of 60% for the structure examined. The consequences of the findings for emissive devices that make use of surface plasmons are discussed