Ultraviolet (UV) radiation has several effects on human health as well as other biological and chemical systems. The radiation can be weighted with the erythemal action spectrum and then converted to the dimensionless UV Index, which is designed to indicate the detrimental 'sunburning power' of the radiation for public heath purposes. A global view of the erythemally weighted irradiance from the Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI) on board the Aura spacecraft has been available since July, 2004. However, ground-based validation and correction of the satellite data are still required. In this thesis, the erythemal dose rates at local solar noon taken from the satellite were compared to ground-based data measured by spectroradiometers or broadband radiometers in two different climate areas: the Tropics and midlatitudes. This seeks to redress the lack of data and satellite validation for the Tropics, and also allows comparison with previous work in midlatitudes. The validation results show that the satellite data overestimates the ground-based data by 9%-32% at the cleanest site, with a much higher discrepancy at polluted sites. Using a radiative transfer model confirmed that the positive bias in the satellite data was mainly caused by aerosol absorption that is not taken into account in the satellite retrieval algorithm. Therefore, two empirical methods were introduced in order to correct the OMI UV data for absorbing aerosols under clear sky conditions. These methods required aerosol optical depth and aerosol single scattering, or aerosol absorption optical depth, as input parameters. The methods improved the OMI UV data by up to 30% depending on site and input data source. For cloudy conditions aerosol data is usually not available either from ground-based or satellite-based measurements; however, the effect of cloud is usually far greater than that of aerosol, and some of the aerosol effect (scattering) is intrinsically included in the cloud correction. A further empirical model for cloudy conditions was derived to reduce bias of the OMI UV data with respect to ground-based data. The method only requires the OMI UV data as an input. The cloudy model reduced the bias by about 13%-30% depending on site, and gave similar results even when used with clear sky data. Since ground-based data is sparse, the final goal of the work was to produce a corrected map of UV index for the whole of Thailand, based only on data available from satellite, which gives full regional coverage. Issues with availability and quality of satellite data meant that the best results were achieved by using only the cloudy sky correction, for all conditions. The resulting daily noontime UV Index maps of Thailand were assessed against ground-based data for independent years. The corrected UV Index was within ±2 compared with ground-based data for all sites, compared to discrepancies of up to 4 UV Index for uncorrected data.

The incidence of restenosis has been shown to be correlated with the overstretching of the arterial wall during an angioplasty procedure. It has been proposed that slow balloon inflation results in lower intramural stresses, therefore minimizing vascular injury and restenosis rate. The analysis of the biomechanics of the arterial tissue might contribute to understand which factors trigger restenosis. However, few mechanical data are available on human arteries because of the difficulty of testing artery samples often obtained from autopsy while arteries are still considered "fresh". Various solutions mimicking the physiological environment have been used to preserve artery samples from harvesting to testing. In vitro mechanical testing is usually preferred since it is difficult to test arteries in vivo. Uniaxial and biaxial testing has been used to characterize anisotropic materials such as arteries, although methodological aspects are still debated. Several objectives were formulated and analyzed during the making of this thesis. In one study, the effect of deformation rate on the mechanical behavior of arterial tissue was investigated. The effect of several preservation methods, including cryopreservation, on the mechanical properties of porcine thoracic aortas was also analyzed. Finally, the differences in the mechanical behavior between three different types of sample geometry and boundary conditions were compared under uniaxial and equi-biaxial testing. Thoracic aortas were harvested within the day of death of pigs from a local slaughterhouse. Upon arrival, connective tissue was removed from the external wall of the artery. Then the artery was cut open along its length and cut out in rectangular samples for uniaxial testing, and square and cruciform samples for biaxial testing. Samples belonging to the freezing effect study were preserved for two months at -20°C and -80°C in isotonic saline solution, Krebs-Henseleit solution with 1.8 M dimethylsulfoxide, and dipped in liquid nitrogen. Samples belonging to the deformation rate effect study were tested uniaxially and equi-biaxially at deformation rates from 10 to 200 %/s. The uniaxial and biaxial experiments were simulated with the help of an inverse finite element software. The use of inverse modeling to fit the material properties by taking into account the non-uniform stress distribution was demonstrated. A rate-dependent isotropic hyperelastic constitutive equation, derived from the Mooney-Rivlin model, was fitted to the experimental results (i.e. deformation rate study). In the proposed model, one of the material parameters is a linear function of the deformation rate. Overall, inverse finite element simulations using the proposed constitutive relation accurately predict the mechanical properties of the arterial wall. In this thesis, it was found that easier attachment of samples (rectangular and cruciform) is accomplished using clamps rather than hooks. It was also found that the elastic behavior of arteries is nonlinear and non-isotropic when subjected to large deformations. Characterization of the arterial behavior at large deformations over a higherdeformation range was achieved using cruciform samples. The mechanical properties of arteries did not significantly change after preservation of arteries for two months. Under uniaxial and biaxial testing, loading forces were reduced up to 20% when the deformation rate was increased from 10 to 200 %/s, which is the opposite to the behaviour seen in other biological tissues. The differences observed in the mechanical behavior of fresh and thawed samples were not significant, independently of the storing medium or freezing temperature used. The lack of significant differences observed in the freezing study was likely due to the small number of samples tested per storing group. Further studies are required to clarify the impact of cryopreservation on extracellular matrix architecture to help tailor an optimized approach to preserve the mechanical properties of arteries. From the results obtained in the deformation rate study, it is concluded that the stiffness of arteries decreases with an increase in the deformation rate. In addition, the effect of deformation rate was observed to be higher than the effect of anisotropy. The inverse relationship between stiffness and deformation rate raises doubts on the hypothesized relationship between intramural stress, arterial injury, and restenosis. / Applied Science, Faculty of / Chemical and Biological Engineering, Department of / Graduate

Monitoring of women in labour is an important aspect of the practice of the health care professionals working in the labour ward. The pregnancy of a woman mightappear to be normal but it is not possible to predict the positive outcome of labour until the baby is born because foetal distress can occur suddenly or other problems can arise during the course of labour. Doctors need to closely monitor the progress of labour of all the women regardless of whether he pregnancy is rated low risk or not. The use of Cardiotocography (CTG) during labour thus becomes critical. In the current study the perceptions of the doctors working in labour ward units will be explored and described in order to recommend activities that could optimize the use of CTG by doctors as an intrapartum monitoring tool. A qualitative research design will be used and the data collection method will be by means of semi-structured audio-taped one-on-one interviews.

Many studies have reported individual differences in resting metabolic rate (RMR), the energetic cost of self-maintenance. Differences among individuals in the energetic cost of self-maintenance may influence life-history decisions and hence, fitness. In this study, we examined potential causes of intra-specific variation in RMR in zebrafish, Danio rerio. First, the repeatability of RMR was determined to check whether a single measure was reflective of future physiological performance. As predicted, RMR was repeatable over a period of three weeks. However, none of stress-coping style, baseline cortisol levels, metabolically-active organ (gill, heart, intestine and liver) mass, aggression or activity levels were correlated with RMR, i.e. none of these factors were significant contributors to individual variation in RMR. These results imply that other factors must be sought to explain the inter-individual variation in RMR observed in zebrafish.

The scope of the present thesis is four-fold. First, to clarify and explain the means-ends framework and step-by-step analysis of the Austrian school. Second, to apply this framework to the Austrian theory of exchange rates. Third, to link the framework with most of the existing Austrian research related with the exchange rate theory and discuss this research. And fourth, to confront the Austrian economics with two mainstream approaches - Dornbusch?s overshooting model and short-run portfolio balance model. Message springing from this confrontation is twofold. First, the fundamental differences between present-day mainstream methods are envisaged. And second, the fact of possibility of mutual enrichment of both approaches from each other despite of completely different methodological backgrounds is suggested.

This diploma thesis deals with the impact of real exchange rate volatility on real export of the Czech Republic. In the first part, theoretical aspects of this relationship are examined, explaining both - positive and negative ? effects on bilateral and aggregate trade flows. Further on, empirical data and econometric tools are employed to capture the relationship between real export and its main determinants for the case of Czech Republic in the past decade. After the brief theoretical introduction to time series econometrics, the particular export demand model is proposed and various cointegration techniques are explained and applied to examine the long-run equilibrium but also short-run dynamics.

The thesis is concerned with a detailed examination of the most familiar short-rate models.Furthermore,it contains some author's own derivations of formulas for prices of interest rate derivatives and some relationships between certain discretizations of these short-rate models. These formulas are then used for calibration of ceratain chosen models to the actual market data.All the calculations are performed in R using author's own functions,which are along with the other more involved derivations placed in the appendix.

Nanoindentation has brought in many features of research over the past decade. This novel technique is capable of producing insights into the small ranges of deformation. This special point has brought a lot of focus in understanding the deformation behavior under the indenter. Nickel, iron, tungsten and copper-niobium alloy system were considered for a surface deformation study. All the samples exhibited a spectrum of residual deformation. The change in behavior with indentation and the materials responses to deformation at low and high loads is addressed in this study. A study on indenter geometry, which has a huge influence on the contact area and subsequently the hardness and modulus value, has been attempted. Deformation mechanisms that govern the plastic flow in materials at low loads of indentation and their sensitivity to the rate of strain imparted has been studied. A transition to elastic, plastic kind of a tendency to an elasto-plastic tendency was seen with an increase in the strain rate. All samples exhibited the same kind of behavior and a special focus is drawn in comparing the FCC nickel with BCC tungsten and iron where the persistence of the elastic, plastic response was addressed. However there is no absolute reason for the inconsistencies in the mechanical properties observed in preliminary testing, more insights can be provided with advanced microscopy techniques where the study can be focused more to understand the deformation behavior under the indenter. These experiments demonstrate that there is a wealth of information in the initial stages of indentation and has led to much more insights into the incipient stages of plasticity.

archives@tulane.edu / The dissertation includes three chapters analyzing the effects of divided tax policy changes in China. Specifically, this study discusses how firms responded to dividend policy changes, answers the question of whether such policy changes helped the government achieve its goal of lowering stocks’ turnover rates/trading volumes to increase financial market stability and explores the relationship between dividend taxation and firms’ value. The data shows that firms reacted quickly after the 2005 dividend tax cut. The total cash values of dividend distributions, distribution activities, and the number of firms that initiated/increased dividend payouts all increased after the announcement of this policy change. The paper finds that firms’ behaviors, in this case, were tax-driven. By conducting difference-in-differences method and propensity score matching with a variety of matching algorithms, I find that, after the 2005 policy change, lowering the dividend tax decreased the turnover rate and the number of trading volumes by over 18% and 68 million shares, respectively. However, when I extend this analysis to the 2012 dividend tax policy change, I find that the differentiated dividend tax has nearly opposite effects. Moreover, by using a logit model and price variation model, I find that firms’ value went up after the 2005 policy change. There is no evidence showing that the 2012 policy change had such effects. / 1 / Ziqi Xie

Background: Research has shown that music performance anxiety (MPA) is experienced by individuals in all age groups and skill levels. Due to the need for effective treatment of performance anxiety in musicians, researchers have begun to investigate the viability of mindfulness, which has been proven as an effective treatment in populations with generalized anxiety. Although preliminary studies have been undertaken in examining the effects of mindfulness training on the experience of MPA, these efforts have been by a small group of researchers, and further replication and statistical significance is needed. Objective: This study aims to monitor the effects of a two-week mindfulness intervention on musicians using questionnaires and heart rate data. Methods: This experiment used a control group design, in which the first 13 participants collected were allocated to the experimental group, and the next 13 collected were allocated to the control group. All participants underwent the same baseline data collection involving completing the state side of the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) directly before and after performing in front of a mock jury panel while wearing a hear rate monitor watch. After this session, only the experimental group partook in two weeks of mindfulness training consisting of 6-9 sessions, each an hour in duration. Once the two-week intervention was concluded, both experimental and control groups participated in a post-intervention data collection identical to the baseline session. Results: The experimental group experienced a decrease in anxiety between pre- and post-intervention while the control group experienced an increase of anxiety. A two-way mixed ANOVA analysis revealed that there was a significant relationship between the changes in anxiety when comparing the control and experimental groups. However, statistical analysis also revealed that the two groups exhibited statistically different levels of anxiety at baseline. Heart rate data revealed no significant differences between groups. Conclusion: Data from the STAI suggests that mindfulness has a significantly positive effect on the cognitive experience of music performance anxiety. Through this study no correlation was found between the physiological experience of music performance anxiety and mindfulness training.