There are today many areas and types of water storage. The uses to which these are put are many, and the prospect for the future can only be that there will be an increase in the number of these reservoirs. These areas are usually operated with regard only for power production, irrigation, or storage, but there is a growing concern about the effects on wildlife which this type of operation may have. Fluctuating water levels, and falling water levels are not restricted to man-made impoundments tut are characteristic of many of then. Biologists have observed that these variations in water levels are often harmful to some forms of wildlife. Fluctuating water levels generally were found to cause damage to waterfowl nests. The amount of damage, the amount of water rise and the time involved are values which have generally remained unknown, largely perhaps because some other aspects was of greater importance in the nesting studies. There is a descending scale of values which have been placed on natural resources, and it is generally agreed that the waterfowl concerned would rank below the value derived from the impounded waters. Where it is practical, the management of these impoundments should take wildlife into consideration. To have intentions of good management is not sufficient to effect conservation; these intentions must be implemented with the proper tools. This study was designed to discover magnitudes of cause and effect, and perhaps it will point the way to a more efficient utilization of associated resources. It was possible that the results of this study would show that there was little damage to waterfowl. On the other hand, if significant damage were to be discovered, contributing causes could be more closely delimited and so point the way toward corrective measures.

Since man first grew crops on calcareous soils he has probably been troubled with what we today call lime-induced chlorosis. This chlorosis has determined whether he grew certain desirable ornamentals or crops or whether he had to substitute others which were less desirable. Lime-induced chlorosis is spread world wide. It has been reported in the vine and fruit growing regions of Europe, in the chernozem soils of Russia, and many other areas where the rainfall is relatively low and the soil is relatively high in calcium carbonate. In the United States it most frequently occurs where the average annual rainfall is less than 30 inches. The conditions causing chlorosis are not stable, for it varies from year to year and even from week to week with changing conditions in climate and soil. An estimated 500,000 acres of crops grown in the western United States on calcareous soils are subject to moderate to severe chlorosis. This physiological malady has challenged the technical ingenuity of outstanding plant and soil scientists. The exact cause or causes have never been isolated; consequently no permanent preventative measures or cures can, as yet, be recommended.

The purpose of this study was to establish a normal, bone conducted intensity level for the speech reception threshold (SRT) and obtain a normal performance intensity function by bone conduction from 0 dB SL (threshold) through the maximum output level of the standard audiometer. All bone conducted speech test materials consisted of pre-recorded W-2 spondiac words and NU-6 monosyllabic speech discrimination word lists.

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Bacillus cereus is a ubiquitously found foodborne pathogen that is frequently associated with two types of illness: emesis and diarrhea. Two heat labile enterotoxins have been associated with the diarrheal syndrome whereas a heat stable acid stable peptide toxin has been associated with the emetic syndrome. In the U.S, B. cereus is responsible for 1-2% of the total outbreaks from bacteria. Although there are reports of isolation and characterization of this pathogen from various food stuffs all around the world, there are no reports on the levels, toxin producing ability, or growth characteristics from U.S retail rice. Considering that rice is grown mostly in developing countries and most of the rice in the U.S is imported, there is a high chance of the rice being contaminated with B. cereus spores. Therefore, the major objective of this thesis was to characterize B. cereus spores from U.S retail rice. The levels were determined and further the enterotoxigenic ability and the growth characteristics along with the physical characteristics of the isolates were studied. Among the 178 samples analyzed, Spores of Bacillus species were found in 94 (52.8%) of the rice samples with an average concentration of 32.6 CFU/g (3.6-460 CFU/g). Eighty nine of the 94 isolates were tested positive for one of the two enterotoxins produced by B. cereus. none of the 94 isolates tested positive for the emetic gene. All the isolates generally grew well in cooked rice. Levels of 106/g were detected in cooked rice after 22h at 200C and after 34h at 170C whereas at 120C the counts did not go above 104/g even after 48h. A significant difference in the heat resistance of the emetic and the diarrheal strains was found. The emetic but not the diarrheal type grew well at inoculum levels of 102/g and 103/g level following cooking. So these results suggest although the diarrheal type are more predominant in U.S retail rice, the chances of foodborne illness arising from the diarrheal strains is low. B. cereus, B, thuringiensis and B. mycoides were investigated for their physical characteristics. Appendages were not found on B. mycoides. By contrast, all the isolates had exosporia. The isolates were characterized to be moderately to highly hydrophobic and all the isolates had a net negative charge. Judging by their physical characteristics, it can be concluded that these spores may have a high affinity for adhering to inert surfaces.

A new multipurpose town house has been designed into a vacant lot on Křížová street in Brno. Currently, Staré Brno is a territory without a clear concept, with high traffic load, and fragmented and often unsatisfactory development. The project therefore assumes and takes into account urban adjustments in this locality; in particular it anticipates traffic reduction in close proximity of the building and also decrease in noise load. The given location has some special features – its vastness allows it to form a whole street front; it shapes and closes a block which has a long history, its position is exceptional considering its closeness to Mendel square. The proposed building helps shape the appearance of Křížová street into which it opens with an urban-shaping facade. On the other hand, it distances itself from the inside yard which is unusable due to its unsatisfactory technical and aesthetic state. The building thus bears, within its own capacity, all the functional and spatial variety that the relation to the inside yard could offer. The result is a self-sufficient urban balcony-type building with a parquet circle designated to business and higher floors to living. There are 35 smaller flats projected for living, intended esp. for young families, couples or singles. The project assumes that the tenants will lead active and social lives, so it offers flexible outdoor areas that are both covered and open, surfaces that are both green and cemented and spaces that are both private and common.

Public school physical educators have the opportunity to help students understand the importance of engaging in regular physical activity in order to combat America's obesity problem. However, students are often unmotivated to participate in their physical education classes. Providing students with an autonomy supportive environment increases intrinsic motivation. Self-determination theory states that higher levels of intrinsic motivation should lead to an increase in behavior, or higher activity levels in a physical education class. This study examined (a) the effects of increased autonomy on self-determination, and (b) the effects of increased autonomy on physical activity levels. Seventh and eighth grade girls (n = 122) in four classes participated in two fitness units (one allowing choice of activities, the other no choice). The 14-item abridged Situational Motivation Scale (SIMS) was administered pre and post each unit. Pedometers were used to measure step counts during both units. Results of the SIMS data showed there was a significant difference in motivation between the trials for all students, and between the groups (pre and post) during the second unit. There was no significant difference in step counts for all students between Unit 1 and Unit 2, and no difference between groups. The results revealed that increased autonomy in activity selection increases student self-determination, and therefore, should be implemented into the physical education curriculum. To truly determine the relationship between increased autonomy and activity levels, students need to be in an environment where they can be responsible for their own behavior, and where they can choose how much effort they are willing to put into the activities they have chosen.

A current controversy in the science of visual consciousness is whether conscious awareness of a stimulus emerges gradually or appears directly in an all-or-none fashion. Windey et al. (2013) observed that evidence supporting the gradual explanation often used low-level stimuli (simple shapes, colours), while evidence for a dichotomous divide of awareness used high-level stimuli (letters, numbers). Windey later constructed the level of processing (LoP) hypothesis, which states that different stimulus levels impact the transition to awareness, i.e. whether it occurs gradually or in an all-or-none fashion. Koivisto et al. (2017) further showed, using high-level stimulus, that different conceptualizations of awareness (detection and identification) impact different electrophysiological correlates of awareness. Specifically, the visual awareness negativity (VAN) only occurred for awareness based on detection, while the late positivity (LP) occurred for both detection and identification. The purpose of this thesis is to further investigate the VAN and LP for detection and identification, but with a low-level stimulus. Following the level of processing hypothesis, I expect that the mean amplitudes will be more negative in the VAN time range and more positive in the LP time range for identification trials compared to detection trials. Similarly, I expect VAN and LP to occur for both detection and identification. Unfortunately, the current results did not find any significant differences due to the low sample size. However, the results for the identification threshold hint towards a VAN but no LP.