Development of algorithms for using satellite meteorological data sets to study global transport of stratospheric aerosols and ozone

The utilization of stratospheric aerosol and ozone measurements obtained from the NASA developed SAM II and SAGE satellite instruments were investigated for their global scale transports. The stratospheric aerosols showed that during the stratospheric warming of the winter 1978 to 1979, the distribution of the zonal mean aerosol extinction ratio in the northern high latitude exhibited distinct changes. Dynamic processes might have played an important role in maintenance role in maintenance of this zonal mean distribution. As to the stratospheric ozone, large poleward ozone transports are shown to occur in the altitude region from 24 km to 38 km near 55N during this warming. This altitude region is shown to be a transition region of the phase relationship between ozone and temperature waves from an in-phase one above 38 km. It is shown that the ozone solar heating in the upper stratosphere might lead to enhancement of the damping rate of the planetary waves due to infrared radiation alone in agreement with theoretical analyses and an earlier observational study

Triggering information by context

With the increased availability of personal computers with attached sensors to capture their environment, there is a big opportunity for context-aware applications; these automatically provide information and/or take actions according to the user's present context, as detected by sensors. When wel l designed, these applications provide an opportunity to tailor the provision of information closely to the user's current needs. A sub-set of context-a ware applications are discrete applications, where discrete pieces of i nformation are attached to individual contexts, to be triggered when the user enters those contexts. The advantage of discrete applications is that authori ng them can be solely a creative process rather than a programming process: it can be a task akin to creating simple web pages. This paper looks at a general system that can be used in any discrete context- aware application. It propounds a general triggering rule, and investigates how this rule applies in practical applications

Food labelling and its influences on food choices

Policy issue In 2002, it became mandatory for food producers in Australia to provide a Nutrition Information Panel (NIP) on the back of food packages. However, research has shown that consumers often misinterpret NIPs or do not use them at all. Health advocates have begun to consider one form of NIPs - Front-of-Pack labelling (FoPL) - as a means of supporting healthy food choices. There are more than 20 FoPL formats in use worldwide. The information they provide varies considerably (for example summaries of key ingredients or detailed information about them), as do the strategies underpinning their use. Three FoPL format s are commonly used in the Australian market – National Heart Foundation (NHF) Tick, The Daily Intake Guide (%DI), and Glycaemic Index (GI) Symbol. Each of them have a different logo, which may cause confusion among consumers. To prevent this, the Australian Government accepts that an easily understood, uniform FoPL system is needed. The recent Government-funded review of food labelling (led by federal former health minister, Dr Neal Blewett AC) recommended that the Traffic Light System (TLS) be adopted. The Government did not support this as the preferred option. The food industry has also been reluctant to adopt it. With the prevalence of obesity still rising, and the Government still debating the possible benefits of uniform FoPL, food labelling to support healthy food decisions has become a contentious issue

Environmental Effects on Health: Ignorance and Undone Science

Considerable research has been completed showing that environmental exposures can have significant effects on people’s health, especially in terms of autoimmune conditions, cancers, and neurological and psychological conditions. Health effects are possible at exposure levels far below those generally considered safe by orthodox health authorities. A prime example is multiple chemical sensitivity (MCS), where sufferers themselves have made clear, short-term associations between health effects and low-level environmental exposures. The condition of MCS is not clearly definable and significantly overlaps with other, largely unrecognised health conditions including fibromyalgia (FMS), chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS), electro hypersensitivity syndrome (EHS) and chronic inflammatory response syndrome (CIRS). The orthodox medical diagnostic process is implicated in the production of ignorance on such health conditions. Despite the large amount of research showing health effects from low level environmental exposures, there remains much “undone science” in the field - research that could be done but isn’t. The reasons for undone science and the consequent societal ignorance are generally due to society’s ingrained desire for technological improvements. Industry, responsible for technological developments the use of chemical products or radiation devices, is not interested in possible health effects, so expensive scientific research into them is left undone. When subsequent research or firsthand experiences of health effects start to be realised there is ample evidence that the industries responsible for environmental exposures then become active in generating ignorance. Due to close ties with industry, medical and health systems become complicit in industry’s strategy, and knowledge is manipulated by the industry funding of scientific studies, which then influences the conclusions of the research. The support of industry products by institutions, including regulatory agencies, due to conflicts of interest also contributes to knowledge manipulation. Common industry strategies of generating ignorance also include using doubt, blame, power, industry shills, astroturfing, smear campaigns, media manipulation and fact checking services. Future generations of children who inherit contaminants from their conception will be most affected by the gross neglect of their effect on health. The carry-through of health effects and their magnification in subsequent generations is a tragedy in the making

Detecting responses of rocky shore organisms to environmental change following wave energy extraction

The highly energetic waters surrounding Orkney have recently attracted attention as a renewable resource to generate electricity. While the importance of wave exposure to littoral assemblages is well known, the ecological consequences of industrial-scale extraction of marine energy have not been directly studied on rocky shores. The aim of this study was to examine the potential consequences of wave energy extraction and other long-term forcing agents, such as climate change, to rocky shore assemblages. Baseline surveys were conducted in areas not previously described in scientific detail to serve as ‘before’ and ‘control’ sites in a BACI-style design. Composition and abundances of biological assemblages were compared with topographic measurement of coastal features expected to modify exposure through dissipation of incoming wave energy. Observed variation in assemblages between sites was explained by differences in exposure and topography, particularly substrate complexity. Rocky shore species were selected for monitoring long-term changes using a paired-species monitoring method, including key structuring organisms on high exposure shores. Monitoring and experimental manipulation identified species which respond to changes in wave energy extraction and temperature. This research will assist in elucidating ecological responses that might occur following removal of wave energy, amid warming seas

Uprooted from Home: Analyzing Vietnamese Amerasian Diaspora in the Unwanted

After the Vietnam War, approximately 100,000 mixed race children between Vietnamese women and American soldiers, who are called Amerasian, were born. The Vietnamese Communists fought against the US, and Amerasians who were part Americans became the enemy of the Vietnamese. Amerasians were raised fatherless in patriarchal society where the presence of the father was essential to one’s social status. They were taunted by their lack of the father. Vietnamese women who had children with Americans were regarded as prostitutes, and Amerasians were looked down by the Vietnamese as the children of prostitute. Many reasons combined, Amerasians were mistreated in post-Vietnam War society, and humiliated as “bui doi,” the dust of life. This paper will explore Vietnamese Amerasians’ experiences of war, loss of home and father, diaspora, and trauma by reading Kien Nguyen’s autobiography. The home functions in the novel as the symbol of the family’s destiny. Nguyen’s trauma of postwar experiences was augmented every time he was uprooted from his home. By tracing the changes of Nguyen’s home, we will understand the transition of his life. The US was his last home after the diaspora from Vietnam, and I will examine if the US really healed his trauma of the war

Strangers at the Table: Student Veterans, Writing Pedagogy, and Hospitality in the College Composition Classroom.

This dissertation contributes to a better understanding of Post-9/11 student veterans’ academic experiences in the college composition classroom. I interviewed twenty-four student veteran informants enrolled at one four-year institution about their experiences as college writers, using hospitality as a conceptual framework to interpret their narratives. Hospitality is an orientation of openness to others and the practice of hosts receiving and welcoming guests. Viewing the classroom as a space where diverse individuals temporarily gather together, I outline the possibilities and limitations of hospitality as a guiding pedagogical framework in the composition classroom. Based on informant narratives, I theorize teachers as "hosts," students as "guests," and teachers and students as "strangers" who can mutually influence one another. I offer a model of the college composition classroom as a hospitable space, alternative to other models such as a "community of peers" or a "contact zone," arguing that hospitality draws necessary attention to axes of difference operating among classroom participants and to the temporary nature of any specific class. Study findings reveal that student veteran informants develop a strong professional ethos in the military, which they bring with them into the classroom. “Professionalism” serves as a category that participants use to mark their difference from other students and as a framework for orienting themselves to their schooling. Student veteran informants are focused on their future professional goals, and some struggle to find a connection between those goals and the curriculum in their college composition courses. I argue that dialogue between teachers and students about their respective teaching and learning goals and an explicit focus on transfer of learning in the composition curriculum can help students to invest in and learn more from their college composition courses. Study findings also show that informants do not view themselves as "peers" with other students, suggesting the need to revise current theorizations of collaborative learning and activities, such as peer review, for all students, not just student veterans. I contend that conceptualizing students as "strangers" to one another, rather than "peers," highlights how central the recognition and negotiation of difference is to a truly collaborative and hospitable classroom.PHDEnglish and EducationUniversity of Michigan, Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studieshttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/133265/1/jwant_1.pd