published_or_final_version / Medical Sciences / Master / Master of Medical Sciences

published_or_final_version / Medical Sciences / Master / Master of Medical Sciences

In 2011, National Football League (NFL) quarterback Tim Tebow gripped America when the Denver Broncos reeled off a series of thrilling wins in an unlikely playoff run. Surrounding this stretch of Bronco wins was a media frenzy popularly known as “Tebow Mania”. The media explosion around Tebow can be attributed to his perplexing character and the political, cultural and social circumstances in 2011. This thesis is a critical media discourse analysis of Tebow’s sport star identity. I analyze the ways in which Tebow was described during the heights of his popularity during the 2011 NFL season. I argue that Tebow’s sport star identity naturalized ideologies of rightwing conservatism, (rightwing) conservative Christian fundamentalism and white masculinity into “common sense” notions of social life. To accomplish this, I follow cultural studies methodologies that trace Tebow’s rise to prominence within the context of The Tea Party Movement. I outline two dominant narratives that emerged during Tebow Mania to fabricate an American Dream, underdog story. While the first narrative of polarization criticizes and contemplates Tebow’s muscular Christianity, the counter-narrative repackages the polarization of Tebow by celebrating his white racial identity and conservative American values. / Thesis (Master, Kinesiology & Health Studies) -- Queen's University, 2013-12-27 13:26:52.995

The effect of potassium silicate fortified with cow manure compost tea and seaweed extract on dollar spot (Sclerotinia homoeocarpa) was studied in creeping bentgrass (Agrostis stolonifera L.) and perennial ryegrass (Lolium perene L.). Application of potassium silicate fortified compost tea increased the silicon content in bentgrass and ryegrass at 5 days after treatment, but there was only a minimal effect on silicon content in the grass at 15 days after treatment. However, the fortified treatments did not affect the susceptibility of grass to dollar spot disease in the greenhouse experiments. Fortified treatments did not have a significant effect on the chlorophyll content, total phenol content and phenylalanine ammonia lyase activity in creeping bentgrass. Similarly, the treatment did not affect area of the lesion and mycelial growth of the fungus. Although the synergistic effect of silica fortification was not investigated in detail, preliminary results of the study indicate potassium silicate fortified with compost tea or seaweed extract was not different from that of non-fortified treatments in reducing dollar spot disease in the greenhouse trial.

Die Broschüre stellt eine Auswahl von Pflanzen vor, die im Haus- und Kleingarten problemlos angebaut werden können, um daraus Kräutertee zuzubereiten. Besonders eingegangen wird auf die unterschiedlichen Zubereitungsformen der einzelnen Pflanzenteile und auf die Heilwirkung von Kräutertees. In der 2., überarbeiteten Auflage wurden seltene Teepflanzen und Pflanzen mit besonderer Süßkraft aufgenommen.

This thesis is concerned with the use of natural waste materials, specifically used tea leaves and coffee grounds, as adsorbents for the removal of trace metals from water, e.g. in waste water treatment. Trace metals such as lead, mercury, zinc, copper, nickel and cadmium are released to the environment in waste water as a result of human activities, and generate concern because of their potential toxicity, persistence and tendency to become concentrated in food chains. While there are many conventional methods for removing these metals from waste water, such as chemical precipitation, ion exchange, membrane technologies and electrochemical treatment, these processes can be expensive. Thus in recent years there has been increasing interest in low cost adsorbent materials as alternative adsorbents, particularly waste natural products such as rice hulls and spent coffee grounds. Most of the research reported in this thesis has been conducted with spent coffee grounds, both grounds produced by leaching of commercial ground coffee and spent grounds obtained from the manufacture of instant coffee. However, some preliminary work was also conducted using spent tea leaves. In the initial work, the adsorption of the metal ions Cu�⁺, Zn�⁺, Cd�⁺ and Pb�⁺ by these adsorbents was investigated using batch adsorption methods to determine the effects of pH, metal ion concentration, adsorbent concentration and other factors such as temperature and metal ion competition. The competitive effects of soluble material leached from the adsorbents that also bind metal ions were studied. The adsorption of the metal ions was found to follow the Langmuir adsorption isotherm. However, the maximum adsorption density was found to depend on the concentration of coffee adsorbent present. Further investigation indicated that this was a result of flocculation of the coffee solids, which acted to reduce the available surface area and thus the maximum density of adsorption sites. This was confirmed using a dispersant to break up the flocculated solids. Column adsorption studies showed that metal ions adsorbed by coffee grounds could be quantitatively leached in dilute acid solution without any loss of subsequent adsorption properties, thus promoting efficient re-use of the column for many adsorption cycles. The adsorbent was also found to be largely unaffected by biological degradation. A prototype waste water treatment column was used to treat tap water samples, with and without known additions of metal ions. The results showed that the grounds efficiently adsorbed trace metal contaminants at levels as low as [mu]g L⁻�. The acid base chemistry of both tea leaves and coffee grounds, and the soluble materials leached from the fresh tea and coffee, were studied using potentiometric titration. In addition the stoichiometry of H⁺ released during metal ion adsorption was also investigated. The latter results indicated that the stoichiometry of metal ion adsorption is not simple, i.e. it probably involves more than one type of adsorption site. The results of this thesis suggest that the use of waste coffee grounds shows considerable promise for the treatment of waste water containing trace metals, and provides an alternative commercial use for such exhausted coffee materials.

Thesis (M. Ag. Sc.)--University of Adelaide, Dept. of Horticulture, Viticulture and Oenology, 1997. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 87-96).

Thesis (Ph. D. in Sociology)--Vanderbilt University, Dec. 2008. / Title from title screen. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington, 1998. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves [229]-236).

Thesis (M.S.)--University of Alabama at Birmingham, 2008. / Description based on contents viewed July 9, 2009; title from PDF t.p. Includes bibliographical references.