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Far from having only marginal significance and generating a ‘subdued’ response among African Americans, as some historians have argued, the Nigerian Civil War (1967-1970) collided at full velocity with the conflicting discourses and ideas by which black Americans sought to understand their place in the United States and the world in the late 1960s. Black liberal civil rights leaders leapt to offer their service as agents of direct diplomacy during the conflict, seeking to preserve Nigerian unity; grassroots activists from New York to Kansas organised food-drives, concerts and awareness campaigns in support of humanitarian aid for Biafran victims of starvation; while other pro-Biafran black activists warned of links between black ‘genocide’ in Biafra and the US alike. This thesis is the first to recover and analyse at length the extent, complexity and character of such African American responses to the Nigerian Civil War. Drawing on extensive use of private papers, activist literature, government records and especially the black press, it charts the way African Americans conceptualised, over time and in complex ways, their varied understandings of issues such as black internationalist solidarities, territorial sovereignty and political viability, humanitarian compassion and great power realpolitik, as well as colonial and neo-colonial influence in Africa. The thesis initially explores the longer twentieth century history of African American engagement with Nigeria by way of establishing context, before providing in-depth analysis of the key initiatives and events that comprised African American engagement with the civil war. Chapters move chronologically and thematically to discuss direct diplomatic efforts to broker peace, African American responses to alleged genocide in Biafra, the rise and fall of pro-Biafran political support, and the latter’s loss to what emerged as a stronger political bloc of those supporting Nigerian political unity. Situated methodologically and historiographically at the intersection of scholarship on black internationalism and the international history of the Nigerian Civil War, this thesis demonstrates the way the civil war not only provoked intense activism, but did so in ways that fundamentally connected with the central ideas, themes and concerns of the black freedom struggle in the United States.

The Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) supervises insurance companies since, in the absence of regulation, there could be adverse effects for policyholders and financial stability. Like all firms, insurers’ business models — the ways they make profit — and the risks they face evolve over time. The PRA uses business model analysis (BMA) as part of its forward-looking supervisory approach, to help to ensure that these evolving risks are recognised. This article explains the use of BMA, using as case studies the rise of price comparison websites in the motor insurance market, and the growth of non-standard annuity products for life insurers.

The permeability of various volcanic materials is an essential parameter governing the explosive behaviour of volcanic systems, as well as being important in many other scientific and industrial applications in environments where fluid flow is a major concern. Combining experimental rock deformation methods with field measurements, numerical modelling, and systematic analyses of rock microstructure, this work explores the complexities involved in the formation and destruction of porous networks in magma and volcanic rocks, addressing how permeability can evolve in volcanic systems. Competition between dilatant processes (which increase porosity) and compactant processes (which decrease porosity) influences the fluid transport properties both in the conduit-dwelling magma and in solidified edifice rock. These processes include (but are not limited to) vesiculation and bubble growth in the conduit, fracture and compaction of magma, post-emplacement thermal or mechanical fracturing, strain-induced deformation, and viscous sintering.; La perméabilité est une propriété essentielle notamment pour déterminer la nature explosive des volcans, ainsi que pour de nombreuses autres applications scientifiques et industrielles dans les environnements où l'écoulement du fluide est une préoccupation majeure. Combinant des méthodes expérimentales de déformation des roches en laboratoire, des approches de terrain, de la modélisation numérique, et des analyses systématiques de microstructure, ce travail a mis en évidence le caractère complexe de la formation et la destruction des réseaux poreux dans le magma et des roches volcaniques. La compétition entre les processus dilatants (qui augmentent la porosité) et compactants (qui la diminuent) exerce une influence sur les propriétés de transport des fluides à la fois dans le magma et dans la roche volcanique solidifiée. Ces processus incluent la vésiculation et la croissance des bulles dans le conduit, la rupture et la compression du magma, la fracturation issue du refroidissement et fracturation induite par le transport, ainsi que la déformation pendant ou après la mise en place des matériaux, et la densification par frittage.

This thesis focuses on the response of the Australian government to the outbreak of the Indonesian Outer-Island rebellion and the American intervention-through the CIA- to support the rebels against the Central Government in Jakarta. The Australia-Indonesia bilateral relationship is considered one of Australia’s most crucial diplomatic relationships. This thesis will situate the Australian response to the rebellion within the historical context of Australia’s post-1945 engagement with Asia, the Cold War, and the process of decolonisation in Southeast Asia. Drawing on a variety of Australia and American primary sources, including diplomatic cables, government memoranda, private letters, press releases, reports, oral histories, and newspapers, the thesis will analysis how Australian politicians, diplomats and military officials dealt with a major foreign policy crisis in what Prime Minister Menzies called the “near north”.

Extraction yields of cobalamins were examined with tissues containing both incorporated and added radioactive vitamin B12 (57Co.vit.B12) and pronase used to increase the yields from ca. 65 - 75% by its proteolysis of the vitamin B12 binders. Pronase itself was however found to be a source of vitamin B12 and thus its use was discontinued. The extracted cobalamins were separated by silica gel thin-layer chromatography and the chromatograms developed by the standard bioautography assay, using an Escherichia coli mutant, which was vitamin B12 dependent for growth. An unknown cobalamin which was encountered during these assays was examined by ion-exchange chromautography and light-sensitivity and identified as artefactual sulphite B12, produced from hydroxo B12. To prevent this conversion pH control of the extraction using a bicarbonate buffer was attempted but met with little success, because of the ease of formation of sulphite B12 and the inability to maintain the buffered conditions throughout the extraction. Pre-conversion of the hydroxo B12 ammonia B12 with an ammonia buffer system was successful in eliminating the artefact, and moreover produced a cohalamin which was indistinguishable from hydrozo B12 on chromatography in ammonia containing solvent systems. The light sensitivities of the 'naturally' occurring cohalamins were estimated under controlled light exposure conditions to establish the most suitable method for preparation of tissues and isolation of cobalamins. The forms of vitamin B12 in items of diet were found by the chromatographic and bioautographic analysis of tissue extracts and a degree of quantitation of results introduced by examination of a series of extract diluents. Distinct variations were evident in the forms of vitamin B12 isolated in the three categories of foodstuffs examined, namely dairy produce, meat & poultry (muscle tissue) and fish.

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