The town of Sakaiminato, on the western coast of Japan, has revitalized its local economy through the transformation of the downtown into a tourist destination for fans of the popular manga creator Shigeru Mizuki. The strategy used by the local community closely replicates the traditional pilgrimage patterns established in Japan; however, the focus has been shifted from a religious to secular world view. While the iconography and meaning has changed, the emotional resonance has remained the same, with fans of the series developing a shared sense of community and a connection to some trans-societal force. This attempt to link older religious practices with modern fan cultures has been further strengthened by directly tying tourism with new releases of Mizuki's work.

No description available.

Ein Ziel der modernen Physik ist die experimentelle Beobachtung des neutrinolosen Doppelbetazerfalls (0nbb). Unter den wenigen in der Natur vorkommenden Nukliden ist 76-Ge ein möglicher Kandidat an denen dieser Prozess unter anderem mit dem Experiment GERDA nachgewiesen werden soll. Die extrem geringe Wahrscheinlichkeit für das Auftreten einer 0nbb-Umwandlung ist mindestens zehn Größenordnungen kleiner ist als die des Beta-Zerfalls von 115-In mit einer Halbwertszeit von 4,41x10^14 Jahren, einem der seltensten in der Natur beobachteten Kernumwandlungen. Die dafür erforderliche hohe Detektions Sensitivität wird unter anderem vom Messuntergrund bestimmt, dessen genaue Kenntnis für die Auswertung der Messdaten erforderlich ist. In dieser Arbeit wurden neutronenphysikalische Studien an Germanium durchgeführt, die essentielle Lücken in diesem Kenntnisstand schließen. Neutronen können durch direkte Wechselwirkung mit Germanium sowie der umgebenden Materie des Detektors oder indirekt durch Aktivierung Zählereignisse hervorrufen. Für das Verständnis des damit verursachten Untergrundes wurde der Neutronenwechselwirkungsquerschnitt 70-Ge(n,3n)68-Ge, das Anregungsschema von 76-Ge und der energieabhängige Anregungsquerschnitt für einige dieser Zustände untersucht. Der mangelhafte Messdatenbestand für natürlich vorkommende Germaniumisotope wird dabei entscheidend verbessert. Um die Untersuchung des 76-Ge Anregungsschemas und den Zugang zu einer Palette weiterer Experimente zu ermöglichen, wurde im Rahmen dieser Arbeit ein leistungsfähiges, sehr speziellen Anforderungen entsprechendes Rohrpostsystem entwickelt und im Neutronenlabor der TU Dresden installiert. Ein weiteres neutronenphysikalisches Experiment untersucht den bisher unbeobachteten Elektroneneinfang von 76-As. Dadurch wird eine Möglichkeit gezeigt die oftmals nur mit theoretischen Modellen zugänglichen und mit großen Unsicherheiten behafteten Übergansmatrixelemente experimentell zu bestimmen. Diese spielen bei der Auswertung von Experimenten zum Doppelbetazerfall, insbesondere des Experimentes GERDA, eine entscheidende Rolle. / One goal of modern physics is the experimental observation of the neutrinoless double beta decay (0nbb). Among the few naturally occurring nuclides 76-Ge is one candidate to which this process is to verify, amongest others with the GERDA experiment. The extremely low probability of occurrence for a 0nbb-decay is of at least ten orders of magnitude smaller than that of the Beta-decay of 115-In, one of the rarest beta transitions observed in nature with a half-life of 4.41x10^14 years. Thefore a high detection sensitivity is required, wich depends among other things on the measuring background. Its exact knowledge is necessary for the evaluation of the measuring data. In this work neutron-physical studies were performed on germanium aiming to close the essential gaps in this state of knowledge. Neutrons can cause counting events by direct interaction with germanium and the surrounding matter of the detector or indirectly by activation of any of these materials. For understanding of those background signals, the neutron interaction cross section 70-Ge(n,3n)68-Ge, the levelsceme and the energy-dependent excitation cross section of 76-Ge has been investigated. The lack of data inventory for natural germanium has been improved significantly. To enable the investigation of the 76-Ge level sceme and the access to a range of other experiments, a powerful, very special requirements corresponding pneumatic tube system was developed and installed in scope of this work at the neutron laboratory of the TU Dresden. Another neutron physics experiment examined the so far unobserved electroncapture of 76-As. This shows one way to determine transition matrix elements experimentally, which is often only accessible through theoretical models and prone to large uncertainties. These Matrix elements play a crucial role in the analysis of experiments on double beta decay, in particular the GERDA experiment.

Ein Ziel der modernen Physik ist die experimentelle Beobachtung des neutrinolosen Doppelbetazerfalls (0nbb). Unter den wenigen in der Natur vorkommenden Nukliden ist 76-Ge ein möglicher Kandidat an denen dieser Prozess unter anderem mit dem Experiment GERDA nachgewiesen werden soll. Die extrem geringe Wahrscheinlichkeit für das Auftreten einer 0nbb-Umwandlung ist mindestens zehn Größenordnungen kleiner ist als die des Beta-Zerfalls von 115-In mit einer Halbwertszeit von 4,41x10^14 Jahren, einem der seltensten in der Natur beobachteten Kernumwandlungen. Die dafür erforderliche hohe Detektions Sensitivität wird unter anderem vom Messuntergrund bestimmt, dessen genaue Kenntnis für die Auswertung der Messdaten erforderlich ist. In dieser Arbeit wurden neutronenphysikalische Studien an Germanium durchgeführt, die essentielle Lücken in diesem Kenntnisstand schließen. Neutronen können durch direkte Wechselwirkung mit Germanium sowie der umgebenden Materie des Detektors oder indirekt durch Aktivierung Zählereignisse hervorrufen. Für das Verständnis des damit verursachten Untergrundes wurde der Neutronenwechselwirkungsquerschnitt 70-Ge(n,3n)68-Ge, das Anregungsschema von 76-Ge und der energieabhängige Anregungsquerschnitt für einige dieser Zustände untersucht. Der mangelhafte Messdatenbestand für natürlich vorkommende Germaniumisotope wird dabei entscheidend verbessert. Um die Untersuchung des 76-Ge Anregungsschemas und den Zugang zu einer Palette weiterer Experimente zu ermöglichen, wurde im Rahmen dieser Arbeit ein leistungsfähiges, sehr speziellen Anforderungen entsprechendes Rohrpostsystem entwickelt und im Neutronenlabor der TU Dresden installiert. Ein weiteres neutronenphysikalisches Experiment untersucht den bisher unbeobachteten Elektroneneinfang von 76-As. Dadurch wird eine Möglichkeit gezeigt die oftmals nur mit theoretischen Modellen zugänglichen und mit großen Unsicherheiten behafteten Übergansmatrixelemente experimentell zu bestimmen. Diese spielen bei der Auswertung von Experimenten zum Doppelbetazerfall, insbesondere des Experimentes GERDA, eine entscheidende Rolle. / One goal of modern physics is the experimental observation of the neutrinoless double beta decay (0nbb). Among the few naturally occurring nuclides 76-Ge is one candidate to which this process is to verify, amongest others with the GERDA experiment. The extremely low probability of occurrence for a 0nbb-decay is of at least ten orders of magnitude smaller than that of the Beta-decay of 115-In, one of the rarest beta transitions observed in nature with a half-life of 4.41x10^14 years. Thefore a high detection sensitivity is required, wich depends among other things on the measuring background. Its exact knowledge is necessary for the evaluation of the measuring data. In this work neutron-physical studies were performed on germanium aiming to close the essential gaps in this state of knowledge. Neutrons can cause counting events by direct interaction with germanium and the surrounding matter of the detector or indirectly by activation of any of these materials. For understanding of those background signals, the neutron interaction cross section 70-Ge(n,3n)68-Ge, the levelsceme and the energy-dependent excitation cross section of 76-Ge has been investigated. The lack of data inventory for natural germanium has been improved significantly. To enable the investigation of the 76-Ge level sceme and the access to a range of other experiments, a powerful, very special requirements corresponding pneumatic tube system was developed and installed in scope of this work at the neutron laboratory of the TU Dresden. Another neutron physics experiment examined the so far unobserved electroncapture of 76-As. This shows one way to determine transition matrix elements experimentally, which is often only accessible through theoretical models and prone to large uncertainties. These Matrix elements play a crucial role in the analysis of experiments on double beta decay, in particular the GERDA experiment.

To understand and facilitate modal shift to more sustainable modes of transport there is a need to model accessibility and connectivity at an urban scale using data collection and modelling procedures that require less data and specialist input than traditional transport models. This research has used spatial analysis modelling procedures based on space syntax to investigate the potential to model aggregate traffic flows at an urban scale, and to investigate the potential to apply the same methodology to model both aggregate and individual cycle flows. Cyclist behaviour has been investigated through a questionnaire to support modelling work. The research has demonstrated that spatial analysis modelling is an effective means of representing urban scale motor traffic network, however, modifications to the model were required to achieve a correlation between modelled and measured motor traffic flow comparable to other modelling procedures. Boundary weighting was found to be effective at representing traffic crossing the boundary of an isolated urban sub-area, but was not so effective at an urban scale. Road weighting was found to be effective in improving model performance by representing traffic flows along routes according to a national classification scheme. It was demonstrated that these modelling principles could be used to represent an urban bicycle network and that the impact of the modification of infrastructure on relative flows of both cyclists and motor traffic could be accommodated. The modelling approach has the potential to be extremely useful at an early planning stage to represent changes to flows across the network. A survey of behaviour identified that cyclists modify their journey to use cycling facilities such as on-road lanes and off-road paths, or to avoid particular areas perceived to be less favourable for cyclists and that analysis indicates that it is difficult to predict (25% from survey) individual route choice. Results indicate that there were more opportunities related to route characteristics that could be influenced by infrastructure changes for occasional cyclists than for frequent/everyday cyclists.

The Cenozoic represents the transition from the greenhouse world of the Cretaceous to the ice house world of today. Nonetheless, it was not a steady linear trend from an ice free world to an ice house, and there were several reversals along the way. One such reversal was the Mid Miocene Climatic Optimum (MMCO, 14-17 Ma). Material from the Ocean Drilling Program Site 926 on Ceara Rise in the Equatorial Atlantic Ocean is used to examine two intervals within the MMCO from 16.4-15.9 Ma and 15.7-15.3 Ma. Stable isotopes and trace element ratios in two species of benthic foraminifera, Cibicidoides wuellerstorfi, and Oridorsalis umbonatus, and one planktonic foraminifer, Globigerinoides trilobus are used to reconstruct multiple climatological parameters at 2-4 kyr resolution. Paired Mg/Ca and δ18O measurements from the benthic species examined suggest that sea level varied by as much as 40m during the MMCO. Sea level variability was accompanied by changes in sea surface salinity, as measured using δ18O and Mg/Ca from G. trilobus, which suggests that the Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) was responding to high-latitude forcing centred upon the Northern Hemisphere. The implication is that significant Northern Hemisphere ice sheets were present during the Middle Miocene, some 13 Ma before their currently held date of inception during the Pliocene. These changes in sea level were accompanied by large changes in benthic and planktonic carbonate saturation states (Δ[CO32-]), which are inferred to be representative of changes to global alkalinity and dissolved inorganic carbon. Changes in global export productivity, as evidenced by benthic foraminiferal accumulation rates and the planktonic-benthic gradient of δ13C, are inferred to be controlling the carbon cycle and atmospheric pCO2ATM during the MMCO. The ITCZ is also inferred to be controlling primary productivity at Ceara Rise. Additionally, the relationship between multiple trace element/Ca ratios and Δ[CO32-] are examined using core-tops taken from the Norwegian Sea. The relationship between Mg/Ca and Δ[CO32-] in C. wuellerstorfi is confirmed by expanding the available holothermal data. Mg/Ca in the benthic species Pyrgo murrhina appears to respond exclusively to changes in Δ[CO32-], and the relationship of U/Ca in P. murrhina to Δ[CO32-] is the opposite of that seen in C. wuellerstorfi and O. umbonatus.

The research aims to investigate the development of low/ zero carbon design training programmes for the purpose of disseminating the knowledge and skills of low/ zero carbon design to architects in practice in England and Wales. There are three stages: 1) Literature review This research starts with a review on low/ zero carbon design, architectural education, learning styles, and adult learning. The initial models of low/ zero carbon design and architects’ learning preference are developed to reflect the initial understanding of the research topic. 2) Case studies Three low/ zero carbon design training programmes are chosen as case studies with the acknowledgement of the limitations. The revised models are established with the feedback from the discussions and the survey results in the case studies to reflect architects’ current perspectives. 3) Questionnaire survey Based on the revised models, a nationwide questionnaire survey is conducted. Adding the survey results to the revised models, the final models are developed to inform the content and dissemination methods of low/ zero carbon design training programmes. The final model of low/ zero carbon design reflects the iterative process and the holistic approach to achieve low/ zero carbon goal, identifies that the knowledge and skills that architects require are associated with new active technologies, the updated Building Regulations and standard, and tasks in construction, hand over and close out stages, and reveals the importance to raise architects’ awareness of the importance of waste management, the legislation and regulations, and cost and value. The final model of architects’ learning preference points out the importance of workplace follow-up sessions, indicates that architects prefer different learning styles and share the characteristics of adult learning except wanting to be involved in the planning of the future training programmes, and supports that presentational styles influence the knowledge transfer processes for architects.

Methods were developed to quantify variation in gill size and microstructure and applied to three fish species: brown trout, Arctic charr and common carp. Measurements of arch length, number and length of gill rakers, number and length of gill filaments and number, length and spacing of the lamellae were taken for each gill arch and combined by principal component analyses to give length-independent scores of gill size. Levels of fluctuating asymmetry in gill arch length were also examined. Buccal and gill cavity volumes were measured from silicon moulds. Standard histological methods were used to examine gill microstructure. Benthic-feeding charr from a sample collected in Loch Awe, Scotland had relatively larger heads and buccal cavities than did sympatric pelagic-feeding fish Allowing for body size, they also had a more extensive respiratory surface, perhaps reflecting exposure to poorly oxygenated water while feeding on the loch bottom and/or a more active life style. Levels of asymmetry in gill arch length were higher in the pelagic-feeding form, which grow faster than the benthic-feeding form (Chapter 2). Gill size and structure were compared in carp (Chapter 3) and trout (Chapter 4) classified by a standard test as having proactive, reactive or intermediate stress copping styles. Proactive carp and trout had more extensive respiratory surfaces and lower levels of hyperplasia than did reactive fish, intermediate fish lying in between. The opposite was the case for density of mucous cells, which was highest in reactive fish and lowest in proactive ones. These data suggest that maintaining a large respiratory surface may represent an unrecognised cost of a proactive coping style. Common carp were held in mixed groups of proactive and reactive fish in one of 6 combinations of temperature (20oC and 25oC) and dissolved oxygen (3-4, 5-6 and 7-8 mg O2 L-¹) for 10 weeks. At the higher temperature fish had relatively larger heads and longer secondary lamellae, but had fewer mucous cells and a lower percentage of hyperplasia. At the lowest oxygen levels fish had relatively larger heads and a higher degree of hyperplasia than those held in normoxic and hyperoxic conditions. These results suggest that, over weeks, carp are able to “remodel” their respiratory structures in response to their current oxygen requirements. Few clear differences in response were found between proactive and reactive fish (Chapter 5). In semi-extensively farmed carp sampled over their final production year. Shortterm, acute husbandry stressors (grading and crowding) produced striking changes in several potential welfare indicators, including reduced body condition, increased in plasma glucose, lactate and cortisol levels and higher level of body damage. Percentage hyperplasia and secondary lamella number and length also increased. Long-term acute stress (pre-harvest crowding in concrete tanks) was associated with increased levels of skin and fin damage and in hyperplasia and mucus cell number, reflecting high stress levels and/or poor water quality. Glucose, lactate and cortisol levels fell, suggesting either habituation to current conditions or differential mortality by physiological stress status (Chapter 6). The results of Chapters 2-6 are synthesised in a general discussion (Chapter 7) and considered in the context of the existing literature on trophic polymorphism, on stress coping strategies, on the effects of environmental conditions of the welfare of cultured fish and on how gill structure and microstructure relate to other indicators of welfare.

The concept of uncertainty plays a significant role in higher education in the 21st century. However; the pedagogy of uncertainty tends to focus on ontology and the feelings of uncertainty experienced by teachers and students, as opposed to treating it as an epistemological concept. This research considers the epistemology of uncertainty in the context of climate change and investigates how it is conceptualised and taught by academics working in the subject area. The theoretical frameworks of troublesome knowledge and threshold concepts are employed to aid the characterisation of uncertainty as a concept in higher education. Following a methodology based on grounded theory, interviews were undertaken with 10 academics involved in teaching climate change. The interview data was analysed and categorised according to the interview participants' conceptions of uncertainty and the implications for teaching uncertainty. The research found that uncertainty in the context of climate change is a complex and multivariate concept and this was reflected in the interview data, with many of the participants holding several different conceptions of uncertainty simultaneously. In terms of teaching uncertainty, the concept also aligns with the theoretical frameworks, in that it is troublesome knowledge and a threshold concept in the context of climate change, with broader implications as an interdisciplinary threshold concept arising from the difficulty encountered when attempting to integrate diverse conceptions of uncertainty. Maturity and personal development were also found to play a role in teaching uncertainty. Several strategies and approaches to teaching uncertainty are discussed, and a critical reflection on the pedagogy of uncertainty is offered. The critical reflection proposes a pedagogy for teaching uncertainty whereby the concept is situated centrally in the higher education curriculum and taught explicitly through student-centred approaches that take into account issues of personal development and variation.

The impact of human disturbance on fungal flora around Davis Station and the Vestfold Hills in Antarctica (68 0 35'S 77" 58'E) was examined by monitoring air spora and soil fungi over a 12 month period in 2001. A number of fixed sample points were established around Davis Station from which soil was collected on a monthly basis as conditions allowed. Additionally, two transects were set up. The first transect ran 3km through the station from north to south extending from 50m beyond the limit of the station buildings, to the south of Heidemann Bay. The second transect extended 18km west to east along the length of the Ellis Fjord and Lake Druzhby as far as Trajer Ridge, 5km from the polar plateau. Each transect comprised 5 sites which were sampled on a fortnightly basis throughout 2001 using rotorod airborne particle samplers and soil dilution plates. Numbers of airborne particles were determined by counting under a light microscope. Fungi were isolated from soil using full strength potato dextrose and Czapek Dox agars as well as hair bait. Fungal isolates were identified on the basis of their general morphology and also by genetic analysis of ribosomal Intemal Transcribed Spacer regions. Fungal populations were sparse at all locations with the exception of the living quarters where numbers were consistently high. Furthermore, although seasonal variations were observed at many of the sites, no such variation was recorded at the station which would indicate a continuing source of inocula or less harsh conditions. Increased fungal numbers near to living quarters was also observed at other stations (Law Base, Australian, Progress II, Russian and Zhong Shan, Chinese) but not beyond their confines. Also, there was little species overlap between fungi found close to station living quarters and those found farther afield, which would indicate that whilst there was a clear human impact, the fungi associated with these areas do not appear to be becoming established elsewhere. Study of the optimum growth temperatures of fungi isolated from both soil and air showed that all isolates were psychrotrophs (i.e. were able to tolerate temperatures below 5°C) and 39% of them were psychrophiles (i.e. their optimum growth temperature was 15°C or below and they were able to grow at O°C). All genera were capable of surviving periods of at least 28 days of desiccation.