Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) / Early recognition of plant invaders is key to their successful management. Yet knowledge of the ecological impacts of species before they become widespread is poor. This thesis examines the ecology of invasive Pinus radiata, a species which is known to spread from introduced plantings in Australia but is currently a low profile invader. Pinus invasions are considered major ecological problems in New Zealand and South Africa where wildlings are beginning to dominate natural areas and suppress native vegetation. Invasion success elsewhere and the large softwood estate in Australia suggest that pines may begin to dominate native eucalypt forests bordering large commercial plantations. This research focused on three components of impact of P. radiata; extent, abundance and effect per individual. The borders of 29 P. radiata plantations in NSW were surveyed in order to quantify the current level of invasion and to identify factors facilitating pine spread. Of particular interest was the role of propagule pressure, vegetation type and fire in the invasion process. The area of land in NSW currently invaded by P. radiata was estimated at almost 4 500 ha, although this is likely to be an underestimate due to an inability to detect wildlings (self-sown pines) at long distances from the plantation. Twenty six of the 29 plantations produced wild pines, however most of the sites are in the very early stages of invasion. Noticeable wildling populations were recorded at nine sites indicating that P. radiata is capable of establishing within native vegetation. Pine spread was most severe in the world heritage listed Blue Mountains region where pine densities reached up to 2000 per hectare in areas adjacent to the plantation and isolated pines were recorded up to 4 km from the source. The presence of isolated pines within intact native vegetation suggests that disturbance is not required for pine establishment in forested environments. Furthermore, high pine emergence and survival rates in eucalypt woodland and evidence of self reproduction by wildlings suggest that in the absence of adequate control measures pines may become established invaders in the Australian landscape. While low levels of current invasion at many sites hindered the ability to examine the factors facilitating invasion some variables that appear to be driving pine success were identified. At the landscape scale plantation size and residence time were significant predictors of the level of invasion at a site. Areas of native vegetation vi adjacent to plantations less than 40 years experienced very low levels of invasion suggesting a lag period between plantation establishment and invasion. However, pines with diameters up to 60 cm were observed growing adjacent to plantations younger than 40 years implying that the first colonisers are capable of establishing soon after plantation trees become reproductive. Propagule pressure was also found to have a strong influence on invasion success on a smaller scale manifesting in a significant positive relationship between the age of a plantation compartment and the likelihood of invasion. A negative relationship between plantation size and level of invasion was a surprising result and was influenced by just two large sites that happened to be located in areas of high rainfall. All sites receiving more than 1300 mm annual rainfall experienced low levels of invasion suggesting that this is a limiting factor for pine spread in NSW. There were significant differences in the level of invasion between vegetation types implying that some communities are more susceptible to invasion. Patterns of spread confirmed ideas regarding the facilitative effect of disturbance in the invasion process and the resistance of wet sclerophyll forest to invasion in Australia. An absence of wildlings in cleared land and areas of remnant bushland was attributed to high levels of grazing pressure. Wind direction did not appear to influence the distribution of pines close to the plantation, but evidence of long distance wind dispersal of pines was provided by an investigation of pine spread from the air at one site where large pines were found growing 10 km downwind from a mature plantation. Fire was found to have both a positive and negative influence on the invasion process. High intensity wildfires are capable of destroying large pines with diameters exceeding 50 cm. However, fire can stimulate seed release from cones resulting in large post-fire recruitment pulses. Seedling densities of up to 3050 per hectare were recorded almost 3 years after wildfire, suggesting that follow up control prior to recruits reaching coning age, i.e. within 5 years, would be beneficial. Surveys of wildling pines exposed to low intensity hazard reduction burns suggest that the majority of pines greater than 3 m in height and with a diameter of more than 10 cm will survive the fire. Low intensity prescribed fires that are carried out after pines have reached this size will fail to control wildling populations. To examine the influence of P. radiata once it has established in the native community this study focused on two mechanisms of impact, the addition of pine litter and increased shade due to an increase in canopy cover. Collection of pine litterfall vii within an invaded eucalypt woodland over a 2 year period recorded rates of up to 1400 kg/ha/year in the most heavily invaded area with a pine basal area of 11.3m2/ha. More than 70 % of pine litter fell directly below the pine canopy suggesting that the most severe litter effects will be limited to these areas. Glasshouse and field experiments were conducted to examine the influence of this increased litter load on the emergence of P. radiata and two native species. Recruitment of native plant species was impeded by litter levels of 6000 kg/ha, the equivalent of approximately 4 years of pine litterfall. Both P. radiata and the two natives responded similarly to pine and eucalypt litter suggesting the two litter types are influencing the recruitment phase equally. However, where pines are added to the system, increased litterfall rates could potentially result in the doubling of the litter load and hence a greater barrier to seedling establishment. Pine invaded eucalypt woodlands are also subjected to three fold increases in canopy cover. Trends in reduced emergence of native species under a pine canopy suggest that the addition of pines to eucalypt forests is likely to have a negative influence on native recruitment and may result in a shift towards a shade tolerant community. However, reversal of trends in emergence below pine canopy between seasons implies that quantifying invasion impacts requires a consideration of temporal variation. Increased levels of disturbance, forest fragmentation and an increasing pine estate are likely to lead to the infestation of new areas. Furthermore the lag phase associated with pine spread means that even if no new plantations are established the number of invasion events will increase. This study has identified a number of risk factors that can be used to guide plantation establishment and the management of invasion events. Minimising disturbance at plantation borders and increasing the ‘no planting’ zone will help to reduce the impacts of pines. Where possible new plantations should be established upwind of cleared land or at least, wet sclerophyll forest. Frequent monitoring of the borders of plantations yet to source invasions, particularly those greater than 40 years of age, will help identify problem areas before control becomes difficult and costly. Maps of the 29 plantations marked with areas of pine infestation will help prioritise sites for control and provide base level knowledge for future monitoring of pine spread. Stringent legislation that binds plantation managers to control wildlings beyond their boundaries is critical for the effective management of pine invasions. With infinite numbers of invaders and limited funds to dedicate to their control, a method of triaging species for management is critical. This is particularly difficult viii when information is typically biased towards invaders that are already widespread. By focussing on the ecological impacts of invaders it becomes possible to rank species on the basis of the threat they pose to native communities. Ecological research is capable of providing the knowledge to quantify invasion impacts and must remain at the centre of policy decisions.

<p>Syftet med föreliggande uppsats är att studera tre svenska imamers syn på hur sharia ska förstås, tolkas och tillämpas i Sverige. Vi utgår från aktuell forskning och litteratur i ämnet. I uppsatsens teoretiska bakgrund presenteras begreppet sharia som muslimsk lag, levnadsregler och personlig moral. Förhållandet mellan sharia och nationell lagstiftning diskuteras med hjälp av exempel från olika länder. Dessutom beskrivs förhållandet mellan sharia och den svenska lagstiftningen. Empirin i uppsatsen består av kvalitativa intervjuer med tre svenska imamer. De tre imamerna är överens om att sharia är viktigt eftersom det styr människans handlingar, som i sin tur påverkar livet efter döden. Sharia ska enligt respondenterna förstås som en oföränderlig lag med gudomligt ursprung. De är dock överens om att sharia måste tolkas, både av den enskilda muslimen och av religiöst lärda. Vidare menar alla imamerna att sharia ska tillämpas på ett sådant sätt att föreskrifterna till viss del anpassas till det land man bor i. Imamerna anser att sharia i stor utsträckning går att förena med svensk lagstiftning, även om det finns enstaka områden där sharia kolliderar med svensk lag. En slutsats är att samtliga respondenter kan sägas förespråka en modernistisk tolkning av sharia där den gudomliga lagen ligger till grund för en lagstiftning som samtidigt anpassas efter var man befinner sig. Imamerna menar också att sharia i sin helhet endast kan införas i ett perfekt muslimskt samhälle.</p>

Denna uppsats har för avsikt att undersöka det negativa sambandet mellan arbetslöshet och tillväxt i svenska län. Sambandet vi använder oss av är den inom nationalekonomin välkända Okun’s lag. Denna lag kommer vi att applicera på Sveriges 21 län mellan åren 1986 till 2003. Vi förväntar oss att sambandet kommer att variera mellan länen. Vi har även tagit med tidigare regional forskning från USA där man har estimerat Okun’s lag för 26 delstater. Uppsatsen tar även upp troliga faktorer som inverkar på sambandet, detta är gjort för att läsaren skall kunna bilda sig en uppfattning om de bakomliggande orsakerna till variationen i sambandets styrka mellan de svenska länen.

This study initially presents historical trends in both the capitalized value and market value of farmland in the eight states comprising the Corn Belt and Lake States production regions as defined by the USDA. An econometric analysis of annual real cash rents per acre prior to determining the capitalized value of farmland in the eight states is then conducted. Two distributed lag models were hypothesized. The comparison of regression results of these two distributed lag models indicates that current year real cash rent can be best explained by current year real net farm income, lagged real net farm income over a period of years, and real cash rent in the previous year. A spreadsheet simulation model is used to project capitalized farmland values in each state as well as regional averages over the 2012-2015 period. These projections reflect alternative assumptions regarding future trends in real net farm income at the state level as well as the rate on 10-year constant maturity U.S. government bonds to assess the potential sensitivity of capitalized farmland values under adverse economic conditions. The projected trends in capitalized farmland values under two alternative stress scenarios reflecting higher interest rates levels and lower net farm income levels indicates that capitalized farmland values are particularly sensitive to interest rate fluctuations since cash rent expectations of landlords are based on current and lagged historical profit performance.

In this master thesis, the goal was to devise design patterns and a fabrication processfor manufacturing a 3-D rotationally symmetric converging-diverging cold gasmicronozzle in silicon.The report explains the theory of etching and the methods involved. The work beginswith calculations and simulations of the etching processes. The chosen etch techniqueutilizes so called microloading and reactive ion etching lag effects, which essentially arephenomena where the etch rate can be adjusted by breaking up mask features intosubpatterns, and the etch depth for a given recipe and time can be made to differlocally. The subpatterns consisted of very small rectangles and triangles withalternating concentration. Five different recipes for the reactive ion etching weretried, where the coil power, platen power, pressure, temperature and time wasvaried.Etch rates could be made to differ locally depending on the concentration ofsubpatterns within the mask feature. The etch rates were also affected by the recipeparameters such as coil power, platen power, and pressure. High coil and platenpower increased the etch rate, while high pressure reduced the etch rate. The platenpower also affected the surface roughness.A solution for reducing misalignment problems in the future for the fusion bondingprocess resulted in the proposed moiré patterns that were made to showmisalignments down to 0.2 μm.Through scanning electron microscopy, the Nozzle 5_4_2 was concluded to have themost rotationally symmetric cross section at both the throat and the outlet. It hasthroat diameter of 31.1 μm with a depth of 34.2 μm and an outlet diameter of146.4 μm with a depth of 113.2 μm

Syftet med föreliggande uppsats är att studera tre svenska imamers syn på hur sharia ska förstås, tolkas och tillämpas i Sverige. Vi utgår från aktuell forskning och litteratur i ämnet. I uppsatsens teoretiska bakgrund presenteras begreppet sharia som muslimsk lag, levnadsregler och personlig moral. Förhållandet mellan sharia och nationell lagstiftning diskuteras med hjälp av exempel från olika länder. Dessutom beskrivs förhållandet mellan sharia och den svenska lagstiftningen. Empirin i uppsatsen består av kvalitativa intervjuer med tre svenska imamer. De tre imamerna är överens om att sharia är viktigt eftersom det styr människans handlingar, som i sin tur påverkar livet efter döden. Sharia ska enligt respondenterna förstås som en oföränderlig lag med gudomligt ursprung. De är dock överens om att sharia måste tolkas, både av den enskilda muslimen och av religiöst lärda. Vidare menar alla imamerna att sharia ska tillämpas på ett sådant sätt att föreskrifterna till viss del anpassas till det land man bor i. Imamerna anser att sharia i stor utsträckning går att förena med svensk lagstiftning, även om det finns enstaka områden där sharia kolliderar med svensk lag. En slutsats är att samtliga respondenter kan sägas förespråka en modernistisk tolkning av sharia där den gudomliga lagen ligger till grund för en lagstiftning som samtidigt anpassas efter var man befinner sig. Imamerna menar också att sharia i sin helhet endast kan införas i ett perfekt muslimskt samhälle.

Abstract The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of foreign capital on the interrelationship between the stock markets and futures markets of Hong Kong, Malaysia and Taiwan. Malaysia stock market is under Exchange Control Mechanism, (ECM) while Taiwan futures market under foreign capital deregulation, both markets has extremely serious influence. The investment behavior of foreign capital, as superior informed investors, always imply their expectation to both stock and futures markets. Thus, this paper attempts to focus on three topics to analyze the investment behavior of the foreign capital. First, whether the degree of intervene of the foreign capital influences the lead-lag relationship. Second, whether after intervene of the foreign capital influence the lead-lag relationship, and third, whether the foreign capital net buying (selling) amount in the stock market influence the basis after deregulation of the Taiwan futures markets. This paper found that under over intervention on futures markets would restrained the stock index futures from price discovered, and after Taiwan futures markets deregulation, foreign capital net buying (selling) amount in the stock market does influence the basis. This study propose both Taiwan stock and futures markets exists foreign capital positive feedback trading.

This study examined the effects of construction types on the indoor environment of selected prison facilities in the State of Texas. Three collocated facilities of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice were monitored for temperature, relative humidity and barometric pressure over a period of fifteen months. The objectives of the study were to examine the response of the built environment to the stressors of ambient conditions, characterize the influence of the construction method for each facility and study the responses of the occupants of the buildings. From the data, an apparent temperature was calculated and then compared to the data collected by the regional National Weather Service facility for ambient conditions. A relationship between the type of facility and the resulting indoor environmental conditions was established. The construction materials chosen for a particular facility affected not only the rate of heating of the indoor environment but also the maximum temperature, apparent temperature and thermal variation experienced by the occupants. The peak temperature and relative humidity were higher in the metal facilities when compared to the concrete facility. Therefore, the difference in occupant living conditions was considerable when the internal environmental conditions (temperature and humidity) were compared between construction types. The concrete construction also moderated the changes in the occupant environment through a lag of internal conditions behind those of the external environment. This resulted in a slower apparent temperature rise over the course of the day in the concrete buildings and a delay in the internal high temperature of the day. Finally, the data shows that measures of aggression vary with the seasonal changes, Increasing in the warming months and decreasing in the cooling months. This increase in the metal constructed facilities is greater than the rate of increase found in the concrete constructed facility.

<p>En virtuell organisation (VO) är resultatet av den snabba och målmedvetna utvecklingen, där exempelvis två företag kan agera som separata enheter, men arbeta tillsammans som ett företag och på så sätt blir ett virtuellt lag. Lagsamarbetet består av en grupp människor med spetskompetens. Detta arbetssätt har lett till att flera företag inom en VO kan ha tillgång till samma information, oavsett var arbetsplatsen är geografiskt lokaliserad.</p><p>Undersökningen i rapporten genomfördes i intervjuform. Sex företag medverkade. Arbetet syftade till att klargöra vilka faktorer som företagen ansåg vara viktiga, då virtuella lag skapas inom en VO. Ett annat syfte var att klargöra betydelsen av förtroende (trust) under ett samarbete och vilka för och nackdelar företagen ansåg sig uppleva med en VO.</p><p>Resultatet av undersökningen har visat att flera faktorer måste beaktas, då ett virtuellt lag ska skapas inom en VO. Utan riktlinjer kan inte ett virtuellt lag skapas. Företagen anser att en lagledare behövs för att sammanlänka de riktlinjer som finns, för rekrytering av spetskompetens och nödvändig teknologi.</p>

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