An x-ray technique for determining seed placement in direct drilled soils : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Philosophy at Massey University

The objectives of this study were to develop and document a reliable workable X-ray technique for identifying seed placement in the soil; to examine those factors which might influence this procedure and to demonstrate the use of the technique in a field experiment. The X-ray technique was based on the principle that seeds coated with a heavy metal powder, when X-rayed within a soil mass, appeared on the X-ray film as white or grey images on a dark background. A coating procedure (based on commercial pelleting) was developed to apply the heavy metal powder to the seed. As the seed images on the X-ray film were to be a shadow representation of the actual seed position in the soil mass, a correction procedure to locate the true positions of the seed was developed. A series of laboratory experiments confirmed that red lead oxide was the most suitable coating material and that higher intensities of coating were required as seed size decreased. Neither soil type nor soil moisture content appeared to have a marked affect on the clarity of the X-ray images. Seed germination was not affected by the amount of red lead oxide coating, the coating procedure, or exposure to moderate levels of radiation. Soil blocks measuring 75 mm by 75 mm by 240 mm long containing the coated seeds should be taken as soon as possible after sowing, as image clarity diminished over time and seed movement occurred in the case of seeds with epigeal germination. Equipment developed to assist in field sampling included a soi1-block-cut ter, re-useable sample bins and a holding jig for X-raying the soil blocks in their bins. Thus the X-ray technique had the ability to determine three dimensional seed placement within a soil mass (sowing depth, in-row width and in-row spacing). The ability of the X-ray technique offers new possibilities for explaining those factors which affect seed placement by direct drilling equipment in field situations

African American English And Urban Literature: Creating Culturally Caring Classrooms

Language and literacy are a means of delivering care through consideration of students’ home culture; however, a cultural mismatch between the predominantly white, female educator population and the diverse urban student population is reflected in language and literacy instruction. Urban curricula often fail to incorporate culturally relevant literature, in part due to a dearth of texts that reflect student experiences. Dialectal differences between African American English (AAE) and Mainstream American English (MAE) and a history of racism have attached a reformatory stigma to AAE and its speakers. The authors assert that language and literacy instruction that validates children’s lived experience mediates this hegemony, leads to empathetic relationships between teachers and students of different cultural backgrounds, and promotes academic success. This paper seeks to 1) dissect the relationship between academic achievement and affirmation of student culture through language and literacy instruction, 2) enumerate classroom strategies that empower students and foster the development of self-efficacy 3) identify ways teachers might weave value for diversity in language and literacy into a pedagogy of care for urban classrooms

Adaptive strategies for graph state growth in the presence of monitored errors

Graph states (or cluster states) are the entanglement resource that enables one-way quantum computing. They can be grown by projective measurements on the component qubits. Such measurements typically carry a significant failure probability. Moreover, they may generate imperfect entanglement. Here we describe strategies to adapt growth operations in order to cancel incurred errors. Nascent states that initially deviate from the ideal graph states evolve toward the desired high fidelity resource without impractical overheads. Our analysis extends the diagrammatic language of graph states to include characteristics such as tilted vertices, weighted edges, and partial fusion, which arise from experimental imperfections. The strategies we present are relevant to parity projection schemes such as optical `path erasure' with distributed matter qubits.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures. Typos corrected, nicer figures, neater notation and better rea

Walking With A Ghost: Sodomy, Sanity and the Secular

In the last twenty-five years there has been a boom in scholarship on Charles Brockden Brown that connects his work to social developments that occurred in the early American republic. Brown scholars often read him as a man ahead of his time as his writing addresses, hints at, or even inverts social mores. The scholarship around Brown\u27s novel Edgar Huntly has concentrated on how the narrative addresses westward expansion and white settlers\u27 relationship with Native Americans or the ways in which Edgar Huntly connects to Revolutionary society. Kate Ward Sugar engages with this narrative in a different way, exploring the dynamic of sleepwalking as a way to address male homosocial bonds. Scholars though continue to side step the eroticism within this narrative and the implications of somnambulism\u27s status as a mental illness being tied to an unnamed desire. My thesis will therefore address this gap in the scholarship by integrating a queer and historicist reading of Edgar Huntly to suggest that Brown\u27s use of sleepwalking is done to reflect a social fear of the homoerotic. It is the goal of my thesis to explore Edgar Huntly as a narrative that weaves the danger of sodomy to sleepwalking, suggesting an implicit relationship between madness, illness, and same-sex desire. In order to fulfill this goal this thesis will employ a queer historicist approach, which aims to engage with the ambiguity of Brown\u27s work to reveal insights into the early American republic. After all as Brown wrote in Edgar Huntly, There are two modes of drawing forth the secrets of another, by open and direct means and by circuitous and indirect (4). To develop this paper\u27s argument, I will need to explore the casual relationship between the loss of Waldegrave\u27s letters and Edgar\u27s emotional distress as the cause of his sleepwalking. Brown himself described this as, ...a supposition not to be endured. Yet ominous terrors haunted me , as Edgar\u27s dread is fixated upon the potential of an unauthorized reader seeing these texts (91). Furthermore, close readings of Brown\u27s description of Edgar\u27s fixation on Clithero will highlight his unspeakable desire. This relationship will also allow us to later compare their fates as Clithero becomes, a madman whose liberty is dangerous, and who requires to be fettered and imprisoned as the most atrocious criminal, while Edgar leaves for Europe with his fiancé (193). Finally, drawing upon medical and legal texts from this period will show how Edgar Huntly suggests a pathologization of sexuality within the time period, in particular the developing figure of a secularized sodomite. This reading of Edgar Huntly not only expands the scholarship on sexuality in Brown\u27s writing, but also the history of sexuality, pointing towards a social development currently unexplored by scholars of the early American republic

Barriers to Offering Vasectomy at Publicly Funded Family Planning Organizations in Texas

Few publicly funded family planning clinics in the United States offer vasectomy, but little is known about the reasons this method is not more widely available at these sources of care. Between February 2012 and February 2015, three waves of in-depth interviews were conducted with program administrators at 54 family planning organizations in Texas. Participants described their organization’s vasectomy service model and factors that influenced how frequently vasectomy was provided. Interview transcripts were coded and analyzed using a theme-based approach. Service models and barriers to providing vasectomy were compared by organization type (e.g., women’s health center, public health clinic) and receipt of Title X funding. Two thirds of organizations did not offer vasectomy on-site or pay for referrals with family planning funding; nine organizations frequently provided vasectomy. Organizations did not widely offer vasectomy because they could not find providers that would accept the low reimbursement for the procedure or because they lacked funding for men’s reproductive health care. Respondents often did not perceive men’s reproductive health care as a service priority and commented that men, especially Latinos, had limited interest in vasectomy. Although organizations of all types reported barriers, women’s health centers and Title X-funded organizations more frequently offered vasectomy by conducting tailored outreach to men and vasectomy providers. A combination of factors operating at the health systems and provider level influence the availability of vasectomy at publicly funded family planning organizations in Texas. Multilevel approaches that address key barriers to vasectomy provision would help organizations offer comprehensive contraceptive services.Population Research Cente

Have Metropolitan Planning Organizations improved regional policy making? The cases of Kansas City and St. Louis.

Historically, municipalities and regions continually competed for a share of transportation funds. The process was dominated by state Departments of Transportation where cooperation, equity and participation were limited. Eighteen years ago the federal government provided metropolitan areas with the opportunity to play a larger role in the regional transportation process. On December 18, 1991 President George H.W. Bush signed the Intermodal Surface Transportation Equity Act (ISTEA). The legislation ushered in a new era of cooperation between state and local leaders by empowering regional Metropolitan Planning Organizations (MPOs). The federal legislation’s intention was to allow a region, through their MPO, to address participation, economic development, social equity and quality of life issues through their transportation policy. The significance and effectiveness of these increased functions has not been determined. The work of other scholars is insufficient to determine whether MPOs are making a difference and led to calls for further research. There was a need for an in-depth examination of MPOs through a comparative case study. This study examines whether Metropolitan Planning Organizations (MPOs) make a difference in regional transportation policy-making. It investigates whether MPOs increase public saliency, increase the consideration of social factors (e.g. employment, quality of life and equity) and improve elected official participation in the regional transportation planning process. The study examines six major regional transportation projects: Three projects at the Kansas City MPO; Mid-America Regional Council (MARC), and three projects at the St. Louis MPO; East-West Gateway Council of Governments (EWGCOG). Study results were determined through comparative analysis of the case studies. The evidence suggests MPOs make a difference in four of the five areas examined. They make a difference in public saliency, quality of life, employment factors, and elected official involvement. The means by which an MPO makes a difference include: employing expert consultants, advisory groups, and numerous internal committees brokering political agreements, and managing funds. The cases illustrate that the MPOs powers to coalesce regional cooperation are informal and that MPOs make a reasonable difference in regional transportation policy. The study points toward the need to provide more resources to MPOs

A Strategy for Transformation of Men through Implementing Principles from Wesley\u27s Class and Band Groups

The purpose of this thesis project will be to implement certain principles from John Wesley’s class and band groups into the men’s ministry group meeting with the goal of the transformation of men. The research will occur at Grace Fellowship in Comstock Park, Michigan. The author of this project is the founding Pastor and Elder of the church who has been for five years and still is part of the men’s ministry group. Through the use of questionnaires, surveys, personal interviews, and analysis of the information collected by these means, this study will compare information collected before the implementation of Wesley’s principles and information collected after the application of such principles. The comparison and analysis of this information will be used to determine the effectiveness of the principles introduced in the spiritual transformation of men. This research may serve as a model to implement into the women’s ministry or other small groups at Grace Fellowship, as well as other local churches, to maximize the spiritual growth of followers of Jesus Christ