The establishment of native woodland in the moorland areas of upland Britain is increasing. However, there is no clear basis on which to predict either the effect of this on the ecology of the mountain hare, or the effect of mountain hare on woodland establishment. This study investigates the feeding ecology of the mountain hare, a primarily moorland inhabitant in upland Britain, in an upland landscape containing a newly established native woodland and also the potential impact that they may have on regeneration of native woodland species (Pinus sylvestris, Betula pubescens and B. pendula). The mean home range size, determined by radio-tracking, of male mountain hares was 12.1 ha and females 8.9 ha. The native woodland habitat was not preferentially selected by mountain hares in summer or winter. Faecal n-alkane and long-chain fatty alcohol analysis revealed that P. sylvestris and B. pubescens were minor components of the diet in all seasons. The diet of both male and female hares was dominated by Calluna vulgaris in winter and by grasses, sedges and rushes in summer. Annual measurements of browsing by mountain hares on P. sylvestris and B. pendula saplings at eight sites throughout Scotland, showed that on average only 5.8 % of trees sustained browsing each year. Relative hare abundance, tree density, tree species and ground vegetation height did not predict the extent of browsing damage by mountain hares. In contrast, a field-based planting experiment involving nursery grown B. pubescens saplings, had higher local hare densities and revealed that mountain hares do browse saplings extensively and that season, tree density and ground vegetation height are important in determining the extent of browsing. Seasonal habitat utilisation of the experimental plots by mountain hares fluctuated in relation to the frequency of browsing. In general, the results showed that moderate densities of mountain hares are unlikely to inhibit regeneration of native woodlands However, the likelihood of damage will increase if trees occur at high densities and if local hare density is high.

MSc (Med), Molecular Medicine and Haematology, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand / INTRODUCTION: Ionising radiation can induce DNA damage, in the form of DNA double strand breaks (DSBs), which the affected cell may or may not be able to repair. Micronuclei are indicators of cytogenetic damage, which result from aneugenic (spontaneous loss of chromosomes) or clastogenic (chromosomal fragments) events. The micronuclei may be centromere-positive (CM+MN) for aneugenic events or centromere-negative (CM–MN) for clastogenic events. A pancentromeric marker would help differentiate between CM+MN and CM–MN, especially important among exposures to very low doses of ionising radiation. METHODOLOGY: Micronucleus assays were performed on blood samples collected from healthy donors and HIV+ donors. The blood samples were irradiated at various doses of ionising radiation. Two methods were used to create a pan-centromeric probe. First, the p82H plasmid, which contains centromere specific α repetitive human DNA sequences, was used. Second, human centromeric sequences were amplified using polymerase chain reaction (PCR). In both cases, the pan-centromeric probe was labelled and hybridised using fluorescent in situ hybridisation (FISH) to micronucleus slide preparations from healthy and HIV+ donors. The slides were scored manually and on an automated system, MetaFer®. RESULTS: The p82H probe did not hybridise to any centromeres when FISH was performed, while the synthetic probe made by means of PCR bound to the centromeres of all chromosomes. Henceforth, all experiments were performed with the synthetic pan-centromeric probe. A dose response study was performed on micronucleus slides from healthy donors, from which significant differences in the number of micronuclei and the percentage of centromere-negative micronuclei could be seen between doses. The HIV study involving HIV+ donors and HIV– controls did not yield any significant differences between the two groups. DISCUSSION & CONCLUSION: Combining the micronucleus assay with the pan-centromeric probe greatly improves its sensitivity. The dose response study corroborated previous work performed by Vral et al (1997). Contrary to what was expected and published (Baeyens et al, 2010), no significant differences were observed between HIV+ and HIV- individuals. Issues, improvements and possible future work are discussed.

MSc (Eng), School of Chemical and Metallurgical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment, University of the Witwatersrand / This study utilises the Life Cycle Environmental Management tool, Life cycle Assessment (LCA) to compare the overall environmental impact of the life cycles of three manufactured emulsions. The emulsions - Aquapel, Hi-phase/composite (liquid/solid rosin) - fulfil a specific function as a sizing agent in the cardboard box industry within the confines of South Africa. As the origins and use of these emulsions are different, the impact assessments of each were evaluated. Using the Simapro Impact 2002+ assessment method, the mid-point impact categories show the most significant impacts in descending order to be Toxicity Impacts on terrestrial ecosystems, Respiratory Inorganics, Climate Change and Non Renewable Energy resources. It would appear that toxicity impacts on terrestrial ecosystems, is the most significant impact. Emission of respiratory inorganics followed by effluent treatment, then electricity used in the emulsion process itself has the next highest contribution in all three processes. The higher contribution to respiratory inorganics by the process using liquid rosin is due to a relatively high contribution from the production of tall oil, a relatively energy intensive process. Climate change is the third most significant contribution. Non renewable energy resources for the Aquapel process shows the highest impact because of its raw material, wax. It is also based on a non-renewable energy resource, crude-oil, whilst the raw material for the Hi-phase/composite process, rosin, is bio-based. When comparing the three emulsion processes according to the Impact 2002+ damage or end point impact categories the relative contributions of the processes shows the relatively close performance of the three processes. The liquid rosin process shows slightly higher potential damages in three out of the four damage categories. The explanation for the differences between the systems follows from the explanations given for the mid-point impact categories. The sensitivity analysis for the Aquapel emulsion process shows negative impacts are produced in descending order for liquid effluent in the ecosystem and human health damage categories. For electricity and paraffin wax negative impacts in the human health and climate change damage categories. The best interventions to reduce life cycle damages is to reduce water and electricity consumption and if possible to find a substitute for paraffin wax. For the Hi-phase/composite liquid / solid rosin emulsion process shows negative impacts are produced in descending order for liquid effluent in the ecosystem and human health / climate change and resources damage categories respectively. The electricity and steam used in both the liquid / solid process produce negative impacts in the human health and climate change damage categories. The best interventions to reduce life cycle damages for the rosin emulsion process are to reduce water, electricity and steam consumption.

Digitized by Kansas Correctional Industries

The present study investigated the hypothesis that maximal voluntary contractions (MVC) peak torque, VJ, muscle tenderness, and plasma creatine activity would be significantly less for the condition that subjects were exposed to hypoxic (H) condition for 4 hours after eccentric exercise compared with the normoxic (N) condition.

With the growth in importance of the aluminium industry, has come increased demand to invest into the quality improvement of the different aluminium based hot extruded products. One of the main mechanisms, which can influence deformation at high temperature within the 6xxx aluminium, is linked to the presence of the AlFeSi intermetallic phases. These phases severely restrict hot workability when present as hard and brittle plate-like precipitates b-AlFeSi. Damage initiation occurs in these alloys by decohesion or fracture of these intermetallic inclusions. The understanding and modeling of the deformation and fracture behavior of aluminium alloys at room and at hot working temperature is very important for optimizing manufacturing processes such as extrusion. The ductility of 6xxx aluminium alloys can be directly related to chemical composition and to the microstructural evolution occurring during the heat treatment procedures preceding extrusion if proper physics based deformation and fracture models are used. In this thesis, room temperature and hot tensile tests are adopted to address the problem experimentally. The damage evolution mechanisms is defined at various temperatures and a micromechanics based model of the Gurson type considering several populations of cavities nucleated by different second phase particles groups is developed on the basis of the experimental observations. This model allows relating quantitatively microstructure and ductility at various temperatures strain rates and stress triaxialities. Finite element simulations based on an enhanced micromechanics-based model are used to validate the model. Finally, the effect of some key factors that determine the extrudability of aluminium is also discussed and a correlation between the ductility calculations in uniaxial tension and the maximum extrusion speed is developed for one defined profile.

Thesis (M.Phil.)--Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, 2007. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 97-105). Also available in electronic version.

Colloidal gas aphrons (CGAs) recently used as part of water-based drilling fluids have been found effective in controlling the filtration rate by bridging the pores of the reservoir rock and therefore, reducing the formation damage. This research aims to generate colloidal gas aphrons (CGA) in oil based drilling fluids; to study stability, rheology and the filtration loss characteristics of CGAs and to investigate formation damage properties of CGAs as a drilling fluid. Aphrons were generated in mineral oil using a polymer-surfactant mix. Based on how changing the polymer and surfactant concentration affects the physico-chemical characteristics of the fluid, an optimum formulation for the aphron drilling fluid was suggested. The stability of microbubbles was investigated by looking at the effects of time, temperature and pressure on the aphron yield and bubble size distribution. Effects of temperature and pressure on the density of the oil-based aphron fluids have been investigated. Based on the PVT analysis results, an equation of state was proposed. Finally, the performance of the oil-based aphron fluid in porous media was investigated. The effects of changing the CGA fluid injection rate, the type of saturating fluid and the wettability of the porous media on the pressure drop were examined. An assessment of the formation damage following the oil-based CGA fluid injection was also made. / Petroleum Engineering

In Saccharomyces cerevisiae, RTT107 (ESC4, YHR154W) encodes a BRCT-domain protein that is important for recovery from DNA damage during S phase. I have found that Rtt107 forms a complex with the Slx1/Slx4 structure-specific nuclease. Deletion of SLX4 confers many of the same phenotypes observed in rtt107∆, including DNA damage sensitivity, prolonged DNA damage checkpoint activation, and increased spontaneous DNA damage, suggesting that Slx4 and Rtt107 function in concert. These defects are not shared by Slx1 indicating that the function of Slx4 and Slx1 in the DNA damage response is not entirely overlapping. Furthermore, I found that Slx4 regulates the phosphorylation of Rtt107 by the checkpoint kinase Mec1. The phenotypes conferred by deletion of RTT107 and the spectrum of its synthetic genetic interactions indicates that Rtt107 may function at stalled replication forks. I have shown that Rtt107 is recruited to chromatin in the presence of DNA damaging agents that cause DNA replication forks to stall. Recruitment of Rtt107 to chromatin requires Rtt109, an acetyltransferase, and the cullin Rtt101, but is not dependent on Slx4 or the checkpoint kinases. Rtt109 acetylates histone H3 on lysine 56 (H3-K56), yet recruitment of Rtt107 to chromatin does not require acetylation of H3-K56, indicating that Rtt109 may have additional targets. Chromatin immunoprecipitation indicates that the sites of Rtt107 binding correspond to regions at or near stalled replication forks throughout the genome. I propose that Rtt107 acts in the recovery from DNA damage by localizing to stalled replication forks and acting as a scaffold for assembly of DNA damage response proteins, ultimately promoting replication fork restart.

In Saccharomyces cerevisiae, RTT107 (ESC4, YHR154W) encodes a BRCT-domain protein that is important for recovery from DNA damage during S phase. I have found that Rtt107 forms a complex with the Slx1/Slx4 structure-specific nuclease. Deletion of SLX4 confers many of the same phenotypes observed in rtt107∆, including DNA damage sensitivity, prolonged DNA damage checkpoint activation, and increased spontaneous DNA damage, suggesting that Slx4 and Rtt107 function in concert. These defects are not shared by Slx1 indicating that the function of Slx4 and Slx1 in the DNA damage response is not entirely overlapping. Furthermore, I found that Slx4 regulates the phosphorylation of Rtt107 by the checkpoint kinase Mec1. The phenotypes conferred by deletion of RTT107 and the spectrum of its synthetic genetic interactions indicates that Rtt107 may function at stalled replication forks. I have shown that Rtt107 is recruited to chromatin in the presence of DNA damaging agents that cause DNA replication forks to stall. Recruitment of Rtt107 to chromatin requires Rtt109, an acetyltransferase, and the cullin Rtt101, but is not dependent on Slx4 or the checkpoint kinases. Rtt109 acetylates histone H3 on lysine 56 (H3-K56), yet recruitment of Rtt107 to chromatin does not require acetylation of H3-K56, indicating that Rtt109 may have additional targets. Chromatin immunoprecipitation indicates that the sites of Rtt107 binding correspond to regions at or near stalled replication forks throughout the genome. I propose that Rtt107 acts in the recovery from DNA damage by localizing to stalled replication forks and acting as a scaffold for assembly of DNA damage response proteins, ultimately promoting replication fork restart.