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My project reflects upon our body's impermanence and our efforts to balance the enormity of the concept of mortality with living every day. It investigates the condition of being that one cannot permit oneself to know too often, that is, the condition of, inhabiting a body through which one engages meaningfully with the world as a conscious being, but aware that this body will die. Within this framework, I investigate concepts of consciousness, sentience, and impermanence. These are concepts that are not clearly delineated in experience. There is a need to grasp them by means of other concepts that are understood in clearer terms. Using the quotidian experiences of food preparation, eating and the domestic as metaphorical tools, I delve into these themes. As I worked with these ideas the wider possibilities, both material and conceptual became evident. I expanded the initial medium of food to encompass personal objects and daily bodily processes in my attempt to probe complicated feelings about the impermanence of my own body. The project matured into a closer examination of what could be read as signs in every day life, of my body's vulnerability to death. The specific areas of focus are: Skin, Reanimation of the inanimate, Mouth, Concepts of the internal, Organs, Offal, Transmogrification, Organic destiny. Beginning with the skin that we are encased in, I used my body as an armature to produce a facsimile of my own hollowed-out empty skin. In Reanimation of the inanimate, I explore the continuum from preserved food to fermented food investigating the development from food as organic material whose life had passed to food as organic material in which change is an indicator of ongoing life. In the section titled Mouth, I consider the concept of exploring the world with one's mouth and the notion of anti-food. Introduced in Concepts of the internal are three investigations of the internal human body: anatomical illustrations from the sixteenth century, a cinematic portrayal from 1966 that has included in its subtext a spiritual journey, and a current project in which the internal human body is seen as purely scientific data. In Organs I investigate the idea of ingesting 'properties of character' that can be culturally associated with internal organs and the possibility that such characteristics could permeate the person ingesting them. In the section titled Offal, I propose that the polarity of life and death inherent in food is most evident when eating a meal of offal. In Transmogrificaation, I consider the conundrum of my internal organs, that is, they are mine in fact they are 'me' and at the same time they are foreign to me. In this section, I also investigate the concept of my body as a conduit with the ability to transport and transform matter. Finally, in Organic destiny I posit the notion that as bodies we are an ongoing process, an accumulation of matter built up over time and that we are small participants in a much bigger phenomenon.

To obtain more complete mortality data following HIV and AIDS diagnosis in Australia, HIV/AIDS diagnoses between 1980 and 2003 were linked to the National Death Index. Based on 6900 known deaths, and 1455 known non-deaths, sensitivity and specificity of the linkage was estimated to be 82% and 92% respectively. Mortality rates were compared by calendar period, pre-ART (<1990), pre- and early-HAART (1990-1996) and late-HAART (1997-2003). Mortality following AIDS decreased from 590.2/1000 person years pre-ART to 77.4 during the late-HAART period. Mortality following HIV diagnosis prior to AIDS increased from 9.7 to 20.2/1000 person years. The total number living with diagnosed HIV infection in Australia was estimated to have increased from 7873 at the end of 1989 to 12828 in 2003. Risk factors for survival following HIV and AIDS diagnosis were assessed using Cox regression. Age >40 years and certain HIV exposure results were associated with poorer survival following HIV. Predictors of poorer survival following AIDS were age >40 years, females exposed to HIV through receipt of blood, CD4 count <20 and certain AIDS illnesses. Parametric models of survival following HIV and AIDS diagnosis were assessed using likelihood based criteria. Goodness of fit was assessed by comparing observed with model predicted numbers of deaths. Weibull models were found to fit best to both survival following HIV and AIDS. Parametric survival models were used to project deaths after HIV and AIDS across three scenarios of HAART usage. Deaths following HIV were projected to remain low, but to increase from 223 in 2005 to 288, 292 and 282 in 2010 if the HAART usage remains stable at 2005 levels, increases to 70% of all people with diagnosed HIV by 2010 and decreases to 39% of all people with diagnosed HIV respectively. Deaths after AIDS diagnosis were projected to increase unless if HAART usage increases to 100% of AIDS diagnoses by 2010.

Although already known that Maori were over-represented in terms of Work-Related Fatal Injury, because of flawed identification processes, both in numerator and denominator data, little progress has been made in understanding the true extent, nature and distribution of work-related fatal injury among Maori. The present study aimed to more accurately describe the problem, identifying specific circumstances associated with Maori deaths that will assist in developing preventive strategies for Maori. Coronial files with an ICD 9-CM E-Code between E800 and E989 and a decedent aged 15-84, were reviewed as part of the study of all New Zealand work-related fatal injuries occurring between 1985 and 1994. Basic descriptive and causal information concerning each incident were abstracted and coded. Maori were identified within this dataset by either the classification recorded upon death certificates or if they were identified as Maori within Coroners files. In all, 91 Maori deaths were identified within the 817 work-related fatalities. Notably, agreement between the data sources used to identify ethnic status was only around 52%. Crude rates were significantly higher for Maori and did not show the significant linear decline across years, compared with the non-Maori rates. Rates adjusted for employment patterns based on ethnicity did not differ. Specific event sequences leading to death were examined by age industry and occupational group for both Maori and non-Maori workers. This study is the first to specifically investigate work-related injury for Maori. It confirms that overall inequities exist, and that they are largely due to differing employment patterns between Maori and non-Maori.

xviii, 259 leaves : / Title page, contents and abstract only. The complete thesis in print form is available from the University Library. / Thesis (M.D. 1971) from the Dept. of Child Health, University of Adelaide

The Moehau Kiwi Sanctuary is one of five sanctuaries established in 2000 and managed by the Department of Conservation. The objective of the sanctuaries is to protect the most endangered kiwi taxa, and increase kiwi survivorship. Operation Nest Egg (ONE) is a programme utilised by the Moehau Kiwi Sanctuary for artificially incubating abandoned Kiwi eggs and captive rearing chicks until they begin to show a gain in weight. ONE chicks were then released back onto Moehau or adjacent protected areas. Kiwi populations are declining on the mainland at an average of about 3% per year in areas where predators of kiwi are not controlled. The main cause for this decline is chick mortality due to predation by stoats (Mustela erminea). During natal dispersal kiwi are known to disperse significant distances of between 5–20 km, and this has influenced the size of management areas needed for the protection of kiwi (10,000 hectares). The type of forest-cover is an important element in determining where management areas are located, as kiwi has preferences for certain forest types over others. This study conducted at Moehau, Coromandel, on the North Island Brown Kiwi advances our knowledge of kiwi by examining differences in rates and distances of dispersal among chicks, sub-adults, non-territorial and territorial adults, as well as between genders. This study investigates kiwi selective use of roost site types, ground-cover types, forest types and physiographical features. Addressed in this study are differences in dispersal, habitat selection and mortality among age-classes and between genders over the months of the year, and across elevations. Comparisons between ONE and wild-reared kiwi dispersal and mortality are included. Data were collected between 2001 and 2008 from observations of kiwi located during daytime hours. The data recorded included the grid reference, elevation, ground-cover type, forest type, physiography, and the type of roost site. The sample size for this study was significantly larger than for any previous studies thus enabling a greater confidence in estimated dispersal rates and dispersal distances, habitat selection and factors relating to mortality. All wild-reared kiwi displayed dispersal and were not philopatric to their natal area. Dispersal distances were found to be further than previously estimated, with the net distance of natal dispersal differing among age-classes, from an average of 834m (SE +/- 131) for kiwi chicks to 7,553m (SE = +/- 1167) for non-territorial adults. Female sub-adult kiwi dispersed further (7,215m) than male sub-adult kiwi (4,226m) (p = 0.04). The time taken to travel one km during natal dispersal ranged from an average of 131days/km (SE = +/- 9) for chicks to 89 days/km (SE = +/- 13) for sub-adults. Habitat selection has been observed in other studies on kiwi but not specifically for Coromandel North Island Brown Kiwi, and selection for ground-cover types by kiwi when roosting on the surface has never been previously studied. Roost site selection of kiwi differed among age-classes (p <0.001), between gender (p <0.001), and across elevations (p <0.001). Female kiwi were found more often in surface roosts (64%) than hole roosts (32%), and male kiwi were found at similar frequencies in holes (46%) and on the surface (47%). Sub-adults used holes to a greater extent as elevation increased, and selected for sub-alpine forest over broadleaf forest (p <0.001). This study is the first to recognise that selection of ground-cover types by kiwi differs among age-classes (p <0.001). Kiwi chicks were more often found on the surface under dead fern fronds and debris (39%) than other ground-cover types. The mortality rate was highest in chicks (33%), with predation responsible for 60% of these deaths; conservation management techniques were responsible for a further 20% of deaths; the remaining 20% of deaths were due to natural or unknown causes. Summer (December-February) was the season in which 81% of kiwi chick deaths occurred. The high proportion of deaths from monitoring techniques and the use of radio-transmitters (22%) indicates improvements need to be made to current management practices. ONE chicks were found to disperse shorter distances and had a greater mortality rate than wild-reared chicks. Therefore, recommendations are made for changes to ONE management practices. Further recommendations are made for the enhancement of kiwi habitat that could reduce kiwi mortality, and for increasing the habitat available to kiwi, thereby potentially increasing population sizes and/or densities.

Thesis (B.A.)--Haverford College, Dept. of Economics, 2007. / Includes bibliographical references.

Processes occurring during the early life of marine fishes encompassing the larval, settlement, and juvenile stages can have important impacts on recruitment and subsequent population dynamics. Yet these life stages remain poorly understood, especially in coral reef-associated species of commercial and recreational fisheries interest. Two years (2003-2004) of monthly sampling of 17 stations along a transect spanning the east-west axis of the Straits of Florida revealed consistent spatiotemporal patterns in larval abundance, growth, and mortality of several snapper and barracuda species. Much of the species-specific variability in these patterns tracked adult life history, and spatial (several snapper species) and temporal (Sphyraena barracuda) patterns in larval growth were related to larval food availability. While no patterns were identified in larval mortality rates, tethering experiments examining relative rates of predation on late-stage Lutjanus griseus larvae in surface waters of the lower Florida Keys revealed that relative predation rate and probability of predation in oceanic areas seaward of the reef was significantly greater than over reef or nearshore seagrass/hardbottom habitats. The combined effects of mortality during these early stages in concert with variability in early life traits caused selective mortality to be pervasive throughout the early life stages of snappers and barracudas. Patterns in selective mortality were investigated by tracking and repeatedly sampling several cohorts of larvae in 2007 and 2008, and for the first time in tropical reef fishes, linking young pelagic larvae with settlement-stage fish and juveniles. In agreement with the growth-mortality hypothesis, large size-at-hatch and fast larval growth conveyed a survival advantage in most species examined, but several switches in the direction of selection with ontogeny and over time occurred, and were contrary to this hypothesis. Consistent patterns of trait-mediated selective mortality lower trait variability in the surviving population, while inconsistencies in these patterns may contribute to the high degree of variability that characterizes these early life stages. Results presented in this dissertation help fill knowledge gaps critical to the understanding and modeling of dispersal and connectivity in several economically valuable snapper and barracuda species. In addition, the identification of life history traits important to the survival of individuals through the larval and into the juvenile stage, has implications for future management of these ecologically and economically valuable species.

Coral reef cryptofauna (coelobites) are metazoans that occupy the hidden recesses formed by structural taxa such as corals. While cryptic communities are thought to account for the majority of reef biodiversity and play important roles in reef trophodynamics, little empirical evidence exists supporting these claims. Quantitative sampling of coelobites has been thus far limited due to highly heterogeneous reef topographies as well as difficulties associated with identification of large numbers of species. In the eastern Pacific, monogeneric stands of Pocillopora form reef structures that are homogeneous across a horizontal plane and support a relatively depauperate fauna, thereby permitting detailed multispecies analysis. Sampling of motile cryptofauna associated with live coral and dead coral frameworks typifying four levels of degradation, was conducted at Playa Larga Reef on Contadora Island in the eastern Pacific, Gulf of Panamá. Communities associated with live coral colonies were less diverse than those associated with dead corals and the species richness of cryptofauna living on dead coral substrates was higher in more degraded habitats. Living coral colonies, however, support significantly greater densities of cryptofauna and more biomass per volume substrate than their dead coral counterparts. On dead coral frameworks, numbers of individuals and biomass were significantly greater per volume in areas of intermediate degradation. A field experiment was conducted to test the effects of flow, porosity and coral cover on cryptic communities associated with artificial reef frameworks (ARFs). Coral cover (live vs. dead) was not observed to affect the structure of communities occupying underlying frameworks, however, lower porosity substrates sheltered greater abundances of individuals per volume substrate and low flow environments supported elevated biomass. Additionally, porosity and flow were both found to significantly affect relative species abundances as well as overall community diversity. Data from quantitative sampling of natural reef environments and experimental manipulation of cryptic reef habitats suggest novel and unexplored responses to mass coral mortality and reef habitat degradation. Coral death is considered to be vital to the maintenance of reef ecosystem habitat and biotic diversity. Contrary to the popular paradigm that a healthy reef ecosystem has high coral cover, the most diverse reef ecosystems are those which have experienced intermediate levels of degradation. Furthermore, while living corals support elevated cryptofauna abundances and biomass, the magnitude of communities associated with dead framework materials suggest that abundant cryptofauna populations persist in highly degraded reef environments.

Thesis (doctoral)--Universität, Rostock, 2005. / Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references (p. [187]-214).