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The study, “3DDP Engineering Design Intervention Impacts on Student Perceptions, Attitudes, and Interest Towards Engineering” explored the impact of a culturally responsive, semi-formal 3D printing (3DDP) intervention on middle school students' perceptions, attitudes, and interest in engineering. The intervention aimed to broaden access to engineering education by providing formative experiences outside traditional classroom settings within the regular school day. A multifaceted approach was employed, utilizing quantitative analysis of assessments and surveys, qualitative analysis of written responses, follow-up interviews, and student-produced artifacts. The intervention functioned as a student-driven engineering club, integrating culturally relevant themes and hands-on activities spanning diverse engineering domains. Results indicate no significant overall changes in student perceptions of engineering, though a notable increase in portrayals related to educational aspects of engineering emerged post-intervention. While statistical analysis did not reveal widespread shifts in attitudes towards engineering, qualitative data highlighted nuanced changes, including a broadened perception of engineering and sustained interest in engineering careers. Student interviews provided additional context, emphasizing the program's engaging nature and its success in igniting genuine interest in design and engineering. Although the intervention lacked elements such as teamwork activities and longer session durations, it demonstrated potential for engaging underrepresented groups in STEM. Future programs could benefit from incorporating these elements to enhance learning depth and engagement, striving for inclusivity and scalability to achieve the goal of "STEM for all."

The Playful Learning Tour Guide aims to establish an evidence-based framework that supports educators in creating pedagogically appropriate and engaging approaches to facilitating learning through play. Mapping two underpinning educational approaches (heutagogy and Bloom’s taxonomy) against common game mechanics, the guide takes educators through reflective coaching exercises and practical steps in designing their own playful learning activities.

The Playful Learning Tour Guide aims to establish an evidence-based framework that supports educators in creating pedagogically appropriate and engaging approaches to facilitating learning through play. Mapping two underpinning educational approaches (heutagogy and Bloom’s taxonomy) against common game mechanics, the guide takes educators through reflective coaching exercises and practical steps in designing their own playful learning activities.

This dissertation examines the sociotechnical dynamics of renewable energy transition in Austin, Texas and considers their implications for developing more just and effective modes of environmental governance. While considerable advancements have been made in terms of reducing the City’s carbon emissions, their basis in the techniques and practices of petro-capitalism continues to reproduce many of the social and environmental injustices of the city’s former fossil- fueled energy system. Accordingly, I suggest, Austin’s renewable energy transition can be seen as “out of joint,” as sedimented histories of racial exclusion and petro-capitalist development continue to haunt Austin’s renewable energy transition. By studying and contrasting the various thought styles of Austin’s diverse environmental communities, I argue that Austin’s out-of- jointness and associated injustices are rooted in a misguided reification of energy systems as a distinct and taken-for-granted domain for intervention. Alternatively, I suggest an approach to “energy systems” as always entangled with other interdependent systems (social, cultural, and epistemic as well as technical and ecological). As such, I argue that part of the governance challenge of just energy transition lies in developing new modes of coordination and collaboration across systems, jurisdictions, and domains of expertise – well beyond energy systems per se.Theoretically, we need to better account for the full ecology of entangled systems involved in sociotechnical change. Drawing on twelve months of fieldwork and archival research, funded by the Wenner Gren Foundation, this dissertation brings the specificities of Austin’s energy transition to bear on current anthropological understandings of environmental governance and sociotechnical change. The energy systems entrenched in most places today both articulate with and produce different kinds of temporalities (the grid’s 60hz, the 9-5pm work week, energy assistance schedules

Currently, the entire globe is affected by the COVID-19 pandemic caused by the novel coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2(SCV2). The ability to detect, monitor and assess the spread of the virus is imperative to controlling the effects of the pandemic. In order to meet the need for global testing, several methods have been developed. As a complement to individual testing, wastewater-based epidemiology represents a low-cost way to estimate the prevalence of the virus in a community. This information can be used to influence public policy regarding viral mitigation measures. This thesis documents our efforts at implementing wastewater testing in Santa Cruz County over the past 18 months. We sampled from the Watsonville Wastewater Treatment Plant on a weekly basis and quantified the presence of SCV2 using reverse transcriptase digital PCR normalized to Pepper Mild Mottle Virus (PMMV). Our data showed a large discrepancy between reported case counts and SCV2 in wastewater. This data also revealed seasonal variation in PMMV, potentially hindering it as a reliable normalizer. In addition to our sewage work, we performed masked-based sampling for Pacific Elementary School and documented a probable positive. This work demonstrates the potential of sewage sampling for SARS-CoV-2 and some of the current unmet challenges in both sewage sampling and pandemic response as a whole.

Currently, the entire globe is affected by the COVID-19 pandemic caused by the novel coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2(SCV2). The ability to detect, monitor and assess the spread of the virus is imperative to controlling the effects of the pandemic. In order to meet the need for global testing, several methods have been developed. As a complement to individual testing, wastewater-based epidemiology represents a low-cost way to estimate the prevalence of the virus in a community. This information can be used to influence public policy regarding viral mitigation measures. This thesis documents our efforts at implementing wastewater testing in Santa Cruz County over the past 18 months. We sampled from the Watsonville Wastewater Treatment Plant on a weekly basis and quantified the presence of SCV2 using reverse transcriptase digital PCR normalized to Pepper Mild Mottle Virus (PMMV). Our data showed a large discrepancy between reported case counts and SCV2 in wastewater. This data also revealed seasonal variation in PMMV, potentially hindering it as a reliable normalizer. In addition to our sewage work, we performed masked-based sampling for Pacific Elementary School and documented a probable positive. This work demonstrates the potential of sewage sampling for SARS-CoV-2 and some of the current unmet challenges in both sewage sampling and pandemic response as a whole.

Black holes are one of the most fundamental astrophysical objects in our universe. In this thesis I look at massive black holes (MBH) with masses $10^{4}-10^{10}$ times that of our sun. In particular, I investigate how their gravitational influence distorts photon trajectories and describe how this can be used to study MBH. This phenomena, known as gravitational lensing, results in changes in shape and brightness of the images of the source as seen by a distant observer. The most striking manifestation of gravitational lensing is multiple images, known as \emph{strong} gravitational lensing. Strong gravitational lensing also results in the magnification of one or more of the images above that which would have been observed in the absence of deflecting matter. The number of cosmological black holes (MBH that do not belong to a galaxy core) is not well constrained. Gravitational lens statistics is one of the few ways to probe their number density. The fraction of sources experiencing strong gravitational lensing (multiple-image formation) is proportional to the number density of gravitational lenses which are able to form such images. GRBs are short bursts of $\gamma$-rays which signify the birth of a stellar mass black hole. Gravitational lensing of time-series data (light-curves) manifests as repetition of the primary signal as a lensed ``echo''. I describe the Bayesian parameter estimation and model selection software \pygrb{} which I wrote for this thesis. I use \pygrb{} to analyse GRB lens candidates from the Burst And Transient Source Experiment (BATSE) GRB catalogue to determine how similar the putative GRB lensed echo images are. I find one convincing candidate -- GRB~950830 -- which passes all our tests for statistical self-similarity. I conclude that GRB~950830 was gravitationally lensed by a $(1+z_l)M_l\approx\unit[5.5\times 10^4]{\msun}$ intermediate mass black hole (IMBH). Furthermore, based on the occurrence rate of this lensing event, I am able to estim

Deep learning approaches to natural language processing have made great strides in recent years. While these models produce symbols that convey vast amounts of diverse knowledge, it is unclear how such symbols are grounded in data from the world. In this paper, we explore the development of a private language for visual data representation by training emergent language (EL) encoders/decoders in both i) a traditional referential game environment and ii) a contrastive learning environment utilizing a within-class matching training paradigm. An additional classification layer utilizing neural machine translation and random forest classification was used to transform symbolic representations (sequences of integer symbols) to class labels. These methods were applied in two experiments focusing on object recognition and action recognition. For object recognition, a set of sketches produced by human participants from real imagery was used (Sketchy dataset) and for action recognition, 2D trajectories were generated from 3D motion capture systems (MOVI dataset). In order to interpret the symbols produced for data in each experiment, gradient-weighted class activation mapping (Grad-CAM) methods were used to identify pixel regions indicating semantic features which contribute evidence towards symbols in learned languages. Additionally, a t-distributed stochastic neighbor embedding (t-SNE) method was used to investigate embeddings learned by CNN feature extractors., Comment: 9 pages, 7 figures, conference

In recent decades Mexico has moved to recognize the linguistic rights of its many indigenous languages and cultures. For the first time in the history of Mexico, this was enshrined in a 2001 amendment in the country’s Constitution recognizing the rights of the indigenous communities ‘to preserve and enrich their languages, knowledge, and every element contributing to their culture and identity’, then followed by the more exhaustive General Law on the Linguistic Rights of Indigenous Communities in 2003, whose article IV sets Spanish on the same level as indigenous languages as ‘national languages’ and having the same validity, specifically regarding the respect of human rights in the transactions with the justice system. These changes in the legal status of indigenous languages marked the end of the one language policy of the Secretaría de Educación Pública (SEP) for public schools. As a partial success achieved by the Zapatista movement, bilingual schools and the intercultural universities were established. The intercultural universities are the object of this study and they represent a strategic and structural change in public education policy towards indigenous languages and cultures. The intercultural universities were built to serve indigenous communities that traditionally had their linguistic and even human rights violated. The first one was founded in 2004, the Universidad Intercultural del Estado de México (UIEM), the main site of my fieldwork for this dissertation, and, secondly, the Universidad Veracruzana Intercultural (UVI), founded in 2007. The intent of these universities is to support regional cultural and linguistic diversity and to offer higher education opportunities in underrepresented regional and indigenous communities. But, about 15 years after the founding of the first intercultural university, what impact are they having on the language ideologies of the students, in the family, and in the community? This is the key question investigated in t

Datacenter networks are a critical component of computing infrastructure. With recent calls for reducing the carbon emissions of the globe in order to prevent global warming, it is necessary to examine datacenters and how they contribute to the amount of carbon in the atmosphere. I propose how datacenter networks can reduce both the total operational and embodied energy information and communications technology outputs in order to lower impact on the environment.Future datacenter networks based on optical circuit switches use less operational energy than traditional counterparts. In order to make these a reality, servers must interact with the network in fundamentally different ways. I examine the systemic needs of servers in three different optical circuit switched networks and develop several methods of enforcing precision transmission flow control in software. Using an in-depth study of the accuracy of networking software for microsecond precision flow control, I observe that networking software alone is only effective at rates up to 40 Gbps. This implies that hardware support is required to accurately transmit at the 400 Gbps rates needed in modern datacenter networking.Datacenters are poised to aid lowering the embodied energy of smartphones as well. The embodied energy of smartphones are a highly significant contributor to total carbon emissions. Smartphones are increasingly discarded after shorter periods of time, which raises their impact on the environment further. To extend the lifetimes of smartphones and reduce their embodied energy, datacenters can run parts of a phone's browser application. To see how effective this would be in practice, I study how university students use smartphones on academic platforms. In particular, I analyze data from a university's learning management system and find that smartphones roughly four years past their manufacturing date become obsolete in academic settings. I discuss how using datacenter networks for a split-browser

Datacenter networks are a critical component of computing infrastructure. With recent calls for reducing the carbon emissions of the globe in order to prevent global warming, it is necessary to examine datacenters and how they contribute to the amount of carbon in the atmosphere. I propose how datacenter networks can reduce both the total operational and embodied energy information and communications technology outputs in order to lower impact on the environment.Future datacenter networks based on optical circuit switches use less operational energy than traditional counterparts. In order to make these a reality, servers must interact with the network in fundamentally different ways. I examine the systemic needs of servers in three different optical circuit switched networks and develop several methods of enforcing precision transmission flow control in software. Using an in-depth study of the accuracy of networking software for microsecond precision flow control, I observe that networking software alone is only effective at rates up to 40 Gbps. This implies that hardware support is required to accurately transmit at the 400 Gbps rates needed in modern datacenter networking.Datacenters are poised to aid lowering the embodied energy of smartphones as well. The embodied energy of smartphones are a highly significant contributor to total carbon emissions. Smartphones are increasingly discarded after shorter periods of time, which raises their impact on the environment further. To extend the lifetimes of smartphones and reduce their embodied energy, datacenters can run parts of a phone's browser application. To see how effective this would be in practice, I study how university students use smartphones on academic platforms. In particular, I analyze data from a university's learning management system and find that smartphones roughly four years past their manufacturing date become obsolete in academic settings. I discuss how using datacenter networks for a split-browser

In recent decades Mexico has moved to recognize the linguistic rights of its many indigenous languages and cultures. For the first time in the history of Mexico, this was enshrined in a 2001 amendment in the country’s Constitution recognizing the rights of the indigenous communities ‘to preserve and enrich their languages, knowledge, and every element contributing to their culture and identity’, then followed by the more exhaustive General Law on the Linguistic Rights of Indigenous Communities in 2003, whose article IV sets Spanish on the same level as indigenous languages as ‘national languages’ and having the same validity, specifically regarding the respect of human rights in the transactions with the justice system. These changes in the legal status of indigenous languages marked the end of the one language policy of the Secretaría de Educación Pública (SEP) for public schools. As a partial success achieved by the Zapatista movement, bilingual schools and the intercultural universities were established. The intercultural universities are the object of this study and they represent a strategic and structural change in public education policy towards indigenous languages and cultures. The intercultural universities were built to serve indigenous communities that traditionally had their linguistic and even human rights violated. The first one was founded in 2004, the Universidad Intercultural del Estado de México (UIEM), the main site of my fieldwork for this dissertation, and, secondly, the Universidad Veracruzana Intercultural (UVI), founded in 2007. The intent of these universities is to support regional cultural and linguistic diversity and to offer higher education opportunities in underrepresented regional and indigenous communities. But, about 15 years after the founding of the first intercultural university, what impact are they having on the language ideologies of the students, in the family, and in the community? This is the key question investigated in t

Datacenter networks are a critical component of computing infrastructure. With recent calls for reducing the carbon emissions of the globe in order to prevent global warming, it is necessary to examine datacenters and how they contribute to the amount of carbon in the atmosphere. I propose how datacenter networks can reduce both the total operational and embodied energy information and communications technology outputs in order to lower impact on the environment.Future datacenter networks based on optical circuit switches use less operational energy than traditional counterparts. In order to make these a reality, servers must interact with the network in fundamentally different ways. I examine the systemic needs of servers in three different optical circuit switched networks and develop several methods of enforcing precision transmission flow control in software. Using an in-depth study of the accuracy of networking software for microsecond precision flow control, I observe that networking software alone is only effective at rates up to 40 Gbps. This implies that hardware support is required to accurately transmit at the 400 Gbps rates needed in modern datacenter networking.Datacenters are poised to aid lowering the embodied energy of smartphones as well. The embodied energy of smartphones are a highly significant contributor to total carbon emissions. Smartphones are increasingly discarded after shorter periods of time, which raises their impact on the environment further. To extend the lifetimes of smartphones and reduce their embodied energy, datacenters can run parts of a phone's browser application. To see how effective this would be in practice, I study how university students use smartphones on academic platforms. In particular, I analyze data from a university's learning management system and find that smartphones roughly four years past their manufacturing date become obsolete in academic settings. I discuss how using datacenter networks for a split-browser

At the conclusion of World War II, American citizens, including millions of deployed servicemen, reasserted the democratic freedoms they sacrificed to win the war. The American intervention in North China during the Chinese Civil War presented a ripe opportunity for civic restoration in late 1945. Controversial and seemingly at odds with the stated goals of the Second World War—namely the “Four Freedoms” and the Atlantic Charter—the US military presence in North China faced formidable domestic political obstacles. This thesis explores the nexus of domestic politics and foreign policy in the post-World War II era. Focusing on 1945-1946, this project steps beyond the oft-studied foreign service personalities to examine the important role of Congress, the military, and public opinion in constraining US participation in the Chinese Civil War. As the title suggests, Mansfield, Marines, and mothers are important political characters anchoring this research. I argue that Representative Mike Mansfield, from Montana’s first congressional district, served a vital role in elevating the dangers of the North China intervention in the public consciousness. With speeches critical of the Truman administration’s China policy in the House of Representatives, Mansfield’s words resonated with deployed Marines, their families, and with organized citizens’ groups. The lifting of wartime censorship also allowed Marines in China to write congressmen, newspaper editors, and their families expressing opposition to direct participation in the Chinese Civil War. Marine leadership also skillfully interpreted opaque orders and carefully avoided an expanded role. Marines’ families, and in particular mothers and spouses, crafted sophisticated arguments against expanded US military intervention in the language of self-determination, freedom, and democracy. Finally, I conclude that the deluge of public opinion at the outset of the North China intervention was an important factor in constraining Amer

The growing problem of antibiotic resistance has led to the exploration of uncultured bacteria as potential sources of new antimicrobials. PCR amplicon analyses and short-read sequencing studies of samples from different environments have reported evidence of high biosynthetic gene cluster (BGC) diversity in metagenomes, indicating their potential for producing novel and useful compounds. However, recovering full-length BGC sequences from uncultivated bacteria remains a challenge due to the technological restraints of short-read sequencing, thus making assessment of BGC diversity difficult. Here, long-read sequencing and genome mining were used to recover >1400 mostly full-length BGCs that demonstrate the rich diversity of BGCs from uncultivated lineages present in soil from Mars Oasis, Antarctica. A large number of highly divergent BGCs were not only found in the phyla Acidobacteriota, Verrucomicrobiota and Gemmatimonadota but also in the actinobacterial classes Acidimicrobiia and Thermoleophilia and the gammaproteobacterial order UBA7966. The latter furthermore contained a potential novel family of RiPPs. Our findings underline the biosynthetic potential of underexplored phyla as well as unexplored lineages within seemingly well-studied producer phyla. They also showcase long-read metagenomic sequencing as a promising way to access the untapped genetic reservoir of specialised metabolite gene clusters of the uncultured majority of microbes.

Background and objectives: Documentation is important for quality improvement, education, and research. There is currently a lack of recommendations regarding key aspects of documentation in regional anesthesia. The aim of this study was to establish recommendations for documentation in regional anesthesia. Methods: Following the formation of the executive committee and a directed literature review, a long list of potential documentation components was created. A modified Delphi process was then employed to achieve consensus amongst a group of international experts in regional anesthesia. This consisted of 2 rounds of anonymous electronic voting and a final virtual round table discussion with live polling on items not yet excluded or accepted from previous rounds. Progression or exclusion of potential components through the rounds was based on the achievement of strong consensus. Strong consensus was defined as ≥75% agreement and weak consensus as 50%-74% agreement. Results: Seventy-seven collaborators participated in both rounds 1 and 2, while 50 collaborators took part in round 3. In total, experts voted on 83 items and achieved a strong consensus on 51 items, weak consensus on 3 and rejected 29. Conclusion: By means of a modified Delphi process, we have established expert consensus on documentation in regional anesthesia.

Documentation is important for quality improvement, education, and research. There is currently a lack of recommendations regarding key aspects of documentation in regional anesthesia. The aim of this study was to establish recommendations for documentation in regional anesthesia. Following the formation of the executive committee and a directed literature review, a long list of potential documentation components was created. A modified Delphi process was then employed to achieve consensus amongst a group of international experts in regional anesthesia. This consisted of 2 rounds of anonymous electronic voting and a final virtual round table discussion with live polling on items not yet excluded or accepted from previous rounds. Progression or exclusion of potential components through the rounds was based on the achievement of strong consensus. Strong consensus was defined as ≥75% agreement and weak consensus as 50%-74% agreement. Seventy-seven collaborators participated in both rounds 1 and 2, while 50 collaborators took part in round 3. In total, experts voted on 83 items and achieved a strong consensus on 51 items, weak consensus on 3 and rejected 29. By means of a modified Delphi process, we have established expert consensus on documentation in regional anesthesia.

BackgroundLytic or malpositioned tunnels may require bone grafting during revision anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction (rACLR) surgery. Patient characteristics and effects of grafting on outcomes after rACLR are not well described.PurposeTo describe preoperative characteristics, intraoperative findings, and 2-year outcomes for patients with rACLR undergoing bone grafting procedures compared with patients with rACLR without grafting.Study designCohort study; Level of evidence, 3.MethodsA total of 1234 patients who underwent rACLR were prospectively enrolled between 2006 and 2011. Baseline revision and 2-year characteristics, surgical technique, pathology, treatment, and patient-reported outcome instruments (International Knee Documentation Committee [IKDC], Knee injury and Osteoarthritis Outcome Score [KOOS], Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Osteoarthritis Index, and Marx Activity Rating Scale [Marx]) were collected, as well as subsequent surgery information, if applicable. The chi-square and analysis of variance tests were used to compare group characteristics.ResultsA total of 159 patients (13%) underwent tunnel grafting-64 (5%) patients underwent 1-stage and 95 (8%) underwent 2-stage grafting. Grafting was isolated to the femur in 31 (2.5%) patients, the tibia in 40 (3%) patients, and combined in 88 patients (7%). Baseline KOOS Quality of Life (QoL) and Marx activity scores were significantly lower in the 2-stage group compared with the no bone grafting group (P≤ .001). Patients who required 2-stage grafting had more previous ACLRs (P < .001) and were less likely to have received a bone-patellar tendon-bone or a soft tissue autograft at primary ACLR procedure (P≤ .021) compared with the no bone grafting group. For current rACLR, patients undergoing either 1-stage or 2-stage bone grafting were more likely to receive a bone-patellar tendon-bone allograft (P≤ .008) and less likely to receive a soft tissue autograft (P≤ .003) compared with the no bon

Background and objectives: Documentation is important for quality improvement, education, and research. There is currently a lack of recommendations regarding key aspects of documentation in regional anesthesia. The aim of this study was to establish recommendations for documentation in regional anesthesia. Methods: Following the formation of the executive committee and a directed literature review, a long list of potential documentation components was created. A modified Delphi process was then employed to achieve consensus amongst a group of international experts in regional anesthesia. This consisted of 2 rounds of anonymous electronic voting and a final virtual round table discussion with live polling on items not yet excluded or accepted from previous rounds. Progression or exclusion of potential components through the rounds was based on the achievement of strong consensus. Strong consensus was defined as ≥75% agreement and weak consensus as 50%-74% agreement. Results: Seventy-seven collaborators participated in both rounds 1 and 2, while 50 collaborators took part in round 3. In total, experts voted on 83 items and achieved a strong consensus on 51 items, weak consensus on 3 and rejected 29. Conclusion: By means of a modified Delphi process, we have established expert consensus on documentation in regional anesthesia.

During 2015 and early 2016, the cultural application of Computational Creativity research and practice took a big leap forward, with a project where multiple computational systems were used to provide advice and material for a new musical theatre production. Billed as the world's first 'computer musical... conceived by computer and substantially crafted by computer', Beyond The Fence was staged in the Arts Theatre in London's West End during February and March of 2016. Various computational approaches to analytical and generative sub-projects were used to bring about the musical, and these efforts were recorded in two 1-hour documentary films made by Wingspan Productions, which were aired on SkyArts under the title Computer Says Show. We provide details here of the project conception and execution, including details of the systems which took on some of the creative responsibility in writing the musical, and the contributions they made. We also provide details of the impact of the project, including a perspective from the two (human) writers with overall control of the creative aspects the musical.

The growing problem of antibiotic resistance has led to the exploration of uncultured bacteria as potential sources of new antimicrobials. PCR amplicon analyses and short-read sequencing studies of samples from different environments have reported evidence of high biosynthetic gene cluster (BGC) diversity in metagenomes, indicating their potential for producing novel and useful compounds. However, recovering full-length BGC sequences from uncultivated bacteria remains a challenge due to the technological restraints of short-read sequencing, thus making assessment of BGC diversity difficult. Here, long-read sequencing and genome mining were used to recover >1400 mostly full-length BGCs that demonstrate the rich diversity of BGCs from uncultivated lineages present in soil from Mars Oasis, Antarctica. A large number of highly divergent BGCs were not only found in the phyla Acidobacteriota, Verrucomicrobiota and Gemmatimonadota but also in the actinobacterial classes Acidimicrobiia and Thermoleophilia and the gammaproteobacterial order UBA7966. The latter furthermore contained a potential novel family of RiPPs. Our findings underline the biosynthetic potential of underexplored phyla as well as unexplored lineages within seemingly well-studied producer phyla. They also showcase long-read metagenomic sequencing as a promising way to access the untapped genetic reservoir of specialised metabolite gene clusters of the uncultured majority of microbes.

Background and objectives: documentation is important for quality improvement, education, and research. There is currently a lack of recommendations regarding key aspects of documentation in regional anesthesia. The aim of this study was to establish recommendations for documentation in regional anesthesia. Methods: following the formation of the executive committee and a directed literature review, a long list of potential documentation components was created. A modified Delphi process was then employed to achieve consensus amongst a group of international experts in regional anesthesia. This consisted of 2 rounds of anonymous electronic voting and a final virtual round table discussion with live polling on items not yet excluded or accepted from previous rounds. Progression or exclusion of potential components through the rounds was based on the achievement of strong consensus. Strong consensus was defined as >= 75% agreement and weak consensus as 50%-74% agreement. Results: seventy-seven collaborators participated in both rounds 1 and 2, while 50 collaborators took part in round 3. In total, experts voted on 83 items and achieved a strong consensus on 51 items, weak consensus on 3 and rejected 29. Conclusion: by means of a modified Delphi process, we have established expert consensus on documentation in regional anesthesia., European Society of Regional Anaesthesia and Pain Therapy (ESRA); ASRA Pain Medicine

Carbonyl sulfide (OCS or COS) is the most common sulfur-containing species in the atmosphere and has the potential to function as a proxy for photosynthetic carbon uptake (gross primary productivity, GPP). In order to expand this technique to regional and global scales, additional questions about poorly constrained aspects of the carbonyl sulfide budget must be resolved.The first section of this work is devoted to developing a new, spatially resolved and temporally varying inventory of carbonyl sulfide emissions from biomass burning. By leveraging long-term, in situ observations of atmospheric carbonyl sulfide, we demonstrate that biomass burning emissions are heavily dependent on biome and are not sufficient to close the overall flux budget.The second section of this dissertation uses this biomass burning inventory in conjunction with a global chemical transport model in order to constrain plant fluxes in the Amazon basin. Using satellite data from the Michelson Interferometer for Passive Atmospheric Sounding (MIPAS) instrument, I show that downstream observations of carbonyl sulfide in the upper troposphere retain useful information about surface processes and can provide an independent constraint on gross primary production given sufficient convective transport.Finally, I conduct an observing system simulation experiment (OSSE) to investigate how future remote-sensing campaigns could yield more information and better constrain GPP using carbonyl sulfide. In addition to considering sampling density, sampling height and instrument noise in satellite observations, I address potential challenges in future aircraft sampling campaigns.

Carbonyl sulfide (OCS or COS) is the most common sulfur-containing species in the atmosphere and has the potential to function as a proxy for photosynthetic carbon uptake (gross primary productivity, GPP). In order to expand this technique to regional and global scales, additional questions about poorly constrained aspects of the carbonyl sulfide budget must be resolved.The first section of this work is devoted to developing a new, spatially resolved and temporally varying inventory of carbonyl sulfide emissions from biomass burning. By leveraging long-term, in situ observations of atmospheric carbonyl sulfide, we demonstrate that biomass burning emissions are heavily dependent on biome and are not sufficient to close the overall flux budget.The second section of this dissertation uses this biomass burning inventory in conjunction with a global chemical transport model in order to constrain plant fluxes in the Amazon basin. Using satellite data from the Michelson Interferometer for Passive Atmospheric Sounding (MIPAS) instrument, I show that downstream observations of carbonyl sulfide in the upper troposphere retain useful information about surface processes and can provide an independent constraint on gross primary production given sufficient convective transport.Finally, I conduct an observing system simulation experiment (OSSE) to investigate how future remote-sensing campaigns could yield more information and better constrain GPP using carbonyl sulfide. In addition to considering sampling density, sampling height and instrument noise in satellite observations, I address potential challenges in future aircraft sampling campaigns.

Mobile devices have rapidly reached almost ubiquitous adoption amongst the global population. Smartphones have been the catalyst for introduction of high-performance System-on-Chips to mobile devices bringing with them the capability to execute ever more demanding applications but also widespread power management challenges. Traditionally, the foremost power management challenge was extension of battery lifetime. The emergence of sustained performance applications including mobile gaming, Virtual and Augmented Reality has presented a new challenge in constraining performance to within a sustainable thermal envelope. Cooling techniques, limited to passive technologies in mobile devices, have proved insufficient to maintain device skin temperatures below thresholds the human skin can tolerate. Dynamic Power Management policies have been developed to reduce mobile device power consumption to meet both energy and thermal constraints. This thesis proposes and then explores a new area of research in systematic tuning of Dynamic Power Management policies for mobile devices. Static and dynamic configuration of Dynamic Power Management policy parameters are compared to quantify the potential energy and performance improvements. Experimental results from a modern mobile device across four applications suggest up to 10% reduction in dropped frames and a 25% reduction in CPU energy consumption. Interactive performance degradation from Frequency Capping - the Dynamic Power Management lever used in device skin temperature throttling - was shown to induce up to a 43% increase in dropped frames. A new Dynamic Power Management lever - Task Utilisation Scaling - is proposed and validated to mitigate the performance degradation by reducing the number of dropped frames by up to 8.5% compared to Frequency Capping. Evaluation of interactive performance metrics such as dropped frames was shown to be up to 750x slower than CPU energy consumption. An investigation into the root cause of thi

Body systems once thought sterile at birth instead have complex and sometimes abundant microbial ecosystems. However, relationships between dam and calf microbial ecosystems are still unclear. The objectives of this study were to (1) characterize the various maternal and calf microbiomes during peri-partum and post-partum periods and (2) examine the influence of the maternal microbiome on calf fecal microbiome composition during the pre-weaning phase. Multiparous Holstein cows were placed in individual, freshly bedded box stalls 14 d before expected calving. Caudal vaginal fluid samples were collected approximately 24 h before calving and dam fecal, oral, colostrum, and placenta samples were collected immediately after calving. Calf fecal samples were collected at birth (meconium) and 24 h, 7 d, 42 d, and 60 d of age. Amplicons covering V4 16S rDNA regions were generated using DNA extracted from all samples and were sequenced using 300 bp paired end Illumina MiSeq sequencing. Spearman rank correlations were performed between genera in maternal and calf fecal microbiomes. Negative binomial regression models were created for genera in calf fecal samples at each time point using genera in maternal microbiomes. We determined that Bacteroidetes dominated the calf fecal microbiome at all time points (relative abundance ≥42.55%) except for 24 h post-calving, whereas Proteobacteria were the dominant phylum (relative abundance = 85.10%). Maternal fecal, oral, placental, vaginal, and colostrum microbiomes were significant predictors of calf fecal microbiome throughout pre-weaning. Results indicate that calf fecal microbiome inoculation and development may be derived from various maternal sources. Maternal microbiomes could be used to predict calf microbiome development, but further research on the environmental and genetic influences is needed.

This paper reviews the research on the reversed field pinch (RFP) in the last three decades. Substantial experimental and theoretical progress and transformational changes have been achieved since the last review (Bodin 1990 Nucl. Fusion 30 1717-37). The experiments have been performed in devices with different sizes and capabilities. The largest are RFX-mod in Padova (Italy) and MST in Madison (USA). The experimental community includes also EXTRAP-T2R in Sweden, RELAX in Japan and KTX in China. Impressive improvements in the performance are the result of exploration of two lines: the high current operation (up to 2 MA) with the spontaneous occurrence of helical equilibria with good magnetic flux surfaces and the active control of the current profile. A crucial ingredient for the advancements obtained in the experiments has been the development of state-of-art active feedback control systems allowing the control of MHD instabilities in presence of a thin shell. The balance between achievements and still open issues leads us to the conclusion that the RFP can be a valuable and diverse contributor in the quest for fusion electricity., QC 20210409

BackgroundAlthough graft choice may be limited in the revision setting based on previously used grafts, most surgeons believe that graft choice for anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) reconstruction is an important factor related to outcome.HypothesisIn the ACL revision setting, there would be no difference between autograft and allograft in rerupture rate and patient-reported outcomes (PROs) at 6-year follow-up.Study designCohort study; Level of evidence, 2.MethodsPatients who had revision surgery were identified and prospectively enrolled in this cohort study by 83 surgeons over 52 sites. Data collected included baseline characteristics, surgical technique and pathology, and a series of validated PRO measures. Patients were followed up at 6 years and asked to complete the identical set of PRO instruments. Incidence of additional surgery and reoperation because of graft failure were also recorded. Multivariable regression models were used to determine the predictors (risk factors) of PROs, graft rerupture, and reoperation at 6 years after revision surgery.ResultsA total of 1234 patients including 716 (58%) men were enrolled. A total of 325 (26%) underwent revision using a bone-patellar tendon-bone (BTB) autograft; 251 (20%), soft tissue autograft; 289 (23%), BTB allograft; 302 (25%), soft tissue allograft; and 67 (5%), other graft. Questionnaires and telephone follow-up for subsequent surgery information were obtained for 809 (66%) patients, while telephone follow-up was only obtained for an additional 128 patients for the total follow-up on 949 (77%) patients. Graft choice was a significant predictor of 6-year Marx Activity Rating Scale scores (P = .024). Specifically, patients who received a BTB autograft for revision reconstruction had higher activity levels than did patients who received a BTB allograft (odds ratio [OR], 1.92; 95% CI, 1.25-2.94). Graft rerupture was reported in 5.8% (55/949) of patients by their 6-year follow-up: 3.5% (16/455) of patients with aut

Mobile devices have rapidly reached almost ubiquitous adoption amongst the global population. Smartphones have been the catalyst for introduction of high-performance System-on-Chips to mobile devices bringing with them the capability to execute ever more demanding applications but also widespread power management challenges. Traditionally, the foremost power management challenge was extension of battery lifetime. The emergence of sustained performance applications including mobile gaming, Virtual and Augmented Reality has presented a new challenge in constraining performance to within a sustainable thermal envelope. Cooling techniques, limited to passive technologies in mobile devices, have proved insufficient to maintain device skin temperatures below thresholds the human skin can tolerate. Dynamic Power Management policies have been developed to reduce mobile device power consumption to meet both energy and thermal constraints. This thesis proposes and then explores a new area of research in systematic tuning of Dynamic Power Management policies for mobile devices. Static and dynamic configuration of Dynamic Power Management policy parameters are compared to quantify the potential energy and performance improvements. Experimental results from a modern mobile device across four applications suggest up to 10% reduction in dropped frames and a 25% reduction in CPU energy consumption. Interactive performance degradation from Frequency Capping - the Dynamic Power Management lever used in device skin temperature throttling - was shown to induce up to a 43% increase in dropped frames. A new Dynamic Power Management lever - Task Utilisation Scaling - is proposed and validated to mitigate the performance degradation by reducing the number of dropped frames by up to 8.5% compared to Frequency Capping. Evaluation of interactive performance metrics such as dropped frames was shown to be up to 750x slower than CPU energy consumption. An investigation into the root cause of thi

Body systems once thought sterile at birth instead have complex and sometimes abundant microbial ecosystems. However, relationships between dam and calf microbial ecosystems are still unclear. The objectives of this study were to (1) characterize the various maternal and calf microbiomes during peri-partum and post-partum periods and (2) examine the influence of the maternal microbiome on calf fecal microbiome composition during the pre-weaning phase. Multiparous Holstein cows were placed in individual, freshly bedded box stalls 14 d before expected calving. Caudal vaginal fluid samples were collected approximately 24 h before calving and dam fecal, oral, colostrum, and placenta samples were collected immediately after calving. Calf fecal samples were collected at birth (meconium) and 24 h, 7 d, 42 d, and 60 d of age. Amplicons covering V4 16S rDNA regions were generated using DNA extracted from all samples and were sequenced using 300 bp paired end Illumina MiSeq sequencing. Spearman rank correlations were performed between genera in maternal and calf fecal microbiomes. Negative binomial regression models were created for genera in calf fecal samples at each time point using genera in maternal microbiomes. We determined that Bacteroidetes dominated the calf fecal microbiome at all time points (relative abundance ≥42.55%) except for 24 h post-calving, whereas Proteobacteria were the dominant phylum (relative abundance = 85.10%). Maternal fecal, oral, placental, vaginal, and colostrum microbiomes were significant predictors of calf fecal microbiome throughout pre-weaning. Results indicate that calf fecal microbiome inoculation and development may be derived from various maternal sources. Maternal microbiomes could be used to predict calf microbiome development, but further research on the environmental and genetic influences is needed.

Model validation is the process of evaluating how well a computational model represents reality. That is to say, does the model make predictions that adequately agree with the experimental evidence? Both model validation and uncertainty quantification have gained tremendous attention from researchers in engineering, physics, chemistry, and biology. Uncertainty quantification methods have been successfully applied to assessing model predictions of unmeasured quantities of interest and assisting in the development of computationally efficient, yet predictive, reduced-order models. In both cases, experimental data are incorporated into the analysis to refine the uncertainty estimate. However, with the amount of experimental data published and being generated through ongoing scientific endeavors, it is crucial to organize and integrate experimental data with the uncertainty quantification methods.In this work, I develop tools for uncertainty quantification and construct a validation workflow that seamlessly integrates uncertainty quantification tools with an online database of chemical kinetics validation data. The first part of this dissertation discusses the need for structured experimental data, emphasizing its value towards model validation, and explore how online databases provide structure to data. An optimization-based framework for uncertainty quantification, Bound-to-Bound Data Collaboration, is employed throughout the dissertation to verify the compatibility of models with data. A novel strategy for surrogate modeling using Bound-to-Bound Data Collaboration is developed to guide the fitting procedure towards regions of the parameter space where the model predicts the data accurately. This technique is demonstrated in two simple examples and a solid-fuel combustion example. In the second part of this dissertation, three complex physics-based models are investigated, specifically H2/O2 combustion, a solid-fuel char oxidation model, and a semi-empirical quantum c

Reactivation of hepatitis B virus (HBV) following the use of TNF antagonists has been reported and is a contraindication to use of these medications. Although the risk of reactivation of HBV during use of ustekinumab and secukinumab is low in patients with only HBV core antibody positivity, the risk is substantial in patients with chronic HBV infection. Less information is available regarding the use of pure IL-23 antagonists. Herein we discuss the successful treatment with guselkumab of a patient with HBV core antibody positivity, without evidence of HBV reactivation or other liver complications.

Model validation is the process of evaluating how well a computational model represents reality. That is to say, does the model make predictions that adequately agree with the experimental evidence? Both model validation and uncertainty quantification have gained tremendous attention from researchers in engineering, physics, chemistry, and biology. Uncertainty quantification methods have been successfully applied to assessing model predictions of unmeasured quantities of interest and assisting in the development of computationally efficient, yet predictive, reduced-order models. In both cases, experimental data are incorporated into the analysis to refine the uncertainty estimate. However, with the amount of experimental data published and being generated through ongoing scientific endeavors, it is crucial to organize and integrate experimental data with the uncertainty quantification methods.In this work, I develop tools for uncertainty quantification and construct a validation workflow that seamlessly integrates uncertainty quantification tools with an online database of chemical kinetics validation data. The first part of this dissertation discusses the need for structured experimental data, emphasizing its value towards model validation, and explore how online databases provide structure to data. An optimization-based framework for uncertainty quantification, Bound-to-Bound Data Collaboration, is employed throughout the dissertation to verify the compatibility of models with data. A novel strategy for surrogate modeling using Bound-to-Bound Data Collaboration is developed to guide the fitting procedure towards regions of the parameter space where the model predicts the data accurately. This technique is demonstrated in two simple examples and a solid-fuel combustion example. In the second part of this dissertation, three complex physics-based models are investigated, specifically H2/O2 combustion, a solid-fuel char oxidation model, and a semi-empirical quantum c

Reactivation of hepatitis B virus (HBV) following the use of TNF antagonists has been reported and is a contraindication to use of these medications. Although the risk of reactivation of HBV during use of ustekinumab and secukinumab is low in patients with only HBV core antibody positivity, the risk is substantial in patients with chronic HBV infection. Less information is available regarding the use of pure IL-23 antagonists. Herein we discuss the successful treatment with guselkumab of a patient with HBV core antibody positivity, without evidence of HBV reactivation or other liver complications.

The field of intuitive physics has been reinvigorated in recent years, providing converging computational, behavioral, and neural evidence demonstrating that humans possess a wealth of knowledge about the attributes and dynamics of physical entities in the world. However, progress in the field has led to many questions regarding (i) the human capacity for perception, physical inference, and higher-level reasoning; and (ii) how to design a machine to emulate newfound capabilities. My dissertation focuses on a range of research topics, from the characteristics of human perception and representation in dynamic scenes, to mental simulation of novel situations and transfer of higher-level knowledge to seemingly unrelated problem domains. In sum, my dissertation makes five major contributions:1. There is a signicant division between early research in intuitive physics and more recent investigations. This is largely due to a discrepancy between the reasoning systems utilized in each era's tasks; namely, explicit reasoning in early (pencil-and-paper)tasks, and implicit reasoning in recent (prediction and recognition) ones. While many earlier results have been explained by modern computational approaches, a number of findings remain unexplained. My dissertation provides a review of early intuitive physics research and places it in the context of modern computational approaches utilizing Bayesian statistics and machine learning. Critically, my dissertation outlines the shortcomings of each approach and the hurdles that must be overcome before an intelligent and generalizable intuitive physics architecture can be developed.2. We examine how humans perceive and represent observable information in dynamic, two-body object collision situations. The hypothesis that humans perceive motion in relation to meaningful|sometimes moving|landmarks in space is tested under thenoisy Newton framework for mass and causal inference. We term this the relative noisy Newton model, with the key di

The thesis describes development of membranes containing nanopores with charged pore walls, which could be used for desalination of brackish water. Semipermeable membranes composed of high density conical nanopores have been proposed for desalination by reverse osmosis. These nanopores feature a bipolar surface charge pattern so that the pore walls contain a junction between a zone with positive surface charges and a zone with negative surface charges. In this work we seek to show that polyimide (PI) membranes containing conical nanopores with such surface charge pattern may be produced by the process of track-etching of commercially available Kapton 50HN foils. The membranes prepared had a nanopore density of ~108 per cm^2. Salt rejection of the membranes was probed using 100 mM KCl as the feed solution and pressure differences up to several atmospheres. Maximum rejection of ~55% was achieved in a single-step desalination process. Modeling of salt rejection was also performed using the coupled Poisson-Nernst- Planck and Navier-Stokes equations. Our results demonstrated that conically shaped nanopores with bipolar surface charge pattern could be used for desalination of brackish water.

The current crop of outdoor-focused quadrotors struggle to explore tight, GPS denied, and vision impaired environments while managing self-induced turbulence and keeping the environment and UAV itself safe from collisions. Mainstream designs typically arrange their propellers in or near the same plane, resulting in an under-actuated system that must roll and pitch in order to move laterally. This dissertation describes the design, analysis, and construction of a soft multirotor airframe with the capability of in-plane maneuverability and decoupled 6DOF control which allow for low profile sensor payload integration without the need for a gimbal as well as predictable and safe flight in confined spaces such as tunnels and collapsed buildings. All aspects of the design are described, beginning with the electronics package itself.The author observes the disappointingly low use of small embedded Linux platforms in robotics education. As an alternative to the ubiquity of microcontroller-based development boards such as Arduino, this work presents the use of the Robotics Cape and BeagleBone Blue along with their associated software and hardware ecosystem in both a prototyping and education environment. This ecosystem was initially designed and produced to facilitate the aforementioned multirotor's construction, yet continues to be used as part of the UCSD MAE curriculum for the benefit of others.Following the design of the multirotor's electronics package, this dissertation presents a method for optimizing rotor angles as a function of the frame parameters and the desired performance characteristics. It compares the performance of an optimized configuration with an existing commercial hexacopter, and quantifies the improved control authority of the optimized design. The multirotor concept is then implemented as a monocoque airframe, designed through a presented technique for rapidly iterating the airframe shell thickness based on modal analysis using finite shell elements.

The thesis describes development of membranes containing nanopores with charged pore walls, which could be used for desalination of brackish water. Semipermeable membranes composed of high density conical nanopores have been proposed for desalination by reverse osmosis. These nanopores feature a bipolar surface charge pattern so that the pore walls contain a junction between a zone with positive surface charges and a zone with negative surface charges. In this work we seek to show that polyimide (PI) membranes containing conical nanopores with such surface charge pattern may be produced by the process of track-etching of commercially available Kapton 50HN foils. The membranes prepared had a nanopore density of ~108 per cm^2. Salt rejection of the membranes was probed using 100 mM KCl as the feed solution and pressure differences up to several atmospheres. Maximum rejection of ~55% was achieved in a single-step desalination process. Modeling of salt rejection was also performed using the coupled Poisson-Nernst- Planck and Navier-Stokes equations. Our results demonstrated that conically shaped nanopores with bipolar surface charge pattern could be used for desalination of brackish water.

The field of intuitive physics has been reinvigorated in recent years, providing converging computational, behavioral, and neural evidence demonstrating that humans possess a wealth of knowledge about the attributes and dynamics of physical entities in the world. However, progress in the field has led to many questions regarding (i) the human capacity for perception, physical inference, and higher-level reasoning; and (ii) how to design a machine to emulate newfound capabilities. My dissertation focuses on a range of research topics, from the characteristics of human perception and representation in dynamic scenes, to mental simulation of novel situations and transfer of higher-level knowledge to seemingly unrelated problem domains. In sum, my dissertation makes five major contributions:1. There is a signicant division between early research in intuitive physics and more recent investigations. This is largely due to a discrepancy between the reasoning systems utilized in each era's tasks; namely, explicit reasoning in early (pencil-and-paper)tasks, and implicit reasoning in recent (prediction and recognition) ones. While many earlier results have been explained by modern computational approaches, a number of findings remain unexplained. My dissertation provides a review of early intuitive physics research and places it in the context of modern computational approaches utilizing Bayesian statistics and machine learning. Critically, my dissertation outlines the shortcomings of each approach and the hurdles that must be overcome before an intelligent and generalizable intuitive physics architecture can be developed.2. We examine how humans perceive and represent observable information in dynamic, two-body object collision situations. The hypothesis that humans perceive motion in relation to meaningful|sometimes moving|landmarks in space is tested under thenoisy Newton framework for mass and causal inference. We term this the relative noisy Newton model, with the key di

The thesis describes development of membranes containing nanopores with charged pore walls, which could be used for desalination of brackish water. Semipermeable membranes composed of high density conical nanopores have been proposed for desalination by reverse osmosis. These nanopores feature a bipolar surface charge pattern so that the pore walls contain a junction between a zone with positive surface charges and a zone with negative surface charges. In this work we seek to show that polyimide (PI) membranes containing conical nanopores with such surface charge pattern may be produced by the process of track-etching of commercially available Kapton 50HN foils. The membranes prepared had a nanopore density of ~108 per cm^2. Salt rejection of the membranes was probed using 100 mM KCl as the feed solution and pressure differences up to several atmospheres. Maximum rejection of ~55% was achieved in a single-step desalination process. Modeling of salt rejection was also performed using the coupled Poisson-Nernst- Planck and Navier-Stokes equations. Our results demonstrated that conically shaped nanopores with bipolar surface charge pattern could be used for desalination of brackish water.

The current crop of outdoor-focused quadrotors struggle to explore tight, GPS denied, and vision impaired environments while managing self-induced turbulence and keeping the environment and UAV itself safe from collisions. Mainstream designs typically arrange their propellers in or near the same plane, resulting in an under-actuated system that must roll and pitch in order to move laterally. This dissertation describes the design, analysis, and construction of a soft multirotor airframe with the capability of in-plane maneuverability and decoupled 6DOF control which allow for low profile sensor payload integration without the need for a gimbal as well as predictable and safe flight in confined spaces such as tunnels and collapsed buildings. All aspects of the design are described, beginning with the electronics package itself.The author observes the disappointingly low use of small embedded Linux platforms in robotics education. As an alternative to the ubiquity of microcontroller-based development boards such as Arduino, this work presents the use of the Robotics Cape and BeagleBone Blue along with their associated software and hardware ecosystem in both a prototyping and education environment. This ecosystem was initially designed and produced to facilitate the aforementioned multirotor's construction, yet continues to be used as part of the UCSD MAE curriculum for the benefit of others.Following the design of the multirotor's electronics package, this dissertation presents a method for optimizing rotor angles as a function of the frame parameters and the desired performance characteristics. It compares the performance of an optimized configuration with an existing commercial hexacopter, and quantifies the improved control authority of the optimized design. The multirotor concept is then implemented as a monocoque airframe, designed through a presented technique for rapidly iterating the airframe shell thickness based on modal analysis using finite shell elements.

Karl Polanyi is arguably one of the most significant economic sociologists. At first glance the links between Polanyi’s ideas about markets, society and institutions and strategy may not be obvious. However, there is a hereto unrecognised link between recent writing about institutions and strategy and Polanyi’s work. In this paper we, therefore, chart how, when recognised, these links reveal that Karl Polanyi’s work might provide new ways of thinking about strategy. Our over-riding claim is that Polanyi’s ideas reveal the importance of considering how strategies are defined, responded to, and ultimately rendered effective or ineffective in ways that are determined by relationships between markets, the state and society. It is thus crucial to understand strategy as embedded, this implying consideration of a strategy’s legitimacy in economy and society as an instituted process at any particular place and time. This also implies wider political questions about strategy in society and the extent to which strategists need to be aware of the ‘double movement’ Polanyi discusses and ensure strategies serve the interests of society as well as those of the market.

White and black text on a white, blue and pink background. On the left is an illustration of a shirtless man with the Seattle skyline, including the Space Needle, in the background.

Karl Polanyi is arguably one of the most significant economic sociologists. At first glance the links between Polanyi’s ideas about markets, society and institutions and strategy may not be obvious. However, there is a hereto unrecognised link between recent writing about institutions and strategy and Polanyi’s work. In this paper we, therefore, chart how, when recognised, these links reveal that Karl Polanyi’s work might provide new ways of thinking about strategy. Our over-riding claim is that Polanyi’s ideas reveal the importance of considering how strategies are defined, responded to, and ultimately rendered effective or ineffective in ways that are determined by relationships between markets, the state and society. It is thus crucial to understand strategy as embedded, this implying consideration of a strategy’s legitimacy in economy and society as an instituted process at any particular place and time. This also implies wider political questions about strategy in society and the extent to which strategists need to be aware of the ‘double movement’ Polanyi discusses and ensure strategies serve the interests of society as well as those of the market.

Background: Surfing manoeuvres such as aerials have emerged as an impactful way for competitive surfers to significantly change the outcome of a heat, providing them with a competitive advantage when performed successfully. Although these manoeuvres have drawn some attention from the scientific community, no research has been undertaken to comprehensively evaluate the performance of aerials and to identify how they can be trained for. Research Question: The overall aim of this thesis was to systematically evaluate the performance of aerial manoeuvres in surfing in order to develop evidence-based recommendations, which could be used to improve aerial performance and training in skilled surfers. Methods: A series of studies were conducted in three parts to achieve this overall thesis aim. Firstly, Part I explored the current state of wave-riding performance (Chapter 2), as well as establishing the value of wave-riding manoeuvres to scoring a surfer’s performance during elite surfing competitions (Chapter 3). From gaps revealed in the literature and the research direction established in Part I, Part II of the thesis aimed to qualitatively assess how elite surfers perform aerial manoeuvres in competition so that a set of critical features, which were associated with successful aerial completion, could be developed to create a model of elite aerial performance (Chapter 4). These critical features were then compared with how competitive surfers landed simulated aerial manoeuvres in a laboratory (Chapter 5). Finally, for Part III, two simulated aerial manoeuvre variations, the Frontside Air and Frontside Air Reverse, were comprehensively evaluated to identify any differences in lower limb motion or control used by competitive surfers when landing the tasks (Chapter 6). Relationships between aerial performance parameters and other physical qualities of the competitive surfers were then investigated to establish which variables should be monitored in training to enhance succ

PDS 110 is a young disk-hosting star in the Orion OB1A association. Two dimming events of similar depth and duration were seen in 2008 (WASP) and 2011 (KELT), consistent with an object in a closed periodic orbit. In this paper we present data from a ground-based observing campaign designed to measure the star both photometrically and spectroscopically during the time of predicted eclipse in September 2017. Despite high-quality photometry, the predicted eclipse did not occur, although coherent structure is present suggesting variable amounts of stellar flux or dust obscuration. We also searched for RV oscillations caused by any hypothetical companion and can rule out close binaries to 0.1 $M_\odot$. A search of Sonneberg plate archive data also enabled us to extend the photometric baseline of this star back more than 50 years, and similarly does not re-detect any deep eclipses. Taken together, they suggest that the eclipses seen in WASP and KELT photometry were due to aperiodic events. It would seem that PDS 110 undergoes stochastic dimmings that are shallower and shorter-duration than those of UX Ori variables, but may have a similar mechanism., Comment: Accepted to MNRAS; 12 pages, 7 figures; Supplementary photometric data in zipped latex source as all_photometry.csv

Particle accelerators are a leading tool for frontier science. Pushing that frontier further demands more machines with higher performance, and more of a very expensive technology: superconducting radio-frequency (SRF) acceleration. From a materials perspective this means reducing residual surface resistance or raising the operating temperature (currently ~2 K) of SRF cavities. Both are pursued by materials modification: nitrogen doping/infusion in the first instance and coating with Nb3Sn in the second. Materials characterization is key to achieving understanding and directing RandD. However, very little has been done. This present work aims to fill the knowledge gap and to provide needed, validated tools to the accelerator science community. In this connection, SIMS, XPS and EBSD have proven especially valuable and represent the majority of discussion in this dissertation.