The Gatun Structure (N 09º 05’ 58.1”, W 79º 47’ 21.8”, situated in the triple-canopy rainforest 10 km to the WSW of the Gamboa and about 2 km south of the Isle of Barbacoas, Republic de Panama), is a partially inundated, quasi-concentric surface feature ~3km in diameter, which appears in aerial photographs and in radar imagery as an arcuate chain of islands with a raised center. Although the structure has been heavily weathered and altered, it has retained morphology consistent with complex craters: an elevated circular central uplift 500-600 m in diameter and approximately 70 m high, and arcuate boundary ridges (a rim structure?) ranging from ~50-110 meters high. Within the central peak, highly altered and fractured siltstone of the Gatuncillo Formation (?) (Eocene) ± older rocks are uplifted and exposed through surrounding calcareous units of the Caimito Formation (Oligocene) and the Las Cascadas Formation (Miocene), the major target rocks in the region. Lithologies in the structure include highly fractured siliciclastic rocks (siltstone, sandstones and greywackes), limestones with anomalous spherical glass inclusions, both black and white hypocrystalline glasses (possible melt rocks), lithic fragmental breccias, and melt-bearing breccias (possible impact melt breccias and suevites) containing flow banding and evidence for selective melting of minerals. Three types of spherules (glass, fluid-drop and lithic), a pyroxenequartz “necklace” disequilibrium structure (coronas), plagioclase feldspars exhibiting mosaicism and partially amorphization and zeolitization, possible liquid immiscibility between melts of calcite and felpspathic glass, as well as decomposition of titano-magnetite, are all petrographic criteria that suggest a hypervelocity impact event. The structure is crosscut by numerous dikes of unshocked basalt and basaltic andesite related to volcanism along the Panamanian segment of the Central American arc to the south. However, the lithologies of the Gatun Structure are chemically inconsistent with the regional volcanic rocks and the unshocked volcanic rocks that crosscut the structure. An impact origin is our preferred interpretation for the Gatun structure due to the lack of an igneous relationship between the Gatun structure and the explosive volcanism of Panamanian arc, the presence of classical impactite lithologies within the site, the occurrence of spherules, maskelynite (as suggested by Raman Spectroscopy) and other disequilibrium shock features in the Gatun suite of rocks.

Syftet med denna uppsats är att undersöka hur sex elever uppfattar sin undervisande lärares undervisningsstilar i idrott och hälsa. Studien fokuserar även på hur delaktiga eleverna får vara vid planering, genomförande och utvärdering av en lektion. I litteraturgenomgången har jag använt mig utav litteratur, forskning och Skolverket för att få en djupare bild av hur elevers erfarenheter ser ut av just undervisningsstilar. Jag har tagit utgångspunkt i Musska Mosstons elva olika undervisningsstilar. I denna kvalitativa fallstudie har semi-strukturerade intervjuer använts som metod för att forska kring undervisningsstilar. Sex intervjuer har genomförts med elever som går i årskurs nio. Det resultat som framkom genom studien var att reproduktiva undervisningsstilar är mest förekommande i planeringsstadiet. I genomförandefasen av en lektion är det mer produktiva stilar som blir framträdande samt att i utvärderingsfasen av en lektion så är det mer reproduktiva stilar som används för dessa elever. / The aim of this study is to investigate students perceptions about teaching styles in physical education. The study’s focus is also how involved students are within the pre-impact phase, the impact phase and the post-impact phase. When I have been searching for information, I have been using literature, research and Skolverket to get a deeper picture of how students perceptions are about teaching styles, you can read about this in the literature review. In this study, as starting point I have taken Musska Mosston’s eleven different teaching styles.  In this study, I have used qualitative semi-structured interviews with six students about teaching styles. The interviewed students are going in the ninth grade.  The result of this study is that when pre-impact, the reproductive teaching styles is more prominent. When impact, productive teaching styles is more dominant. When post-impact of a lesson, reproductive teaching styles is more dominant for these students.

Micro-property developers are social entrepreneurs operating in townships and offer high quality rental units that upholds the dignity of community members. Although they are making a valuable contribution they are also faced with many challenges and the biggest being access to funds. This study looks at how impact investing, an emerging funding model can be used to address this challenge. Impact investing can be described as a cross-sectional initiative that involves the professional participation of various stakeholders; to drive social entrepreneurship to a level which can drive the socio-economic impact within communities, to create a social good that optimises financial, social and environmental returns ( Annual Impact Investor Survey, 2019). This research study seeks to explore and understand collaboration strategies that can be employed by micro-property developers in the context of South African townships. This study investigates how micro-property developers, through institutional systems and a multi-stakeholder approach can collaborate with impact investors by applying the concept of collective impact effort in township areas. Further on, this study highlights the importance of impact investing and unpacks the successes and challenges in township areas by illuminating how risk-taking, organisational values and funding contribute to corporate considerations in generating measurable, social and environment impact combined with financial return. Through relevant literature consulted and the use of in-depth interviews this study adopted a qualitative research methodology. Research participants included micro-property developers, impact investors and intermediaries. The research findings indicate that in the corporate ambit of social entrepreneurship and impact investing; variables such as income, risks, impact measurement, the situated area of human settlement and investor readiness are key considerations in the successful acquisition of funding opportunities. In addition, although impact investment in township areas is still an untapped market in South Africa, community leadership and partners should equally advocate the need of inclusion and innovation to steer sustainable impact investment opportunities in such communities. This study suggests that impact investors and funders should work toward cross-sectional initiatives that are scalable and inclusive, and that can create a positive impact in township communities. This study also recommends that a level of deeper knowledge is required through informed research, to understand the value and the impact of impact investments in township areas. This way, scientific data can override all stereotypical notions linked to township investments, as stigmas of crime and risks still hinder investment opportunities in townships compared to their urban counterparts.

Sleeper populations are established populations of a non-native species whose population growth is limited by one or more abiotic or biotic conditions, such as climate change. While the northeastern US is predicted to be a hotspot for future invasions, identifying potential sleeper populations before they become invasive can inform proactive, climate-smart invasive species management. I focused on 169 introduced species that are established in one or more northeastern states. I used the Environmental Impact Classification for Alien Taxa (EICAT) framework to systematically identify and review the peer-reviewed literature for these candidate species to quantify their negative ecological and socioeconomic impacts. I identified 49 plants with ‘major’ impacts linked to the decline of multiple native species or loss of community diversity. Using high negative ecological impact, habitat suitability, and climate suitability as selection criteria, I highlight 37 species as high priority for management in the North Atlantic –Appalachian Region.

This dissertation focuses on the development of and applications for Nano-Composite Piezoresponsive Foam (NCPF). This self-sensing foam sensor technology was discovered through research in a sister technology, High Deflection Strain Gauges (HDSG), and was subsequently developed with some of the same base materials. Both technologies use nano and micro conductive additives to provide electrically responsive properties to materials which otherwise are insulative. NCPF sensors differ from HDSGs in that they provide a dual electrical response to dynamic and static loading, which is measured through an internally generated charge, or a change in resistance. This dissertation focuses on the development of the dynamic or piezoresponsive aspect of the NCPF sensors which tends to have more consistent electrical response over a larger number of cycles. The primary development goal was to produce a sensor that was accurate, while providing a consistent, repeatable response over multiple impacts. The hypothesized electric generation is attributed to a triboelectric interaction between the conductive additives and the polyurethane foam matrix. This hypothesis was validated by examining different conductive additives with varying loading levels and specific surface areas while accounting for other design considerations such as the electrode used to harvest the response. The results of this analysis support the triboelectric model and point to carbon or nickel-based additives for optimal performance. The NCPF response measured by digital signal acquisition devices is directly dependent upon its input impedance. Increased input capacitance has a negative effect on the signal, however, higher input resistance has a positive linear correlation to voltage. Other considerations that affect the electrical response include the temperature and humidity in which the sensor is used and result in a scaled electrical response.NCPF sensors are ideally suited for use in systems which benefit from impact energy attenuation while measuring the same. This work demonstrates how the NCPF sensors can be used to detect severity and location of impacts in systems with multiple sensors (football helmets), and those with one continuous sensor (carpets). When NCPF sensors were used in a football helmet the impact severity and location of impact was accurately identified. NCPF sensors provide the benefit of simplified design by replacing existing foam while providing a direct measure of the forces. Additional research was conducted on the changes in material properties, specifically how it affects the foam structures ability to absorb energy in quasi static loading scenarios. NCPF sensors are demonstrated as viable tool to measure many different biomechanical systems.

No description available.

Tsunami action had resulted in negative impacts in many ways, it had resulted in great changes to coastal areas, especially in terms of physical change to the coastal landscape, affected on economy, loss of life and physical damage to property. After the devastation, hotel bookings in the island were dropped, people have lost their jobs and some small-scale tourism businesses have got the hardest time as well. Some lifestyle entrepreneurs felt hopeless and have given up on doing business, which resulted to their businesses had to be closed because they were unable to access financial resources and did not have budget to restart their businesses again. Some might take longer time to rehabilitate their firms due to various limitations and conditions. While some have to fight back and develop their firms by turning crisis into opportunity and taking advantage of the crisis. This research is made in order to study and examine the impacts of and the recovery to the 2004 December tsunami disaster in Phuket, especially to small tourism businesses in Karon beach, which will be described through a disaster management model. The goal of this research is to study how the tsunami has affected on small firms and how they performed in order to rehabilitate their businesses, and even how they have been working and cooperating with the local government to draw back tourists to the destination.

Published Article / This paper reports on secondary school learners' perceptions of the impact of human immunodeficiency virus and acquired immune deficiency syndrome (HIV and AIDS) on education. A questionnaire on the impact of HIV and AIDS on education was constructed and it was content validated against the theoretical assumptions supported by the literature on HIV and AIDS. Empirical investigation and findings reveal that learners perceive that HIV and AIDS have impact on educators, on learners themselves, on school environment, and on school enrolments and performance.

Sideways fall-induced hip fracture is a major worldwide health problem among the elderly population. Biomechanical modeling is a practical way to study hip fracture risk. However, all existing biomechanical models for assessing hip fracture risk mainly consider the femur-related parameters. Their accuracy is limited as hip fracture is significantly affected by loading conditions as well. The objective of this study is to introduce a two-level subject-specific model to improve the assessment of hip fracture risk. The proposed biomechanical model consists of a whole-body dynamics model and a proximal femur finite element model, which are constructed from the subject’s whole-body and hip DXA (dual energy X-ray absorptiometry) scan. The whole-body dynamics model is used to determine the impact force onto the hip during a sideways fall. Obtained load/constraint conditions are applied to the finite element model in order to determine the stress/strain distribution in the proximal femur. Fracture risk index is then defined over the critical locations of the femur using the finite element solutions. It is found that hip fracture risk is significantly affected by the subject’s body configuration during the fall, body anthropometric parameters, trochanteric soft tissue thickness, load/constraint conditions, and bone mineral density, which are not effectively taken into account by currently available hip fracture discriminatory tools. Predicted hip fracture risk of 130 clinical cases, including 80 females and 50 males, by the proposed model reveals that biomechanical determinants of hip fracture differ widely from individual to individual. This study presents the first in-depth subject-specific model that provides a comprehensive, fast, accurate, and non-expensive method for assessing the hip fracture risk. The proposed model can be easily adopted in clinical centers to identify patients at high risk of hip fracture who may benefit from the in-time treatment to reduce the fracture risk. / May 2016

The United Kingdom has a long history of using outdoor activities as a vehicle for recreation, rehabilitation and education for people with disabilities. However, there has been little empirical research into the value placed on the experiences by those who organise the activities or by the participants. The Calvert Trust was one of the first organisations to specialise in outdoor activities for this population and through their three Centres is currently the largest provider of outdoor education for people with disabilities within the UK. Through four separate but linked research phases covering data collected between 2002 and 2013, the present study investigates the value of Calvert Trust programmes for both organisers and participants. The first phase involved the analysis of an existing data-set of post-course evaluation questionnaires (n=502) completed by visiting leaders of groups of participants (n=2,843) with a variety of disabilities who had attended one of the three Calvert Trust Centres. The activities and factors contributing to the perceived benefits of participation were identified, and visiting leader evaluations were compared with the internal reports on the same courses and participant groups completed by Centre instructors (n=702). There were differences in aims for the visits dependent on the sector of the respondent (education, recreation or rehabilitation) but an increase in confidence and independence were those most frequently reported outcomes across sectors. There was general agreement between visiting leaders and instructors as to the role of challenge, achievement and teamwork in delivering these benefits. The limitations of having respondents from only one Centre were addressed in the second phase of the research. This investigated post-course evaluation questionnaires from all three Centres returned both by visiting leaders (n=397) and participants (n=2,507). Comparisons were made across the Centres and differences were found to exist in the aims and domestic aspects of the provision reported on by the visiting leaders but not in aspects of the activity delivery. The participants, however, showed small but significant differences across the Centres in their reporting of development of communication skills, social skills, self-esteem and independence. A third research phase employed iterative email interviews with representatives from visiting organisations (n=17) and the Calvert Trust (n=17) to relate participant experiences to the aims of both the purchasers and providers. Both sets of informants saw participant recognition of personal ability as a key aim of the visit. Other frequently reported aims were to provide new social opportunities, develop interpersonal skills and increase confidence, but these had different relative weightings across informants. In the fourth phase of the research the direct voices of the participants on the value of their outdoor experiences was accessed through interviews with participants (n=23) and with a ‘significant other’ (n=18). Differences in the reporting of personal experiences were noted between those with physical and intellectual disabilities. A number of those with physical disabilities, and/or their ‘significant others’, considered that the outdoor education experience had made an important difference to the participant’s life that might have a long-lasting impact. Those with intellectual disabilities reported a positive experience that may have given them the confidence to take part in similar events, undertake more exercise or widen their social circle. A post-visit increase in independence was reported by a number of the ‘significant others’ for this latter group. The findings overall suggest that participation in the outdoor education courses at the Calvert Trust was generally a very positive experience, with outcomes valued by purchasers, by participants and by those with close knowledge of them. The principal reported benefits relate to themes of confidence, independence and realisation of personal ability. These are discussed in relation to the specific outdoor education programmes experienced and the impact that these may have on the everyday lives of participants with disabilities.