Coastal marine sediments have recently been identified as globally important stocks of organic carbon (Corg) that, if compromised, could significantly exacerbate global greenhouse gas emissions. While resource managers and policy makers are eager to incorporate this ecosystem service into seagrass ecosystem valuation frameworks, similar to those already in existence for terrestrial forests, there has been insufficient information regarding how environmental conditions and seagrass ecology control carbon storage. These include the influence of the seagrass to the production and preservation of soil organic matter, the fate of stored carbon following conversion of coastal wetlands, and the interactions between organic and inorganic carbon cycling. This dissertation intends to to understand the drivers of Corg storage and preservation to better prioritize and evaluate the worth of seagrasses to large scale carbon cycles and greenhouse gas mitigation planning. Long-term experiments and thorough field surveys reveal that seagrasses are not categorically necessary nor sufficient for long-term Corg storage. Soil Corg stocks as well as their recalcitrance and breakdown rates are all correlated with sediment grain size, where muddy, fine sediments have higher Corg stocks that are less likely to breakdown. Sediment grain size can be influenced by the presence of seagrasses at some sites, likely where the leaf canopy can modify local hydrology enough to create a depositional environmental that wouldn’t otherwise exist. However, similar depositional environments that collect and store Corg can be obtained through local geomorphological features and natural hydrology, independent of benthic flora. This distinction has important implications on how soil C is managed to continue its preservation. The relation between seagrass Corg and CO2 can be blurred by calcification and carbonate dissolution processes that occur concurrently, and have direct but antagonistic effects on CO2. Carbonate processes are dependent on local environmental factors, though augmented by biological processes, thus the ability of carbonate processes to interfere with seagrass Corg storage and loss is limited to geographic areas where processes can occur. Warm, shallow waters, like those in Florida Bay, encourage calcification, though the magnitude of soil inorganic and organic carbon interaction can vary locally as well. Seagrasses are declining globally thus additional ecosystem value via greenhouse gas mitigation could greatly benefit conservation efforts. To make conservation efforts worthwhile to greenhouse gas mitigation, these findings help to consider and prioritize sites where risk and impact of Corg lost is more severe.

Plants absorb CO2 through pores in their leaves called stomata, which are known to open and close in response to myriad environmental and physiological triggers. We demonstrate that blue light inhibits stomatal aperture oscillations in both the guard cells and surrounding tissue layers, whereas these oscillations continue under the influence of red light. This observation of blue light behavior agrees with recent research and suggests another physiological pathway for oscillations.

The ecology and habitat requirements of a population of blue grouse were studied during 1970 and 1971 on the Cache National Forest 25 miles south of Logan, Utah. Baseline data concerning numbers of blue grouse, vegetative composition, and insect abundance on the study area were gathered. These data were to be compared to similar measurements made following a herbicidal spraying of the area during 1972. Information concerning the breeding, nesting, brood rearing, and wintering habits of the grouse was also collected. Male blue grouse migrated to the study area in early April to set up territories. These were located on open tree-shrub hillsides. Seven nests were located under sagebrush bushes. About 18 to 20 broods were on the study area during 1971. Young grouse consumed insects primarily during the summer. Males migrated from area by July and females and broods moved off in late August and early September.

This study compared the effects of nitrogen sources on the available inorganic soil nitrogen, nitrogen movement, nitrogen losses, and wheat yields when nitrogen fertilizers were applied to soil planted to drylond winter wheat at the Blue Creek Experimental Station in northern Utah. In the fall 1973 soil samplings, the fertilizers producing the largest mineral nitrogen contents in the 0-30 em soil depths were ammonium nitrate >ammonium sulfate > S-cooted urea, when they were broadcast at the practical rate of 56 kg N/ha. There was no increase in the mineral nitrogen at the deeper depths in the fall or at any depth in the following spring. Statistically, the three nitrogen sources did not increase grain yield significantly but did increase grain protein content and nitrogen content in grain. Ammonium nitrate and potassium bromide at the rates of 400 kg N and 200 kg Br/ha were broadcast to soil planted to winter wheat in October 1974. Nitrate-nitrogen and bromide distribution patterns in the soil profile looked alike in May 1975. These showed that their movements were similar. Considerable nitrate-nitrogen (35 percent of the added nitrogen) had moved down below the 120 em depth. The highest nitrate-nitrogen concentrations were found at the 45 to 90 em depth . There seems to be evidence that nitrate-nitrogen and bromide had moved deeper than the 150 em depth. Ammonia- nitrogen losses from nitrogen fertilized soils were conducted in the laboratory. Ammonium sulfate, ammonium nitrate, or urea applied to the soil surface lost ammonia-nitrogen differently. From noncalcareous soil, the ammonia-nitrogen loss was greatest from urea. From calcareous soil or soils receiving carbonates or high soil pH by the addition of sodium hydroxide solution, the greatest losses were from ammonium sulfate. High losses were favored by high temperatures and longer periods of moist soil. The total amounts of water lost from the soil was not closely related to the total ammonia-nitrogen loss during two weeks. No loss of ammonia-nitrogen occurred when nitrogen fertilizers were applied at a 2.5 em depth or deeper. The ammonia-nitrogen losses were also greatly reduced when nitrogen fertilizers applied to the soil surface was followed by irrigation or heavy rainfall. In the field, the higher temperatures increased the ammonia-nitrogen losses from ammonium sulfate, ammonium nitrate, and urea when applied to both a noncalcareous and a calcareous soil . However, the loss from calcareous soil was reduced by irrigation following fertilizer application. No ammonia-nitrogen was observed when ammonium sulfate was applied at a 2. 5 em soil depth, despite of the high soil temperature during the day time in moist soil. Rapid drying of the moist soil surface quickly reduced the losses per day.

The effects of herbicidal spraying upon a North Central Utah blue grouse population were studied. Baseline data were obtained in 1970 and 1971 prior to the spraying on June 2, 1972. The spraying was done to control wyethia (Wyethia amplexicaulis) and black sage (Artimesia nova) which covered 48 percent and 20 percent of the study area respectively. No differences in blue grouse numbers occurred following spraying with 17 to 20 broods using the area in 1972 compared to 18 to 20 broods in 1971. Total population of blue grouse each year was between 90 and 104 birds. Distribution of blue grouse changed, with the birds using areas with trees and shrubs following spraying rather than open areas that were sprayed. There was significantly more black sage on the control area than the spray area. These differences began before spraying, however, and cannot be attributed solely to the spray. No differences occurred in insect numbers or songbird use of the spray and control area.

Sputum induction by inhalation of hypertonic saline has been used for more than15 years. It has become one of the most intriguing methods to study airway inflammation. It is the only direct, non-invasive method for measuring airway inflammation indices.Sputum induction has been used in the diagnosis of many respiratory illnesses including asthma, chronic pulmonary obstructive disease, tuberculosis, chronic cough, lung cancer and Pneumocystis Carinii on patients who are unable to produce sputum spontaneously. There are currently many different methods used worldwide to induce sputum, but there is a lack of one generally accepted gold standard method. The proposed protocols for sputum induction proved to be safe, simple and produced satisfactory amount of expectorate. However, it did not contain enough cells from the lower respiratory tract and was contaminated by squamous cells when compared to another method based on the work of F. E. Hargreave. Investigation demonstrated that the use of impulse oscillometry, which requires no effort from patients, needs further research with larger study samples before it could be used instead of spirometry to evaluate airway obstruction. Initial methylene blue stain of the fresh expectorate smear was shown to be useful tool for identifying grossly contaminated sputum samples by squamous epithelial cells.Our first study group included 20 volunteers in good health. Sputum was induced by inhalation of 3% saline mist created by ultrasonic nebulizer at maximum output (4ml/min). Sputum induction intervals lasted 4-5 minutes with cumulative duration of induction about 4-15 minutes which was tolerated well. Lung function was evaluated for obstruction at baseline and every 5 minutes with spirometry and impulse oscillometry.The whole expectorated sample was processed and slides were stained with HEMA 3stain. With this method we were able to collect a mean of 6.1 ml expectorate. The mean total cell count was 804 000 with high proportion of squamous cells. The second study group included 5 volunteers in good health. This method utilized 3%, 4% and 5% saline mist for inhalation, 7 minutes each. Ultrasonic nebulizer was set at low output of 0.9 ml/min. This procedure was also tolerated well without major adverse effects. Lung function was evaluated at baseline and every 7 minutes for obstruction. Only dense portions of expectorate were selected and processed. Slides were stained with Wright stain. This method produced much more total cells with a mean of 3 385 000 per gram of sputum which came from the lower airways and were not contaminated by squamous cells. The second method was far superior producing adequate sputum sample with cells from the lower airways and minimal squamous cell contamination and will be used in our Breath Lab.

Malaria is a challenging infection with increasing and wide-spread treatment failure risk due to resistance. With a estimated death toll of 1-3 Million per year, most cases of Malaria affect children under the age of five years in Sub-Saharan Africa. In this thesis, I analyse the current status of malaria control (focussing on diagnosis and therapy) in Burkina Faso to show how this disease burdens public health in endemic countries and to identify possible approaches to improvement. MB is discussed as a therapeutic option under these circumstances. Burkina Faso is used as a representative example for a country in Sub-Saharan Africa with high endemicity for malaria and is here portrayed, its health system characterised and discussed under socioeconomic aspects. More than half of this country’s population live in absolute poverty. The burden that malaria, especially treatment cost, poses on these people cannot be under-estimated. A retrospective study of case files from the university pediatric hospital in Burkina Faso’s capital, Ouagadougou, shows that the case load is huge, and especially the specific diagnosis of severe malaria is difficult to apply in the hospital’s daily routine. Treatment policy as proposed by WHO is not satisfactorily implemented neither in home treatment nor in health services, as data for pretreatment clearly show. In the face of growing resistance in malaria parasites, pharmacological combination therapies are important. Artemisinins currently are the last resort of malaria therapy. As I show with homology models, even this golden bullet is not beyond resistance development. Inconsidered mass use has rendered other drugs virtually useless before. Artemisinins should thus be protected similar to reserve antibiotics against multi-resistant bacteria. There is accumulating evidence that MB is an effective drug against malaria. Here the biological effects of both MB alone and in combination therapy is explored via modeling and experimental data. Several different lines of MB attack on Plasmodium redox defense were identified by analysis of the network effects. Next, CQ resistance based on Pfmdr1 and PfCRT transporters as well as SP resistance were modeled in silico. Further modeling shows that MB has a favorable synergism on antimalarial network effects with these commonly used antimalarial drugs, given their correct application. Also from the economic point of view MB shows great potential: in terms of production price, it can be compared to CQ, which could help to diminuish the costs of malaria treatment to affordable ranges for those most affected and struk by poverty. Malaria control is feasible, but suboptimal diagnosis and treatment are often hindering the achievment of this goal. In order to achieve malaria control, more effort has to be made to implement better adjusted and available primary treatment strategies for uncomplicated malaria that are highly standardised. Unfortunately, campaigns against malaria are chronically underfinanced. In order to maximize the effect of available funds, a cheap treatment option is most important, especially as pharmaceuticals represent the biggest single matter of expense in the fight against malaria. / Malaria ist eine Krankheit, die uns vor große Herausforderungen stellt. Insbesondere die weltweit verbreiteten Resistenzen, die viele Therapieoptionen nutzlos werden lassen, haben den Kampf gegen die Malaria in den letzten Jahrzehnten deutlich verkompliziert. Schätzungen gehen davon aus, dass Malaria jährlich 1 bis 3 Millionen Todesopfer fordert. Mortalität und Morbidität der Erkrankung konzentrieren sich dabei in besonderer Weise auf Kinder unter fünf Jahren in Afrika südlich der Sahara. In der hier vorgestellten Doktorarbeit analysiere ich den aktuellen Stand der Malaria-Kontrolle in Burkina Faso und zeige beispielhaft auf, warum diese Krankheit eine derart große Bürde für die Volksgesundheit darstellt und wo Ansatzpunkte zur Verbesserung der Kontrollmaßnahmen zu sehen sind, mit einem besonderen Fokus auf Diagnostik und Therapieoptionen. Dabei wird MB als Therapieoption genauer beleuchtet. Um die besonderen Gegebenheiten eines Landes wie Burkina Faso - welches hier als repräsentatives Beispiel für einen Staat mit hoher Endemizität für Malaria herangezogen wird - aufzuzeigen, wird ein Porträt des Landes und seines Gesundheitssystems insbesondere unter Sozio- Ökonomischen Gesichtspunkten gezeichnet. Burkina Faso ist ein sehr armes Land, über die Hälfte seiner Bevölkerung lebt unterhalb der Armutsgrenze. Die Kosten von Malaria sind für diese Menschen gigantisch, und insbesondere die Kosten von Medikamenten wiegen schwer. Eine retrospektive Studie aus Fallakten des Universitäts-Kinderkrankenhauses in Burkina Fasos Hauptstadt Ouagadougou zeigt vor allem, dass allein die Fallzahlen überwältigend sind, und vor allem die spezifische Diagnose der schweren Verlaufsform der Malaria ist unter den vorherrschenden Bedingungen eine Mammutaufgabe. Die Behandlungsvorschriften wie von der WHO vorgegeben werden weder vom Gesundheitssystem noch von der Therapie zu Hause erfüllt, wie in den präsentierten Daten für die Vorbehandlung zeigen. Die zur Verfügung stehenden Malaria-wirksamen Therapeutika sind leider dank Resistenzentwicklung - oft durch unbedachten Masseneinsatz verursacht - sehr begrenzt. Artemisinine sind momentan das einzige Mittel gegen welches noch keine Resistenzen im Feld nachgewiesen wurden. Mittels Homologie-Modellierung zeige ich auf wie einfach eine solche Resistenzentwicklung jedoch denkbar wäre. Artemisinine sollten daher durch sehr gezielten Einsatz als ”letzter Trumpf” möglichst lange vor Resistenzentwicklung geschützt werden, ähnlich wie Reserveantibiotika gegen Multi-resistente Keime. MB ist ein hervorragender Kandidat für eine Kombinationsbehandlung gegen Malaria und eventuell eine Option, Artemisinine länger zu ”schonen”. Hier wird dieses Medikament mit bioinformatischen Mitteln genauer in seinen Wirkmechanismen beleuchtet und in Kombination mit anderen Medikamenten getestet mittels einer experimentell gestützten bioinformatischen Pathway-Modellierung. Durch diese Netzwerk-Analyse wurden verschiedene Angriffspunkte von MB auf das Redox-Netzwerk der Malariaerreger identifiziert. Daraufhin wurden CQ und SP-Resistenzen in silico simuliert. Weitere Analysen zeigten dabei, dass MB synergisitische Wirkungen mit anderen Therapeutika gegen Malaria aufzeigt, wenn sie zielgerichtet eingesetzt werden. Finanziell gesehen hat MB Potenzial, ein zweites CQ zu werden, und somit endlich wieder die Kosten der Behandlung für Menschen die in Armut leben erschwinglich zu machen. Malaria Kontrolle ist erreichbar, aber suboptimale Diagnosestellung und Behandlung behindern das Erreichen dieses Zieles. Hierfür muss eine angepasste, dezentrale und hochgradig standardisierte Primärbehandlung unkomplizierter Malaria implementiert werden und für eine bessere Verfügbarkeit dieser gesorgt werden. Leider leidet die Finanzierung der Kampagnen gegen Malaria an chronischer Unterversorgung. Um den maximalen Nutzen aus den vorhandenen Mitteln ziehen zu können ist eine günstigere medikamentöse Therapie ein entscheidender Beitrag, zumal Medikamente den größten Einzelbetrag im Kampf gegen Malaria verbrauchen.

Nanostructured molybdenum trioxide (MoO3) was synthesized and used as a precursor in a comparative study, along with commercial MoO3, to synthesize molybdenum dioxide (MoO2) nanoparticles. Scanning electron microscope (SEM) images revealed the particles to be approximately 30-50 nm in diameter. X-ray diffraction (XRD) confirmed MoO3 was fully reduced to MoO2 in all cases. Time dependent experiments showed that within two hours no traces of MoO3 are present. All of the experiments showed the materials were excellent absorbent materials, as well as photocatalysts. Both MoO2 materials performed almost exactly the same, with both samples being able to remove 100% of the methylene blue (MB) in one minute with light, and in two minutes without light. The morphology of MoO2 was controlled in a comparative study by varying the concentration of cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) present during the hydrothermal reaction. As the concentration of CTAB increased, the morphology of the material changed from nanoparticles, to nanospheres, to microspheres, to hollow microspheres, and finally a highly agglomerated version of microspheres and particles combined, as confirmed by SEM images. A formation mechanism for the formation of the various sized spheres was proposed with a combination of aggregation and Ostwald ripening. XRD confirmed that all of the MoO3 was reduced to MoO2, along with no residual peaks from the CTAB that was present during the reaction. Upon trying to mix some of the materials into the MB solutions, it became obvious that some of the materials were hydrophobic. The decontamination results once again showed that the synthesized MoO2 materials were not only photocatalysts, but adsorbents as well. Samples synthesized with 0.1-5 mM CTAB were able to remove 100% of the MB in 10 minutes or less. Samples synthesized with 10 mM CTAB were able to remove 54.4% and 35% of the MB in 10 minutes, with and without light, respectively. Samples synthesized with 15 mM CTAB were able to remove 29.4% and 26.3% of the MB in 10 minutes, with and without light, respectively. The apparent decrease in decontamination performance was proposed to be caused by surface morphology induced hydrophobicity. A mechanism to describe why the hydrophobic particles were still able to decontaminate the water was proposed to be caused by coming into direct contact with the magnetic stirrer as the water level dropped due to sample collection. MoO2 nanoparticles were successfully synthesized onto a copper substrate, in a single step, via a hydrothermal synthesis technique. It is believed to be the first report of such a synthesis method. XRD confirmed all of the MoO3 had been reduced to MoO2, and also confirmed that no other compounds had formed between the molybdenum and copper. SEM images of the MoO2 coated copper substrate showed uniform nanoparticles ranging from 30-50 nm. The MoO2 coated copper substrate was able to decontaminate 57.5% of the MB from water in 10 minutes without exposure to light, while it was able to decontaminate 71.7% of the MB from water in 10 minutes with exposure to light.

This thesis highlights the importance of workers’ perceptions of and attitudes to sexual harassment. Past researchers have found that a variety of individual factors (age, gender, gender role, and past experiences of sexual harassment), and organisational factors (gender ratio, sexual harassment policies and the role of employers), correlate with the incidence of sexually harassing behaviours. Two studies presented in this thesis extend this research and were designed to investigate how these factors relate to workers’ attitudes towards and perceptions of sexual harassment. Study one investigated 176 workers from a large, white-collar organisation. Study two sampled 75 workers from a smaller, blue-collar organisation. By comparing two different workplaces the effect of the organisational climate was investigated. Individuals from Study two experienced more sexual harassment, were more tolerant of sexual harassment and perceived less behaviour as sexual harassment compared with individuals from Study one. The organisational context was found to affect the way in which organisational and individual factors related to workers' attitudes to and their experiences of sexual harassment. However, the factors that influenced workers’ perceptions of sexual harassment were stable across both studies. Although workers’ attitudes to and their perceptions of sexual harassment were significantly correlated, they were influenced by different factors. Overall, workers’ perceptions of sexual harassment were influenced by their attitudes, the behavioural context, and the gender of the victim and perpetrator. In contrast, attitudes to sexual harassment appeared to be more strongly influenced by individual factors, such as age, gender, gender role, past experiences of sexual harassment, and perceptions of management’s tolerance of sexual harassment. The broader implications of these findings are discussed and recommendations for future research are suggested.

<p>Många faktorer påverkar självkänslan, såsom uppskattning och beröm. Finns det skillnad mellan arbetare och tjänstemän hur den egna självkänslan upplevs på arbetet? M. Rosenbergs (1965) self-esteem scale användes som globalt begrepp för att undersöka skillnader i självkänsla. Nittiofyra arbetare och tjänstemän deltog i enkätstudien. En signifikant skillnad fanns mellan arbetarna och tjänstemännen. Det var på betydelsefulla områden. Det visade sig att arbetet var viktigare för tjänstemännen än för arbetaren. Olikheter fanns mellan mäns och kvinnors självkänsla indelat i ålderskategorier. De starkaste prediktorerna för självkänslan var uppskattning och återkoppling. Således kan sägas: om företagsledningen bidrar till att höja de anställdas självkänsla ökar förutsättningarna för större vinst. Äldre män visade sig ha den svagaste självkänslan. Detta vore intressant att forska vidare om.</p>